Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway is scheduled for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. While the final release date is yet to be announced, it is expected that the game will be released by year’s end. Being a WWII shooter, the game will look to be based on events that actually happened. In particular, the game focuses on “Operation Market Garden” – what was meant to be the largest airborne operation ever executed. Interestingly, the overall direction of the game will be overseen by retired soldier and military author, Colonel John Antal, in order to give the game unparallel authenticity.
So what's say after this we go down to the local?
For the entirety of the demo, we were situated in the Netherlands. From the outset, there was one thing that was very clear about the game. The Ubisoft influence was not far away, as Brothers in Arms had a very close resemblance to another Ubi big gun, Rainbow Six Vegas. From the look, to the controls, to the cover system, it was clear that there has been some cross company influence, even though the individual developers are different. Effectively, the game looks like a cross between Call of Duty and Rainbow Six Vegas. We're not complaining, after all, we did lavish a fair bit on Vegas
In another similarity with Vegas, there is a great emphasis on taking command of your squad. However, it looks like Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway will be taking the squad commands much further. Rather than pointing with the reticule, the game requires you to hold down a trigger and an icon appears. This icon will be used to set commands for your troops. In order to add to the realism, it was explained to us that the response to commands would be context sensitive.
Why? Well it is not unreasonable to expect a trained soldier to know how he should react when given an order. The effort that has been put into making the soldier’s behaviour more realistic looks to be paying off. The way that the soldiers behaved put the mugs in games like Call of Duty 3 to shame. It seems that the benefits of extra processing power are being put to good use. Despite the similarities, there are aspects to the game that are different.
Duck for cover!
In a move that further shows the focus to bring as realistic an experience as possible, the developers have overhauled the conventional health system. Gone is the health bar that can be routinely replenished with health packs and canteens and gone is the regeneration system that leaves you as good as new after a few moments aside, despite the hits. The new system is more along the lines of alerting the player to danger. The bullets in this game, will hurt and kill on impact. So, the screen will progressively turn red as the danger of you being hit increases. This alerts the player to the fact that they need to find cover, or end up dead.
The Rainbow Six Vegas cover system looks like it has been implemented in this game. We’re not going to complain about this, because it was this system that elevated the game into a new league. Hell’s Highway looks to take it a little further though, with the fact that your cover (and your enemies' cover) can be destroyed. You’re not using indestructible walls as cover any more, you now have wooden fences and carts that are highly susceptible to damage as your cover. Obviously, if your cover is damaged or destroyed, you’ll be in trouble.
Oh look, they've got Harry Potter.
Speaking of damage, the game showed off an extremely impressive damage model, as was showcased with a wonderful example of how a wooden cart fell apart after being shot at. Furthermore, the developers have borrowed from the Burnout series. How, you may ask? Well, when you throw a grenade, you can displace to camera from the usual perspective and watch a slow motion sequence of the effect that you grenade is having. That is, you’re watching the grenade remotely. If anything, it was at least visually impressive. Again, the game's visuals make it look like a cross between Vegas and COD3.
Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway is shaping up nicely, despite its long absence from the spotlight. Even though it may seem a little too familiar to other recent games at first glance, there is enough here to almost allow the game to set itself apart. The question is, will it do enough different and new to show why we still ought to care about WWII shooters. Furthermore, will the game fully utilise the power of the new consoles and show us what this generation is meant to be about? Given what we’ve seen so far, we’re happy to wait and see how it all turns out.
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