Brother's in arms - Hell's highway (PC)

[dimmy32]

I've already played a few of the past brothers in arms series, not bad, not great. I'm also fed up with WW2 shooters , especially since the new COD is going to have another go at it again...yawn.

Here's my opinion of Hell's Highway, the latest offering in the series.

graphics - very impressive, very colorful, great use of HDR lighting , a refreshing change from the sober, depressing colors of most WW2 shooters.
8.5/10

Sound - pretty good overall, immersive, but not WOW . 7/10

Gameplay - the game is a squad based FPS. You tell your squad(s) where to go, what to attack and when to retreat. It's actually one of the best parts of the game. If you place your squad in the wrong location, they easily get chewed up, you really need to learn to use your map and plan things out, instead of running in and hiding behind the plethora of picket fences. Speaking of the environment is destructible....well sorta. Picket fences are, but bales of hay are not. I guess the Dutch make bullet-proof hay. In fact mostly everything is not really destructible at all, except the picket fences and the occaisional box. NOT very well done at all.
One the best things about this game are the gore shots - hit a guy in the head, and bullet time slows down, giving you a spectacular view of the head exploding. Grenades and morters also give a cool slow-mo gore effect - watch as limbs are ripped off, heads fly, blood sprays. Delicious and shocking, even for a hardened gamer like myself.
The game has an optional training mode, which makes it very easy to get into the controls.I like that.

Guns - we all know shooting WW2 guns are fun. The guns all look pretty realistic, but they really lack punch. I hate that in any shooter.
Did the guns REALLY go "tack tack tack , in WW2 ? Were muzzels that good at toning the guns down ? I doubt it. Most of the gun sounds are very dissapointing. the pistol has more punch than a rifle or even a machine gun. After a battle the guys complain about ears ringing. huh...yeah pansies.

AI - pretty good overall. The squads instinctivly know how to fight . I never saw them get stuck wall-watching once.They manuver easily through broken up debris , the movements are very natural looking. I like the bad language too, it adds a touch of realism.

cut scenes - this game is FULL of cutscenes. It's like part game, part movie. But the movie doesnt really make much sense. Some idiot game programmer decided I really care about the main character looking for his missing father would enhance the game somehow. It seemed cool at first...but became highly annoying very fast. I'm guessing his dad met a dutch prostitute and lived happily ever after.Big deal.

Overall I would give the game a solid 8.3/10. it's fun to play, looks great and runs very well on my computer. I'm just not a die-hard WW2 fan. For those who love WW2 games, its really one of the funnest I've played yet.
Semi-destructible environment, slow motion gore scenes and great graphics make it a pretty descent well-rounded game, with some annoying features that should have been polished.