If you have never played BIA before (like me) then this is a different take on a WW2 genre that badly needed a new angle
I picked this game up for £9 in a sale last year and it was possibly the best Xbox purchase I've ever made. Please be aware I have not played any other Brothers In Arms games so the game engine for Hell's Highway was new to me and I will be reviewing it in that style.
Good points:
- The supression system... allowing you to plan movements based on when enemies are hiding or down to reload.
- You really feel like you're there.
- No running about at unhuman speeds into the thick of it spraying your tommy gun like CoD encourages you to do.
- Fantastically simple game engine that allows you to feel like you are a tactical genious when really you are just sending other soldiers to cover you.
- As above... you can really plan your way around.
- Once the enemies are dead they are dead. No re-spawns until you move on, rather than endless spawns of enemies you see on CoD. You can have a rest and really reminise on the amazing tactic you just pulled off
- Kill cam!
Bad points:
- The enemy AI is a bit weak
- Sometimes enemies only momentaraly appear from cover, making long rang shots tedious
- There are some graphic issues with clipping and fuzzing.
- The story is a bit too short.
- Un-skippable cut scenes (annoying during campaign replay).
- No vehicle usage.
- Sometimes running to and from cover lacks fluidity, making fast movement awkward at times leaving you vulnerable to enemy fire.
- The AI squad you control can be clumsy moving to cover in situations with many solid objects around... making them vulnerable to fire.
- Sometimes restricted cover area leaves awkward, obscure camera angles when leaning out to shoot.
- No multiplayer.
Anyway... As I mentioned before this game was a fantastic find for me. I picked it up for next to nothing in a bargain bin and it really was a fantastic purchase.
The story is based around a US airborne regiment, with the player controlling Matt Baker, a troubled soldier with flashbacks of gruesome events from previous battles and from his days as a country boy in the deep south. Despite there being quite a hefty story previous to this edition, I had no issues in understanding what was going on and it felt very much like Band of Brothers, albeit with not quite as good voice acting ;).
The control system is a little unorthodox and feels very clumsy at first. I spent my first half hour accidentally throwing precious limited grenades into empty fields instead of taking cover etc. due to my over familiarity with the CoD controls. After some patience and persistence though you begin to realise that the game engine is infact superb and the Xbox controls are mapped perfectly to suit.
Any fans of the Rainbow 6: Vegas series will see some welcome familiarities here. Movement and shooting is all in first person view then you can opt to take cover behind objects, which causes the camera to pan out to third person view, allowing you a clear sight over the battlefield ahead (ala R6: Vegas). Once you lift your character's head over cover, vision is switched back to first person allowing accurate ranged shooting. A grenade flight indicator is a welcome addition also, with a circle indicator showing where your grenade will land aswell as a spread pattern. Very handy and a similar concept to Gears of War.
On top of the nice 'get behind cover' system (which is toggled on or off rather than relying on you to keep a button pressed), is the very simple squad command system, again similar to R6: Vegas.
To begin with you just have a machine gunner, or rather, machine gun team to control. Holding down the left trigger reveals a circular indicator which can me moved around with the left stick. Once you move this indicator next to cover (such as a wall or sand bags), the specified team moves towards this cover and sets up the machine gun. With the team selected, you can also hold the left trigger then aim the indicator a group of enemies. Upon release of the trigger, you command the team to suppress the enemies, which involves sending a barrage of machine gun fire towards their position (the suppress system I will explain furthar into the review).
As you progress furthar into the story, you begin to require more specialised soldiers such as riflemen (who can generally run faster and take point) and the cream of the crop, a bazooka team. Once you get to a mission that allows you to control 3 other squads, you use the D-Pad to select each squad. Left will select one, Up another and Right, the third. Pressing Down on the D-Pad orders all squads to regroup and follow you. Each squad generally contains 2 soliders, one with the specialised equipment and one with standard arms or in the Bazooka team's case, the second soldier loads rockets into the 'toob' while the other guy fires.
This creates great tactical opportunities as you can for example, send machinegunners to set up camp on one flank, send the riflemen to gain ground on the enemy and the bazooka squad to take out an artillery point. It is fascinating to sit back and watch in a very movie-like fashion.
Possibly the most satisfying moment I have ever witnessed in a game was an assault on Germans in a small dutch down scenario. One of the riflemen got taken out by a German sniper who was in the roof window of a house. I positioned the machinegunner to send fire on the position then crept the Bazooka squad round the side of an adjacent building and ordered them to fire a rocket on the position. I thought there would just be a simple explosion, a broken window and maybe if I was lucky, a daed sniper. This wasn't to be though... I had the treat of seeing the whole side of the roof explode and the sniper come flying out. Nice!
Inevitably sometimes members of your squad die. This could have been a major pain on a mission where you needed the Bazooka squad often but luckily if any members of any squads meet their demise, a new group of men come running from out of nowhere to replace them at the next checkpoint. Unrealistic but it keeps the game flowing at times when it could become a real drag.
Now to explain the suppression system. A very simple but very original idea. It can limit things at times I guess such as the size of enemy squads but for what has been achieved, it is effective. The way it works is, German soldiers are generally arranged in groups of 3-5 men. These groups stick together and above the group is a red circle. A red circle means that the enemy can see you/another squad/are aware of your position and are ready and able to shoot you. As you fire upon their position and/or get other squads to fire upon them, sections of the red circle turn grey until eventually the whole circle is grey. This means that the enemy is fully suppressed and are hiding from your gunfire therefore aren't in the position to shoot accurately. Once this happens, you can continue firing upon the position with a different squad while you run around the flank and take them out from the side or whichever tactic you choose. If another squad stops firing upon them though, the suppression circle eventually becomes red again, which is deadly when you are half way towards running at their cover, when they pop up to shoot you!
It seems pretty simple and it is in reality but it can get very challenging and tactically demanding when you have 5 or 6 of these German squads that you have to suppress. It means you have to prioritise the most dangerous squads and use grenades effectively. Sometimes you also get squads in upper floor windows of buildings, firing on you with MG42's. It can get quite hairy but extremely satisfying once you manage to take them all out.
On to Kill Cam. Some may already know what this is but either way, if you hit a perfect head shot, the camera zooms in and everything goes into slow motion like Max Payne's 'bullet time'. This is one of the greatest features of the game as if you are shooting from range, it can be a nice surprise when your shots hit. Its great when you quickly pop up from cover and fire off a long ranger, then the camera zooms in and you see the enemie's helmet flying off in slow-mo as they fall back with blood pouring from their head. Gruesome but satisfying. Note this feature also works with grenades. If you launch a perfectly placed grenade behind a sand bag cover, everything goes slow-mo as you see 3 Germans fly into the air with their legs and arms flying off ;).
The weaponry is standard. Just your usual WW2 paratrooper gear with the option of picking up German weapons should you choose. They all perform pretty close to how they do in most games and they all sound realistic. It used to be a rarity for me to find a game that has an authentic sounding M1 Garand, with the rattling, rusty pop sound. This game captures it perfectly. I always went for the trusty K98 over the M1 Garand though because I loved picking off long distance enemies with a bolt action rifle :).
Resources are limited and along with playing the tactics well, you also need to reserve ammo and especially grenades as they are in short supply and they come in very handy at times.
Most buildings that house enemies and all fences + sand bag bunkers are destructable, which is a nice touch. When grendes explode and bullets are sprayed everywhere, fences start disintegrating and the rooves of houses begin the fly off. This means you need to stick to the tactically placed solid objects for cover such as walls and pieces of metal.
Another impressive feature is the death animations. Enemies collapse and fall to the ground in a very realistic fashion. It makes for great fun as you try to pick off Germans that are running for cover. If you shoot their legs then they trip and begin attempting to hop along to cover. Hit them in the torso or head and they collapse like a ragdoll on to the floor, as if you are acting out your very own version of Saving Private Ryan.
Overall this is great fun and a must have for any World War 2 fan. The impressive tactical based game engine allows for great replay value. The missions have great variation from the usual persuing Germans on fields to carefully taking out artillery posts while trying not to get blown up, heart in your throat suspense as you slowly creep up on a Sniper in a church tower, to having to use a sniper rifle yourself as you protect a child on the street, from a rooftop, trying to take out Germans while the child runs for cover. The game can be completed pretty quickly due to the rather short story line and although there is great width to the maps allowing multiple tactical moves, you are still forced forward in a pretty linear fashion towards your goal. Despite this there are some incredibly challenging and rewarding missions to tackle and due to the fantastic game engine, I tend to replay the story mode again every few months. Its still just as fun every time.
Certainly not perfect but very fun and it has the very unique experience of the R6: Vegas style 'almost but not quite too slow' game play. If you can live without multiplayer then it is a welcome change from the usual fast paced Call of Duty side of the scale. I look forward to the next installment. You should definatlely try it out if you like the sound of the great game engine and the immersive story. It will cost you next to nothing now too. What are you waiting for?