Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway

I have recently completed BIA and read several of the reviews and can understand the mixed feelings. I have always been a fan of the Brothers in Arms series and enjoyed the genuine innovation and tactics of the original PS2 games - but feel in some ways they are still superior to their PS3 counterpart.
On reading some of the reviews saying "a poor shooter" "not as good as COD" etc these individuals are missing the point - it is NOT a shooter, and is not in competition with the likes of COD, Medal of Honour etc - so I will review it on what it should be based on - how it performs as a strategic action game and how it has improved (and not as the case can be!!)

This game will never find a place in the hearts of shooter-junkies and I don't think it will ever try, but this is also where it sometimes fails, as if it is strategy-orientated game - in some place it is not as good as its predecessors.

One area which does need to be addressed again as has been raised by many was the build-up to its release. When a games' release date is put back and back, you would hope this is to perfect the game, and there were plenty of impressive teaser-trailers leaking into the internet that looked frankly very impressive and a genuinely innovation-laden move foward to the series. But after a long delay when finally released, I was dissappointed that through playing through the game patietly - I failed to find at least 80% of the footage I had seen in the trailers - yes, developer would argue not everything will find itself in the final game but this much impressive content missing was a huge let down I felt somewhat short-changed when I completed the game. It actually did not end up coming across as the genuinely innovative game that we were all expecting.
Looking at the game itself - yes the graphics are not cutting edge - but they are not terrible either - there are plenty of nice touches, lots of attention to detail, the colours can often be a bit too bright and sharp - but as a balance, effects such as fire, explosions, water, movement all look sharp and there is plenty of atmosphere. On the whole the gameplay is intuitive and fluid, succesful strategic assaults and flanking are still very rewarding - but agian there is not much new here - in fact less than before - you can't lie prone any more, you can't melee attack (which was often missed) you can't order your squad to assault(rush) a position anymore(would've helped), and you can't order a tank as part of your squad(again really missed!)

Unfortunately too much emphasis has been put on flashy displays such as slow-mo head-shots, and dismemberment of limbs - which was a silly trade off - effects vs strategic options. The new units bazooka and Machine Gun are good fun though and do offer broader options in support for your squad - you never bore of a bazooka shell screaming over your head and destroying a particularly stubborn machine gun nest!! There is lots of narrative about story and the characters - but if you haven't played the other games, this will mean nothing to you. Although the game is all about teamwork, there were, for me, just too many "go it alone" sections - which were long, drawn out - and has probably alienated the aformentioned "shooter-fans" all the more as they prob think this is the direction the game is trying to go in and not doing it that well.

I think because of all the misleading trailers - my biggest gripe is the slightly underwhelmed feeling I got when I completed it (and have not been in a hurry to play through it again) The game starts off really well, its exciting to follow the story starting off, and playing with the new squads and blowing stuff up and looking agape the first few times you literally blow people apart, but thats only for the first 1/3 of the game. For the rest its just the same over and over, slight variety of weapon you carry and squad you command in slightly different terrain. The last couple of levels in the dunes was the only time full effect of your command of a squad really falls into place and is an utter delight - but the last level is a boring and dissappointing finale.

All in all though I have been a big fan of the series - and in some ways the predecessors are better - more tactical options - less graphical sheen. A lot of fans like me though are going to feel a bit mislead as to the finished article and rather short-changed over all. Ubisoft really need to listen to the critcism here and make significant improvements to a fundamentally good but as yet nowhere near a great game

Well what can i say!!!
i have read all of these shocking reviews and some (which this upsets me the most) have reviewed and said call of duty is more realistic!
hah! speak to any war veteran and they will say you cant run into a hord of japanese soldiers and bayonet them all to death without them doing anything because they are obviously worse then you at fighting!
BIA HH makes clever use of cover which you can use really cooly. You can order different groups of men to do different things. Unlike COD'S it isnt a one man show where you go running it blazing the place down. In this you must make use of your teammates and what they do.By ordering them around and telling them to perform different tasks it really is like being a commander of troops. With good weapons, and very good scenery. The game takes you to a variety of places and touches on an untold story of the airborne in holland. Yes, this game isnt perfect i have to be honest, the graphics are poor on the cutscenes in comparison to leeding games such as COD, however the story line is very good, i throughly enjoyed playing it and at this price you really cant go wrong!!!

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. The game is based upon events in Holland during 1944 - Operation Market Garden, when the 101st mission was to liberate Holland from German control.

Now for the fundamentals of this game:

Graphics: a little dated but not terrible. The cinematics are where its most noticeable but in game graphics are of a high standard. The missions in broad daylight really do show off the games visuals as you run across green fields populated with sheep and cornfields around. However, I noticed that when you (the captain) issue orders, the characters mouth does not move...

Audio: A very good solid soundtrack thats very appropriate to the setting. I actually bought the album for this game as it was very good and reminded me of a number of war films.

Gameplay: Pretty good level of gameplay. However, its very stiff compared to the likes of Call Of Duty and Medal of Honour. You often feel a bit clumpy and the aiming down the sight is a little difficult when on the move but i guess thats more realistic. I prefer other War games for gameplay but regardless its good fun and very clever when you involve your soldiers and start using orders. As with many games that involve using a squad, they dont do a great job of shooting the enemies and you are generally relied upon.

Replay Value: Tough to say. If you really want to enjoy the game i recommend playing Brothers In Arms hells Highway on its toughest difficulty (Authentic) as it challenges you and becomes a much better game. Its far from as difficult as Call Of Duty on veteran difficulty but still provides a lot of fun and challenge. Once this mode is complete you can't really go a lot further unless you fancy replaying certain missions.

Multi-player: Very disappointing. Of all the World War II war games I've played, this unfortunetly has to be the least impressive. I don't need to say much more regarding this - its not a selling point of the game.

OVERALL:

Graphics: 8
Audio: 9
gameplay: 8
Replay Value: 7
Multiplayer: 4