Opening with a flashback to the previous games, Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway quickly gets the player up to speed on its complex and intricately woven storyline. That story will carry much of its action, adding to intensity of the game as whole (even if those who failed to play through the previous games will be relatively lost). That’s critical, since the gameplay takes some patience.
Little has changed for this series, now on its debut for this current generation. Hell’s Highway remains a tactical WWII shooter, one that requires thought and significant involvement on the part of the player. Each fight has a specific strategy, and trying to think outside the box will get you killed. Staying in cover is important.
While labeled as a first-person shooter, trying to play this like you would a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor gives you no chance to survive. Your shooting will be done from a third-person perspective, down behind what is hopefully solid cover. The destruction engine here isn’t quite as complex as early pre-release trailers would have you believe, but there are some impressive moments.
The squad tactics will keep you alive most of the time, although when things go wrong, it’s infinitely frustrating. The left trigger handles most commands, which becomes the source of the problem. If you try and assign a squad (you’ll have up to three at any given time) to lay down suppressing fire and the game interprets this as a command to move forward, they all die leaving you alone.
Also, while the majority of the time the squads are smart enough to find cover, there are those times when they’ll stand out in the open yelling for a command as they’re being shot, despite cover in front of them. Their aiming is also awful, and in the case of a bazooka squad, could lead to suicide. When the system works, with the squads suppressing the enemy and the player running around to flank, it’s beautiful.
Sadly, a few hours in, you’ll realize that’s all there is to Hell’s Highway. No matter how the scenery changes, it’s the same formula for success: Germans appear from nowhere, set up shop, the squad fires aimlessly, the player swoops in from the side and kills them all. The stop and pop shooting is monotonous, and it’s hard to believe fighting a war could be this easy (at least on the lower difficulties).
Mission objective are repetitive, and this issue becomes more obvious as the game moves forward. Apparently, the number of 88s (cannons) during this mission was record setting if Hell’s Highway is to be believed. The ending makes it apparent this title is out of ideas early, as the final segment is a replay of an earlier assault that offers nothing memorable.
Hell’s Highway wants to push the WWII genre forward. Its intricate storyline is admirable, and it forgoes much of the Hollywood appeal that clouds other games in this genre (aside from the cop-out “to be continued” final frames). There is no music during gameplay. It’s nothing more than screaming soldiers and gunfire. A few atmospheric segments have the playing going in alone, and they never take on a “Rambo” like feel. It leaves the player feeling nervous and vulnerable.
Visual distractions, including many of the usual Unreal III engine pitfalls, hinder the immersion. Textures fail to load, buildings pop-in, and some truly ugly backdrops all fail to create an authentic environment. At the least, Gearbox nailed the gore factor, going as far as to celebrate their achievement with slow motion “action cam” kills. And speaking of achievements, Hell’s Highway has some of the dumbest to ever grace the console, including one for playing the game 100 days straight, and numerous 0 point awards.
The game offers 20-person multi-player, but after numerous tries to connect for this review, all efforts to connect were met with connection lost errors, game not available, or a host quitting.
Hell’s Highway is a few things. It’s undoubtedly unique in a crowded World War II market. It also offers more in terms of the standard one-man army saga, and desperately tries to not feel scripted or canned in any way. These are lofty goals though, and this is a game waiting to break out its repetitive shell to truly become the game it was intended.
Tags: brothers in arms: hell's highway, operation market garden, ps3 top games, ubisoft, war, xbox 360 top games
