Incoming: Brothers in Arms-Road to Hill 30

By Jonathan Berohn

Ever since Saving Private Ryan helped rekindle interest in WWII, game makers have tried to capitalize on that interest with various 1st person shooter titles.  For the most part, they have all pretty much been your run of the mill, run around and shoot everyone 1st person shooter that happens to have a WWII theme going on.  Some of them were better than others, but by and large none of them were anything to write home about-especially considering your other 1st person shooter options like Doom, Halo, and Duke Nukem.  Fortunately, for all of us history buffs and armchair generals, Brothers in Arms has arrived.

The Basics

Ok-at some level this is another 1st person shooter.  There is one simple difference, though, that ends up transforming this game from run of the mill shooter to thrilling tactical challenge.  That difference is your squad.

In Brothers in Arms, you're not just a soldier running around killing the bad guys-you are also a squad leader.  If you want to win at Brothers in Arms, controlling and making best use of your men is absolutely critical.  It is also the touch that makes this game a must buy.  Pinned down by the German?  Suppress them with your fire team and lead your assault team around the flank.  Tank held up by an anti-tank gun? Sneak up close and lob a grenade.  Combat changes from solo freelancing into a true combined arms exercise, and this novelty is both fascinating and thrilling.

The Story

The storyline of Brothers in Arms is almost as compelling as the game play.  Again to pick up on the WWII craze, Brothers in Arms borrows the Spielberg/Hanks feel and picks up where Band of Brothers leaves off.  Some might call this a blatant rip-off, but we'll just assume the Brothers in Arms designers are just fascinated with paratroopers.  Ahem.  In any case, the paratroop drop at D-Day makes the perfect back-story for this kind of game.

First of all, the battles and skirmishes are the perfect sort of small unit actions for this kind of game.  Second, the variety of combat also adds spice to the game.  Third, the length of the campaign-the push to Carentan-is perfect for the scope of the game.  In other words, you get to jump (literally) right into a real story, fight through real life battles (the lengths Gearbox-the developer-went to for realism are impressive here, too), and win by securing the real life objective of the troops you are leading.

Caveats

For all its impressive features, there are a couple areas that could stand improvement for the sequel (which, of course, is already under development).  Most glaring is the inability for you to "hit the dirt."  In other words, you can lie down-which, as anyone who has ever seen a war movie knows, is certainly quite useful when under fire.

There are also a few moments of glaringly artificial game-imposed limits.  Some times you won't have any hand grenades when they would come in very handy.  At other times there will be a fence between you and a target-forcing you to go around.

All in all, though, these limitations are easily overlooked. Brothers in Arms is a great game-and I haven't even mentioned the thrilling multiplayer and online scenarios where you get to hunt other players with full squads.