25.5.2011

Brothers In Arms Hells Highway is a hidden gem of a computer game that is often overlooked by PS3 owners when considering first person shooters. It offers a much more tactical and realistic experience of World War II than many of its rivals. At a budget price it is well worth snapping up.The game focuses on a group of US Airborne paratroopers during the Operation Market Garden campaign ( the Bridge too Far of legend ). You follow their experiences as they fight their way through a variety of tactical maps, trying to stay alive. The games plot follows on directly from Brothers In Arms I but unfortunately no explanation is initially given of the events of that game.This is the biggest criticism I have of Brothers In Arms II as I had not played the first game and it was some time before I managed to work out what was going on in the story. Thankfully though an understanding of the ongoing plot is not essential to the action and it in no way affects the game play.The graphics in the game are very respectable indeed. The environment is depicted in a consistent artistic style that is very detailed and believeable. Each of the weapons you use is also well modelled and handles and fires like the real thing ( or so I imagine ! ). The effects of bullets and explosions are realistic and gruesome in places, with slow mo replays of particularly impressive kills like head shots.Although you play one specific character, Sgt Baker, the other members of your squad are just as important in this game. Each is detailed in the game manual to help you remember who is who and you soon come to recognise them in the game from their distinct weapons and appearance. The idea of the game focuses on working together as a team and getting everyone out alive. Individual squad members may go down during a particular action but they are automatically revived at the next checkpoint. This allows you to concentrate on your own character but still show consideration towards the survival of the rest of your squad.Ideally you will not loose anyone during a fight as to succeed you will need to work together as a team. There is a very simple system of command and control that allows you to order your squad about. For each mission you will have with you different teams chosen by the computer that you have to co-ordinate with to defeat the enemy. Using just a couple of buttons on the joypad you can order them to move to a particular location, provide cover fire to pin an enemy down or assault a position. For example you might have a heavy machine gun team with you and a bazooka. While the machine gun pins the enemy down you could use the bazooka to move nearer and destroy them. On the whole the AI is extremely good - you order your squad to do something and they do it while keeping in cover. Only occasionally is there a situation where you accidentally order your men to the wrong side of a wall or something but that is usually when you are still learning to master the controls.While using your teams to best advantage you continue to take direct control of Sgt Baker just like any other FPS. Unlike most games however Brothers In Arms is a lot more realistic in its approach to combat. If you want to survive more than five minutes you have to use cover and take snap shots at the enemy whenever you can. When you are being fired at the screen starts to go red to indicate that the enemy fire is getting nearer ( presumably representing the sound of the shots ) until eventually you are hit. If you do get hit you pretty much go down straight away, as thats what tends to happen in real life when people are shot. Compare this to the vast majority of FPS games where you shrug off damage and auto heal and it provides a much more realistic representation of combat.This attention to realism is the beauty of this game. At first it might seem a lot more challenging and more complicated than what you are used to but the controls are soon picked up through some simple beginner missions. You then start to appreciate just how realistic it is as you dive behind cover, pausing only to fire off a couple of shots before ducking back down. It is very reminiscent of the series Band of Brothers which suggests it is a very good simulation of real combat.In addition to the normal play mode there are also a few opportunities to take control of tanks during the game. Unfortunately these are often the weakest parts of the game as the controls become simply forward, backward and shoot. This is an extreme simplification of how tanks work and compared to the realism of the rest of the game is a bit of a let down. The game would have been a lot better without these sections, although I realise they were added for variety.Despite a few niggling flaws then this game remains my favourite WWII game on the PS3. It provides a very realistic FPS experience and also has a simple yet effective tactical element. I don't remember ever playing a FPS game before and thinking it got near to what real combat must be like until I played this game. If this is the sort of experience you are looking for then I cannot reccomend this more highly.

1.11.2008

Hells Highway is much the same as the previous releases, and if you enjoyed those (or want something a little more cerebral than the usual run and gun shooter) then this is the one for you.Hells highway extends the previous versions through better graphics (it now uses the Unreal 3 engine), and a better storyline, played through via nice in-game cut scenes.My only real issues with the game are perhaps a series of personal points -1. Maps are still linearThe game doesnt utilize the new engine in anything other than better eye candy and physics. The earlier games were criticized for not allowing free roaming - you have to take a town using a set direction and can't (for example)skirt and attach from another direction that the enemy don't expect. You are stopped from doing things like this via really odd obstacles - a gate that looks like you should be able to jump over, or a corn field with a little stream running through it that you don't seem to be able to wade through. The U3 engine should be able to handle larger maps with multiple forking paths, but this is never developed.... So although you have an authentic squad based system, you cannot define an overall attack strategy (direction of attack, working out the enemy weak point, etc). the best the game offers is flanking paths (run down the back side street to catch the enemy from the side, rather than attack the whole town from an unexpected direction).2. The game doesn't simulate true fog of war.Every map feels like a series of puzzles rather than a battlefield. You HAVE to suppress particular enemy in a particular sequence to win, and you HAVE to move to certain positions to advance. This just feels wrong when compared to authentic squad simulations (such as Armed Assault), or even other shooters shuch as Medal of Honor: Airborne (where, although the squad based system doesnt exist, the enemy do actually respond to your tactics a little better, and there is a real sense of fog of war - mainly because there are larger sized squads). Hells highway is still a heavily scripted shooter rather than a sandbox military simulation that it pretends to be.3. The enemy AI feels scripted rather than responsive.The enemy never have their own goals, and this means that they rarely do anything other than try to maintain their positions and kill you. They do occasionally flank, but this is scripted - they always do the same thing. What they don't have is any real predefined goals that conflict with yours, so the battles can feel a little flat.4. Simplified tactics.Although the game uses what purports to be true squad tactics (suppress. flank), it only simulates a very cut down version of it. The squads do not know about other important military doctrines such as combined arms for example(tanks and troops never act as a team), and as mentioned earlier, you cannot impose an overall strategy, particularly direction and time of attack, and neither can you define squad loadouts.So given all that, why do I still give high marks? Well, once you realize the limitations and take Hells highway as what it is (a thinking mans FPS rather than a fully featured squad simulation) it's actually a lot of fun... and I had a lot of fun playing through it. Perhaps the coolest new feature is deformable cover. Shooting a fence away with a high calibre machine gun to kill the soldier hiding behind it has to be cool! Behind that fun is the feeling that the game mechanics could have advanced a whole lot more, particulalry when the technology certainly allows it.Disclaimers and setup:I have played through the full game before review. I used version 1.0.0 (unpatched initial release) of the game.I used a Radeon 4850 (1GB video ram) Q6600 (quad core) processor, 2GB system ram. I experienced no crashes or glitches (and I saw good framerates throughout) at 1920x1200. All graphics set to full except anti-aliasing.

13.2.2012

I want to begin this review with a simple statement: this is not a 'shooter' game. This is not Call of Duty or Battlefield or Gears. No, this game is not about war. This game is about the realities of war, the effects of such brutal violence on fighting men. If you are looking for just another FPS, leave now.Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway follows the life of Sgt. Matthew Baker of the 101st Airborne's Recon Section. The game follows Baker from the beginning to end of the infamous Operation: Market Garden. Those of you out there who know your history will be aware that, to say the least, Market Garden was a mess, entirely FUBAR. There is a particular focus on one man Baker lost in Normandy,called Kevin Leggett, whose ghost frequently haunts Baker, and Baker's supposedly cursed 1911 Colt pistol which is enscribed 'For Matthew - Brothers in Arms'. Everyone except Baker who touched it has been killed.The game examines what combat stress does to a man. The game takes place over less than ten days, but we see a dramatic change in Baker's psyche. Having suffered in Normandy, Baker's sanity is pushed almost beyond its limit by the heavy casualties of Market Garden. This is the game's focus. This is an emotional and, at times, brutal representation of what is was like to be there in combat. In Hell's Highway, when one of your squadmates is hit, that is it. They are dead. There is no revival system, there is no second chance, that man who depended on you to protect him, is dead. You can see how such events can affect a man.The gameplay of Hell's Highway switches between first person and third person, when in cover. Cover is a vital part of this game, if you play this like Call of Duty, you will not last a minute. Also, Hell's Highway is squad-based. You command, depending on the mission, teams of riflemen, machine gun and Bazooka crews and support teams. You lead from the front as a rifleman, a clever 'Ring' command system allows you to quickly order squads to move, attack and rally on you. Your squads are however, just as vunerable as you. Real military tactics such as flanking must be used to achieve success.The HUD is the bare minimum and in higher difficulties is entirely removed. At best you have a crosshair, ammunition counter, minimap and an indicator of any enemy's level of suppresion, how much fire they are under, which affects their accuracy. The health system is simple. If a bullet hits you, you've had it: KIA, start from last checkpoint, which are few and far between. The only warning of your imminent demise is that, as you take fire, the screen will begin to turn red. Even then you have about two seconds to reach cover.The AI in this game is extremely unforgiving and is able to predict your tactics as well as counter them, this provides a challenging experience. The environment is for the most part destructable. Machine guns will chew through wooden fences and Bazookas can destroy elevated machine gun postions. Of course this applies to you and your squad, so don't stay still for too long. Last, I must complement the sound of this game. In any battle there a thousand sounds. You can hear machine guns, rifles, grenades, bazookas, orders being shouted and desperate cries for a medic. You do feel as if you are in a battle, which I feel is necessary for a game like this to work.I have only minor criticisms of this game. Sometimes the AI will make unusual decision and some of the explosion effects and animations are not as believable as they could have been. But other than that this game is extremely well made and I would recomend it to anyone who want a representation of warfare beyond the mindless violence of other FPS games.

16.10.2008

First thing i need to mention is that if you havn't played the first Brothers in Arms game, Road to Hill 30, then you find the single player storyline very hard to follow. The game reintroduces the characters from the first two games paying special attention to Pvt Legget, Sgt Baker, Sgt Hartsock and Cpl Corrion. Anyone who has played the original game will remember Legget being killed so why is he in this one? Mainly to make the storyline more complicated i think. He keeps appearing in flashbacks Baker has of Normandy when he got Allen and Garnet killed, you also find out what really happened to them aswell.Thats enough for the storyline i think or ill spoil the game for anyone intending to buy it.There are a lot of cutscenes in this game which shortens the actual 'gaming' time down. Like COD 4 the game is quite short, even shorter if you cut the cutscenes out. However it is extremely enjoyable the controls have not altered since the original. The same fire and maneuver tactics are used, your men are smart enough to find cover and only fire on the enemy when you tell them, generally. Sometimes they will do stupid things like run the wrong way between cover which exposes them to fire. This can get quite infuriating after a while as the game is checkpointed and they tend to do it in really difficult bits. You can avoid this by telling your men to move from cover to cover but this can be tricky if your being shot at and you want to concentrate on killing Germans than where your men are going. Slow motion desths have been introduced in this game which are triggered by headshots, grenade or bazooka explosions. These are pretty cool especially when 6 germans are killed by a grenade and they go flying all over the place in slow mo. You can also ambush Germans who havnt spotted you by creeping your men quite close and then engaging them before they have a chance to react. New weapons have been introduced like the bazooka which is pretty good at blasting almost anything, shame its only availiable in certain missions. Germans don't seem to throw grenades any more which is good for moving your men in close but not good for realism, which is what this game is all about. In some missions you get to play as a seperate character than your primary one, Sgt Baker, and drive a tank around for a bit. You don't have a squd when your driving a tank so you can just focus on killing Germans. Lastly there are recon points which can be found around the map finding these points unlocks recon reports which gives you some background on the real 'Hells Highway'. There are also three 'Kilroys' scattered around each map but i have yet to find out if anything happens if you find them.Overall this game feels more like a movie than a game with a great deal of time being spent watching the cutscenes, which bar a few, seem quite well made. When it does get to the fighting be ready more some intense historicaly accurate battles which is why everyone buys the Brothes in Arms games.

30.10.2008

Having read some of the other reviews I find myself needing to put my thoughts down.I have been a PC gamer for years but last year bought a 360 to go with my new LCD telly. I have tended to avoid FPS games due to the fact I am proficient with a mouse and always found gamepad controls fiddly and awkward.Having played and enjoyed the the 2 previous games on PC I decided I would take a huge gamble and get this on the 360 to see if i could handle it.After a short while fiddling with the controls the whole thing became completely intuitive. Above all though I have never enjoyed playing a game through to its conclusion as much as this one.There are many comments about poor AI and squads doing whatthey like,but in my experience the squads will do exactly as you tell them as long as you get your instructions right and don't give them stupid instructions. For example if you are in a building them don't wander miles from your squad before ordering it around or yes they will most liekly be killed as they try and find you. They don't know where you are and will stumble into enemy fire. If you are a short distance away they will reach you in one piece. For me this ups the immersion factor.I am slightly biased in that I love WW2 games full stop, you can't beat killing a few Nazis for entertainment and the settings and weapons are for me the best.Yes you could complete this game without your squads but for me the immersion factor is all important so using your squads in a sensible and tactical way adds to the fun immensley. The weapons feel right, I love the cover system, the action cam is brilliant, the bazooka squad is awesome.I also liked the tank sections, yes they are arcadey but are great fun.I loved the graphics to, again they gave me the real immersion factor.Negatives. The story was Ok but the cut scenes sometimes seemed to drag on a bit and err thats about it really.I can't wait for the next installment.One final thought is that I have read a lot of comments about the WW2 theatre being done to death. Well I partly agree but only in that we seem the same parts of WW2 done over and over again, ie Normandy. I would like to see a FPS at the start of the war, battle of france for example, and more in the far east against the japanese (roll on COD 5). If we are going to stick to Normandy then lets have some different armies (British would be nice) and different equipment. Not all allied tanks were Shermans, lets have some Cromwells, Churchills etc. The germans had a huge vareity of equipment but all we seem to see are 88's and panzer IV''s.Finally though if you love WW2 games and are prepared to play this properly and use your squads intelligently you will love this game. When completed you can then pick any of the missions to play all over again and try out differnet tactics.Love it, don't expect the world and you will love it to.

18.11.2008

Following on from its two predecessors, Hell's Highway continues the story of Sergeant Matt Baker and his squad of US paratroopers as they take part in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden in September 1944.The game relies a little too heavily on the player having completed the two earlier games. It tries to fill in the story and, to be fair, does succeed, but it's definitely a richer experience if you know your Brothers in Arms history.The game incorporates a cover system, extra fireteams (bazookas make a welcome appearance) and there is a new health system whereby your health recharges after taking cover for a few seconds (similar to Call of Duty). The gameplay is largely the same,

1.9.2010

I would like to start by saying that I rate very fairly and strictly.Brothers In Arms Hell's highway came out September 2008 - a while ago now yes. I bought the game upon release but never wrote a review. I decided to buy the game again just recently and this time I won't be selling it.To start, this game is the only Brothers In Arms title currently on this generation of consoles and is a very different game to most other World War II games like Call Of Duty/Battlefield Bad Company/Medal Of Honour. The game revolves around you (the captain of a small group of soldiers) commanding your men to different positions whether this to be in order to flank the enemy, suppress or to ambush.

25.2.2011

Good things.* Great blend of squad control and first-person combat* Vibrant, detailed environments* Battlefield sounds will put you on edge* Interesting characters* Action camera is exhilarating.Bad Things.* Story relies too much on knowledge of past games* Texture irregularities can sour cutscenes.The first two games in the Brothers in Arms series distinguished themselves among the crowd of WWII shooters on the strength of their smoothly integrated first-person squad control and gritty, moving portrayal of a band of Allied soldiers. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway sticks to these strengths, and commanding your squads through Nazi-occupied territory is more thrilling than ever thanks to the vibrant,

11.10.2008

I had been waiting for the release of this title for ages, and when it was delayed another week i was a bit annoyed. However, i picked up my copy yesterday and boy was it worth the wait. I am a hardcore gamer and to be honest, this game offers alot more than your standard fps. Dont get me wrong cod4 is gr8...but it can get a bit boaring after a while. My fav ww2 shooter is the darkest hour mod for red orchestra because of the realism. This game has went straight to the top of the list.Graphically the game is gorgeous...you could just sit and look and the scenery and forget you are being shot at. There are also some gr8 suttle effects like mud splattering onto the screen and blood.

17.10.2008

I am a new Xbox 360 owner and I received this game bundled with the console. Though I have only recently acquired the 360 I have played multiple first-person shooters on the next-gen consoles (including Call Of Duty 4, Rainbow Six and Rainbow Six Vegas etc).The thing that strikes me the most about this game is the egregious story that has been clumsily tangled into the game. Right from the beginning it never really makes much sense and gradually gets worse and worse by the cumulative adhesion of incoherent flash backs and cut-scenes -- it's too complicated for its own good and only succeeds in distancing the player from the action.That said, graphically this game is quite an interesting experience.

28.6.2009

BH HH: first of all this game is what war is like, it shows good graphics, good AI and also good team work. The game is set in September 1944 at the time of operation market garden in Holland, and you play as an American Sgt. Matthew Baker, in which you control machine gun squads, base of fire squads, bazooka squads and assault squads. In the game you come across German infantry (Machine gun squads, assault squads, bazooka squads and base of fire squads), Panzer IV tanks and 88mm guns (kill the crew to disable them). At times in the game you can play a tank commander (you play as an British tank commander not American)in which you control 1 tank and you have objectives to destroy.

15.8.2014

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway focuses on Operation Market-Garden which was the Allies attempt to liberate Holland in September 1944, an operation, which had it been successful, could have ended the Second World War by Christmas 1944. In the game, you are Sgt. Baker, a US paratrooper who has landed in Eindhoven along with the 101st "Screaming Eagles" of the American Airborne. During the game you battle along 'Hell's highway' as the Allies capture bridges along a road that will eventually lead over the Rhine river and into Germany. The operation ended in disaster for the Allies and saw thousands of Allied troops dead and the war prolong to May 1945.Right, history lesson aside,

9.7.2011

I bought this on the back of finishing Call Of Duty: World At War; having read the other reviews of this game I figured it was worth a punt, and even though there are some niggles (e.g. the AI "friendlies" seem to take the most dangerous route to where you send them- mostly in front of the red hot and smokin' MG42 that you're trying to knock out!), the immersion is first rate. The last of 4 kraut 88s early on in the game made it clear- this is a steep learning curve, especially if you're used to your squad member allies doing their own thinking.Aiming "down the sights" of your chosen weapon is a real skill, and forget about "auto aim"- if you get a headshot, it's a massive achievement rewarded with a slo-mo replay.

3.5.2009

To get one thing straight, I only ever write reviews on here if I find a game absolutely stunning, or absolutely terrible. This one is the former.I've played pretty much all of the Call of Duty's and this, in my opinion, is just so much better. I think that where it truly excells is the immersive storyline - it really makes you feel like you're there, experiencing what's going on, feeling what your squad mates are feeling. The cut scenes are absolutely fantastic. Sure, people may complain that they're too long and you can't skip them, but they really make the game what it is, a squad/tactic based shooter... it's not just you by yourself on a mission on your own like so many other war games you find.I'll break it down into pros and cons:Pros -Graphically stunning.

28.9.2008

Whilst this game is good, it seems to lack something its superlative predecessors possessed.There are several gripes:Were real WWII NCOs such angst ridden navel gazers? The back story focuses on this overly - a little more discussion of broads, dames and baseball would have been more realistic, methinks.Whilst the battles themselves are good, gone are enemy Stugs, Panthers or even Anti-Tank guns - 88s and Pz IVs are the only foes beyong infantry. As well as that, one no longer has the option to command tanks in combined arms operations - instead, some scenarios feature a lone Sherman Firefly which the player controls, blasting enemies hither and yon - unealistic and even tedious, after a while.

Brothers in Arms 3 - Hells Highway - Reviews

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