Brothers in Tactics

Published September 23, 2008

Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway marks the third game in Ubisoft's tactical World War II shooter franchise and the first on Xbox 360®.

Back in Baker's shoes once again.

With the series' first appearance on current-gen technology, developer Gearbox takes full advantage of new tech with vastly improved physics and high-definition graphics, massively destructible environments, much-improved A.I., and a laundry list of other noteworthy refinements. That said, its aim is always to use this newfound power to improve rather than radically alter the already outstanding foundation created in the first two Brothers in Arms games.

The characters you came to care about in previous games are front and center in Hell's Highway, their stories still being written and their fates still hanging in the balance.

The Tactical Side
What separates Hell's Highway from other World War II games is its unvarying focus on tactical merit rather than run-and-gun twitch skills. While you control your own character, Baker, moving and firing with standard FPS gameplay, you also control multiple squads—each with their own specialty—as you tackle German platoons, machinegun nests, tanks, artillery emplacements, and a great deal more besides.

You control these squads easily with the left trigger. Hold down LT to select your current active squad, and then use the left thumbstick to direct them. Place the cursor over an enemy or target and the icon changes from a movement directive to a firing order. Here's a simple example:

Faced with a machinegun nest in a church steeple and several platoons of German troops in between, I set my Bazooka Team and Assault Team behind cover and then order them to suppress the nearby troops. With the Germans effectively pinned down, I move safely off to the right, pick my way through a couple of buildings, and set up in a flanking position behind a sandbag barrier.

Flanking is the name of the game.

Properly placed, I call my Assault Team to my position and let them open fire on the enemy's exposed flank. With the first wave gone, I move the Bazooka team forward, suppress a new platoon of Germans, and repeat the process. Once they're close enough, I call in a bazooka strike to demolish the machinegun nest in the steeple and watch the fruits of my labor embellished with a gorgeous slow-mo explosion of brick and mortar. Ta da! Enemy neutralized and no casualties.

Map and Recon
Troop movement and combat tactics are made even easier thanks to the game's well-marked, gorgeously detailed, and entirely historically accurate tactical maps. These maps showcase ally and enemy troop locations as well as objective markers and even Recon points.

Recon points are typically among the tallest buildings around (such as a windmill), which grant a sweeping view of the town or battlefield, and so allow you to highlight enemy positions you may not have noticed on the ground.

Finding and using these points grants an immediate tactical advantage, and unlocks further pages in the Recon Report, breaking down the historical importance of each battle with photos, text, and even maps.

Market Garden
While the importance of creating a deftly paced shooter with spot-on tactics is obviously high, the historical accuracy Gearbox brings to Hell's Highway is also a high priority.

The whole of the game takes place within the real-life World War II Market Garden campaign, and each objective you fight for, and each town, field, or city you fight in, has been rigorously researched right down to the use of historical photographs, so buildings, farms, battlefields and more are as authentic as possible.

You'll care about every last one of them.

Brothers is Right
If the tactical squad-based fighting separates Hell's Highway from a game-mechanic perspective, the very personalized storytelling and camaraderie sets it apart from its competitors in terms of presentation.

The relationships between Baker, Herzog, and the rest cut to the very core of the Brothers in Arms experience. Hell's Highway is their story and the game approaches the telling of it with the same earnestness and respect you would expect from a movie.

This game is a continuation of the story that began with Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30™ and developed further in Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood™, so in a sense the franchise has turned into the video game equivalent of a big-budget miniseries. The characters you came to care about in previous games are front and center in Hell's Highway, their stories still being written and their fates still hanging in the balance.

Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway continues the franchise's tradition of rigorous authenticity, whether it's the tactics used in combat, each soldier's unique personality, or the detailed recreation of historical battles that meant so much to the war effort. Get ready to dig in. Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway is out now!

Article by Ryan Treit