Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Also known as: BiA

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Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

The Empire Strikes Back of WWII games

Words: Will Porter, PC Zone UK

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Soon though, you’re in the front seat of a glider wafting into enemy territory with orders to group up, and meet up with the Resistance and protect other landing sites from the roused German forces. So once again, you’re ordering machine gun teams or three man assault teams behind cover and to suppress enemy forces, as you creep behind carts and haystacks with an eye to flanking your opponents. Levels may be authentically designed, but top-down they’re still a sequence of metal tubs and fences designed with your progress and enemy AI funneling in mind.

A key twist to the BIA template is that cover is now breakable - sheltering behind the metal hulk of a delivery van caused a shock when the doors fell off - and you can order your blokes to destroy any cover your foes might be hiding behind too. Now we wouldn’t describe this as being watered down; the ethos of the game is still there bold as brass, but there are definite nods to BIA’s lower-brow squad shooter rivals. Primarily, there’s a new third-person view for when you dig in behind cover that’s a little Gears of War-esque (and perhaps needless) and a Rainbow Six: Vegas-inspired red tinge around your surroundings when you’re in danger. There’s also more scripting built to fit alongside the AI machinations - like the fantastic moment in which we’d placed our men on either side of a country track and Germans marched over the crest of a nearby hill and directly between our gunners.

Is this a case of a square peg trying to fit in a star (and stripe) shaped hole? Maybe. Nevertheless, to a Brothers in Arms fan, the traditional formula shines through in a game that’s not only prettier than earlier incarnations, but also rid of some of the series’ more persnickety hang-ups over inaccurate aiming and poor interaction with the environment. Hell’s Highway won’t top Call of Duty 4 for the war game of choice, but will once again provide a cerebral alternative to its balls-out lunacy.