Hell's Highway is a joyous mix of finely crafted tactical combat and mature, unapologetic storytelling.
Despite crafting Opposing Force, the phenomenal expansion pack for the original Half-Life, Gearbox Software is best known for their equally marvelous Brothers in Arms -series. BiA has always been about tactical, realistic WWII action, peppered with an engrossing story and strong characters. Hell's Highway is no exception. It continues Road to Hill 30's and Earned in Blood's finely-tuned tactical combat gameplay, whilst infusing some much needed maturity into the shooter genre.
The game takes place during Field Marshall Montgomery's infamous Operation Market Garden. As anyone with a passing knowledge of WWII knows, the operation was an utter disaster, with over 17,000 Allied casualties in just over a week. Set against this bleak backdrop, you play as Staff Sergeant Matthew Baker, tasked with leading his Recon squad through the fields and towns of Holland. As the initial optimism of the mission crumbles and gives way to despair, it is also expertly portrayed not only in the characters and story, but everything from mission objectives to level design and overall mood. BiA has always been something of an anomaly amongst WWII shooters. Instead of switching wildly between different soldiers, nationalities, countries and even continents, BiA has always strived to maintain a close bond between the player and his in-game persona, at the same time reinforcing the story by keeping it squarely aimed at a small group of men. Hell's Highway takes an already strong backdrop and well established cast and digs deeper. As Baker loses man after man, each loss shaking him to his core, he slowly begins to question his own sanity as do others around him. Hallucinations begin to bother him more frequently. It's deep stuff and handled with great care and respect. The only real downside is that the game overly relies on your knowledge of past games in the series, particularly RtH30. Despite a recap at the start of the campaign, many will feel left out on the more important aspects of the story if they have no previous knowledge of the canon. And even if you've played the first game (released in 2005), 3 years is a lot of time for someone to remember past characters and happenings. Unfortunately, this turns an otherwise great and deep storyline into a muddled mess at times. Not helping matters are occasional oddities in cutscenes. Sometimes a cutscene will shift extremely abruptly or characters will seem to teleport great distances to deliver their lines. It can be a jarring experience and confuse you even further. Therefore, barring a visitation back to the first two games, I strongly suggest playing through the game twice. The second time around you'll have a better understanding of what's happening and why, leading to a more satisfying experience.
Gameplay in Hell's Highway is atypical for the shooter genre. It strongly encourages use of smart team tactics, laying down covering fire and flanking enemy positions. Like previous games, HH hammers home the fact of strategic thinking and execution by forcing the player to learn and endorse the Four F's of combat; Find him (locate the enemy), Fix him (suppress the enemy), Flank him (find a position overlooking the enemy's exposed side) and Finish him (kind of self-explanatory, huh?). Needless to say, this is a game where foolishly running headfirst toward a squad of entrenched Germans doesn't yield desirable results. As a new feature, Hell's Highway introduces the oh-so popular cover system into the mix. Despite sounding like a contrived addition, it actually helps the gameplay dramatically. Even though it has the somewhat unfortunate effect of turning a first-person shooter into a third-person shooter for much of the time, it adds a sense of realism and ease into the squad control mechanism by giving you a better view of the battlefield. Squad controls are simple and context sensitive. By pressing and holding down the right mouse button, you call up your squad commanding reticule. By pointing the reticule anywhere on the ground, you order your squad to move to that position and take up any available cover. By pointing it at an enemy unit, you order your squad to attack said enemy. The system is extremely intuitive and fun to use. And it should be, since your success depends entirely on your ability to command your squads in a logical, sensible manner. However, hampering the brilliant squad control mechanism is a friendly AI that is prone to making bonehead moves, like taking up position on the wrong side of cover, thereby exposing themselves. They even have the audacity to yell at you, complaining how unsafe they are. Sometimes your squads will refuse to follow through on your orders or get stuck on scenery thanks to some dubious pathfinding. However, moments and glitches like these are fairly rare, though when they do happen it can be aggravating to no end.
The level design in Hell's Highway is cohesive and natural, though sometimes it's painfully obvious it was constructed entirely to allow for certain set pieces to occur. What also bothers me is that the level design goads you into certain actions and dictates the strategy, rather then leaving it up to you. Whenever you find an enemy squad up ahead blocking your path, checking the map will reveal one obvious route you can use to flank the enemy. It would have been better to present you with multiple paths or even open up the level design entirely and let players choose their strategy. It ends up feeling like you were given this awesome power to command various squads, yet find no real use for it, instead reducing yourself to elementary leapfrogging tactics.
Visually, Hell's Highway varies between gorgeous and simply average, often without a moment's notice. You've got some unfortunately low resolution textures and awkward, choppy animation to deal with. Weapon models look quite bland and blurry and the architecture can sometimes feel a bit "boxy". These issues are outweighed by detailed character models, excellent water effects (particularly rain) and a spot-on artistic design and terrific lighting. The game boasts numerous occasions when you'll want to stop in the heat of battle and just gawk at the scenery, be it those first early morning sunrays filtering through clouds, a burning windmill sending a thick, black tower of smoke up into the ominously crimson sky or carpet bombings lighting up the night sky, sending up tons of dirt and debris. A nice touch is added by the color filters utilized in various missions. The game starts sunny and bright, slowly turning to a subdued, darker palette and finally erupting in a hellish red that perfectly captures the raw desperation, fear and brutality of the later missions. The Hell's Highway mission actually looks like Hell, with burning wreckage everywhere, towering black clouds piercing a burning sky and everything, including Baker, being enveloped in an oppressive red glow. The game also manages to keep the framerate steady, with only a few minor glitches sprinkled here and there. Options for tweaking the graphics are scarce and oversimplified, but since the game works well with the settings given, there's little reason to start mucking about under the hood.
One final, major gripe (at least for me) were the subdued effects firearms produce. Unlike previous games in the series, weapons make a very small impact on the scenery. Instead of sending up liberal amounts of debris, firing at the ground or any objects in the game produces a few funny puffs or some pathetic splinters of wood. This is an extremely disappointing facet of the game and one that drastically tones down the intensity and awesomeness of firefights. Luckily, explosions are still "meaty" enough. Firing a bazooka at a bell tower blows up the entire upper portion into smithereens. Chucking a grenade at a group of enemies not only flings dirt into the air, but body parts as well. As you may have guessed, the game is very violent and gory. A grenade can easily tear a man in two, spilling his guts for all the world to see. A well placed headshot will literally blow out the back of your mark's cranium. Blood splatters in accordance with slasher-flick rules. Highlighting these atrocities is the action cam. Every once in a while when you pop a Nazi in the noggin' or blow up an entrenched group of enemies, the game zooms in and slows the action to showcase your handiwork. Watching a group of soldiers get thrown into the air in slow motion, complete with rag-doll physics, is a sight to behold. As is nailing an unsuspecting enemy straight between the eyes with a sniper rifle, watching as his body tumbles backward in a shower of blood. Despite the ample gore, it never feels gratuitous or exploitative. In fact, it strongly helps bring out the real brutality of war and thus even further cementing the game's realistic approach to WWII.
As is almost customary for a WWII shooter, weapon and combat sounds are of a high-quality and suitably bombastic. Each weapon pierces the air with a distinctive sound, from the MP40's metallic clank to the BAR's thunderous bass. Also customary for a WWII shooter is an equally bombastic score that contains enough melodrama and heroic anthems to fill a Bruckheimer pic. In this regard, Hell's Highway also delivers. Although you'll also find some more down-to-earth, intimate pieces in the mix. They help underscore the game's emotional moments and your characters mental progression. Finally, unlike is customary for most WWII shooters, the voice acting is also top-notch, and it has to be to properly sell a story of such magnitude and seriousness. Particularly of note is Troy Baker's portrayal of Matt Baker (yeah, Baker does Baker). He brings an emotional depth and burdened sadness into the character rarely seen in videogames. At one particular cutscene near the end of the game, he delivers some grim news to a good friend and fellow soldier. This scene (as well as another in which he is pleading to God) left an indelible mark on me and actually made me quiver, reeling from a performance worthy of Hollywood. I know this may sound like hyperbole, but trust me, if you see the scene for yourself, you'd have to be a husk of a man (or woman) to not feel anything as Baker delivers his lines.
All in all, Hell's Highway manages to be a thrilling addition to the series. It stumbles somewhat in regards to graphics and level design. The AI can be a pain every now and then and multiplayer is almost an afterthought, feeling very tacked on. Despite these issues though, you're left with an exciting, albeit rather short singleplayer campaign. Luckily it holds up nicely for a few replays.