Flank, cover and suppress in one of the best tactical WW2 shooters on any platform.
So what makes Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway a good game? Well for one thing tactics is everything. There is no regenerative health system, one bullet will kill Baker and so it's up to you to place your teams tactically behind certain cover in order to push back the german platoons. Sure you can snipe from a distance with you rifle but sticking your neck out for too long isn't wise. That's where BiA's safety mechanic works. Out of cover too long and the screen fills up with red so as to warn you. Having your men suppress the enemy will buy you more time to run to further cover.
The squad mechanics is well handled usig L2 bumper. Hold it down and move the left stick around will have a cursor move around the battlefield making ordering your men that much easier to do. Selecting teams with d-pads lessens complications accept occasionally you might hit the down d-pad button which has your men regroup which is annoying as the circle button already handles that.
You as captain command different groups of allies troops to help you. You'll command assault, machine gun, fire and bazooka teams all of which consist of 2 to 3 men. You'll only be given a maximum of 3 at a time and each team has a different attribute that you can use. MG and fire teams are good for suppression and your bazooka team is great for clearing out germans behind sandbags as well as MG nests in windows.
What's also unique is the circles that hover over German heads. Initially red, if you suppress the Germans long enough the circle will eventually turn grey. This definitely helps deal with the germans as you move up to flank. It also makes it easier to spot where Germans are on the battlefield so as not to accidentally take cover behind an already preoccupied one.
Your variety of weapons consist of pretty much the ones you'll be familiar with like M1 garands, thompsons, tommy guns as well as german weapons. Grenades are also handled differently control wise. Hold down R1 and a reticles appears on the ground showing you where you grenade will end up which is very helpful for flushing out Nazis behind cover. And of course what would a WW2 shooter be without tank sequences. Though not the highlights of the game they do offer up a break from taking cover all day long.
The Graphics are powered by the Unreal Engine 3. It's actually quite impressive to see a team like Gearbox take that engine and use it to make a WW2 game as we all are accustomed to sci-fi shooters using that engine. The scenery is gorgeous, colours are bright (which is a nice change of paste from drab colour palettes) and the details on a soldiers clothing and gun models is quite impressive. Hopefully other studios will take note on how the engine can be used for other things besides big buff men in suits surrounded by different shades of grey.
Your 5.1 stereo will get a kick out of the games sounds. Explosions and gunfire are happening all around that you can feel engulfed by it. Your allied troops will say things like "Get behind cover Baker!" and "Baker what are you doing!". Eventually the speeches become repetitive as you will also start to recognize that the Germans too say the same lines. Guns all sound accurate and familiar and the voice acting is handled pretty well. That's a good thing as stories being told really depend on how it's handled vocally. Right tones are conveyed and you get a sense of how human these characters are.
So is this game worth shelling out your hard earned money for? Well the story can go on for 10 or more hours depending on your own personal skill level and how quickly you pick things up. It's challenging enough and if you really want to be tested play authentic but only when you finish it the first time around. The game is good enough that there definitely is some replay value in the single player. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone wanting something different from WW2 shooters.