Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

"A Fun Game that Suffers from Lack of Direction"

INTRODUCTION

Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway is game that simply doesn't know what it wants to be. It is at its best when it isn't trying to be anything other than what it is…a fun shooter with simple but fun strategic elements. Problems arise because the game strays from this course far too often. The developer Gearbox would have done better to stick with what works instead of trying too many different things, because the result is a game that feels all over the place. Read on to find out why and make your own decision about whether to take a trip down Hell's Highway.

STORY & CHARACTERS – 6/10

Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway is the third game in a series. Although the game begins with a brief review of the events of earlier games, it seems to presume that players also experienced previous titles. The story is somewhat complicated with a lot of elements, constantly referencing earlier games. Even as someone who played through both titles, I found myself frequently confused and unable to follow the story.

Hell's Highway ultimately fancies itself a character-driven narrative, which is disappointing because none of the characters are especially memorable. This is further compounded by the fact that there are too many of them. Several look similar and the game tries too hard to keep too many people in focus.

One of the main elements of the game follows the notion that the main character (Matt Baker) is “cracking up,” being driven mad by the experience and pressure of war. It's sort of an interesting idea and could have been a way to create tension, but the game fails to make you care about Baker and his plight. It even jumps the shark completely a couple times, delivering hallucinatory scenes with disappearing phantoms and rooms suddenly turned upside down (a la F.E.A.R.).

GAMEPLAY – 7/10

The core elements of Hell's Highway are very strong. The game is a first person shooter with a strong focus on squad commands. The player controls one, two and occasionally even three squads. The whole game is based on the concept of suppression and flanking. Each enemy has a dial above their head (which can be disabled) that shows how suppressed they are. You order your squad to various locations and have them suppress the enemy, and then flank them for an easy kill. Alternately you can do the suppressing yourself and order your squad around their side. Once you gain control of multiple squads, you can choose whether to actively participate in the combat or hang back and give the orders. Squads carry different items such as machine guns and bazookas, and all this makes for surprisingly varied and fun gameplay.

Hell's Highway implements a cover system. While this isn't especially rare (just about every game has been doing that recently), it does feel like the final piece of the puzzle that completes the gameplay created in the first Brother in Arms game.

All this works well and is incredibly fun, especially when it plays out in larger areas. Hell's Highway goes awry because a surprising portion of the game does something else. There are several scenes in which Baker is suddenly stranded from his squad (amusingly enough burning buildings are used as deus ex machina to achieve this multiple times) and suddenly becomes a solo affair. There are also a couple vehicle scenes in which you take control of a tank. Neither feels particularly well done and I found myself just trying to push through the mission and hope they'd put me back with my squad ASAP.

One nitpick is that although members your squad can be killed in combat, they are somehow magically brought back to life at each checkpoint. The fact that you know their names (and thus can readily be identified as the solider who fell moments earlier) is likely to leave you scratching your head, wondering how this guy who was hit with a tank blast three minutes ago is suddenly fighting by your side again. Perhaps it eases the gameplay, but the lack of explanation detracts from the immersion factor and pulls you mind out of the game.

The game features a multiplayer element but it is effectively throwaway. There are balancing issues and ridiculously bland level design (though the actual number of maps is high). There is only one gametype (teams take turns trying to capture set territories). It features a class system, but nobody online seemed interested in working as a team. What's more, at the time of this review (about half a year after the game's initial release) there were barely any people playing online. I forced myself to play a few hours for the sake of the review, but there's really nothing here to distinguish the game, or to tear you away from the big titles that work so well online.

GRAPHICS & SOUND – 8/10

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is a looker. The game features excellent textures and strong character models that look and move in a very human fashion. The facial expressions (notoriously difficult) are very well done. The environments are relatively static, but look the part and mostly stand up to closer examination. The levels are fairly varied, and everything is done quite well.

Hells' Highway implements something called an “action cam” which results in a slow motion, zoom-in shot of things like headshots and grenade kills. With exploding craniums and limbs blown off, it ups the gore factor but fails to increase the value of the experience in any other way. Given the story's attempt to make a serious commentary on the horror's of war, it actually seems a little out of place….yet another thing the developers just decided to try without considering whether it contributed to the overall direction of the game.

The sound is commendable, with an excellent 5.1 mix (if you have the sound system) and consistently high-quality voice acting. The ambient sounds of war that compose the background noise of the game (faraway screams, gunshots, explosions and sirens) are also well done, and do much to make the player feel immersed in the game environment.

REPLAYABILITY – 5/10

Brother's in Arms is of average length…seven to nine hours would be a fair estimate. It features three difficulty levels (with “authentic” being ridiculously hard) but no achievements for beating them. There are a couple of collectible items but other than that no particular reason to replay the game. Combined with a multiplayer that could best be described as mediocre (practically nobody plays it anymore, anyway), and you've got a title that's really only going to give you one playthrough, perhaps two.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway is game that wants to be so many things. A character-driven commentary on the horrors of war, an attempt to have the player experience insanity firsthand, a solitary FPS, and many others. The parts that work well really are great, but they just tried too many different things that don't. The result is a title that simply lacks focus, and that transmits to lack of interest for the player. In a market that has already demonstrated itself to be getting sick of WWII shooters, Hell's Highway is ultimately a road to nowhere.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/09

Game Release: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (US, 09/23/08)