Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Upon the completion of the final installation in Gearbox Software’s acclaimed trilogy, I have quite a lot to say. Not a lot of it is good. Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway was released on PC on October 8th, 2008, and takes the protagonists of the previous games (who for review purposes I will now name) Matt Baker and Joseph ‘Red’ Hartsock directly into Operation Market Garden, the ambitious offensive planned by the foolhardy General Montgomery to bridge a path along the Netherlands and forge a direct line straight into the German heartland past the Rhine river. Be aware that I did my first and only run-through of this game on the hardest possible difficulty, with an additional difficulty being unlocked at the end of my play.

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway has clearly sought to elevate the Brothers in Arms foundations established in the two previous games to new heights, taking every aspect of what made up the series and presenting it on a new scale both functionally and visually. However, immensely serious changes in gameplay dynamic make the game abundantly easy even on the games hardest first time difficulty, with other functional changes impacting the way the game is played as well. Visually, the game is quite amazing at most points, Gearbox Software employs the Unreal Engine 3 to great effect, creating what is by far one of the greatest looking World War 2 action games I have played to date. But all this is hampered by a weakness in what Brothers in Arms prides itself most in: Plot. It’s these three areas that largely define what Hell’s Highway is, that is, a very different game from its predecessors. For better or (much) worse.

What I actually liked about the game, aside from the graphical enhancements:

• The use of Cut-scenes far more often, with superb animation compared to the series standard, really helps the game achieve it’s initial intention of being a cinematic war movie homage, alike to Band of Brothers. They also make Brothers in Arms’ trademark employment of recurring and developing characters much easier to keep track of, something sorely missing from the previous games which lead to a lack of connection with the plot.
• The addition of a cover system, including destructible cover at regular intervals, is a welcome inclusion. The functionality of the system never gave me any issues throughout the entire game and generally made command and control a bit smoother. Vaulting too, this was an addition that made too much sense not to include I presume.
• Inclusion of more friendly NPCs is a great plus. Just being able to see realistic military conditions around you, with other soldiers operating along the battlefield really helps remove the feeling of emptiness that plagued the previous games. Further effects like planes and paratroopers in the sky greatly added to this as well.
• Voice acting and editing has been greatly improved with this title. Conversations between characters are for the larger part much smoother, crisper and well cut this time around, once again helping with plot development. Characters are also a lot more responsive and verbally active in combat now as well.
• For the larger part of this review, I am going to speaking rather negatively about the games combat functionality and changes, so here is what I appreciated the developers doing: A greater variation of fire-teams with different weapons and abilities really helped shake up gameplay at points and Hell’s Highway’s Combat Map is a marked improvement from the situational overview screen from the previous two games. The ability to command three fire teams by the end of the game was a great choice, but really could have been implemented throughout the whole game in my opinion.

That just about covers the praises I have for this game beyond by next paragraph. I’ve saved the graphical enhancements for last as they are the most profound improvement featured in Hell’s Highway. Almost 10 years on, and the game still looks great. The characters, combat areas and weapons are all beautifully textured, with generally consistent good animation to boot. It’s really gives a remarkable addition to the game, awarding me a shred of disbelief suspension despite all the crappy aspects about this game that are to follow. Unfortunately, as it’s well acknowledged to this day, graphical improvements are not a redeemer of poor game design.

The most glaring terrible issue with Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway is its gameplay changes. It simply makes small but high impact choices across the whole game and certain missions that degrade the entire experience to a shadow of the previous two games. Accuracy in the game has been raised on all weapons, leading to a situation where 90% of the time, commanding your squad effectively or using small infantry tactics is completely unnecessary and quite often less effective than simply going ‘Call of Duty’ style and picking off hostiles at range with rifle or machine gun fire. This is compounded by the fact that by default, you’re given almost four times the ammo as you were in previous games, for all weapons, with complete resupplies made available at many points in the mission. Now while in Earned in Blood you could acquire ammo from your squad mates, this function became more difficult to use under fire when 6 sub-machine gun magazines could be expended in a matter of minutes, where any hostiles represented a much greater threat. The combination of these gameplay changes leads to the entire game being painfully easy for almost its entire run time.

The final large scale issue I had with this game was the plot. Now I’m going to not enter spoiler territory and give away any plot points, but some of the things I’m going to say will only make sense after you’ve played. It’s clear that as part of their delivering a much more up-gunned experience to top off their series, they chose to bring the plot to new heights as well. Evidently dangerous heights. Essentially, the story is delivered much more dramatic and focused than ever before, in no small part due to the improved voice acting, animations and cut-scenes. But where this all goes, ultimately falls short. A vast majority of the time, the conflict between characters and the emotional trials of the characters, primarily Matt Baker, are extremely forced. By and large, and this is difficult to back up without spoilers, the game lacks subtlety. It tried to present itself as a heightened cinematic experience, but doesn’t really bring any of the story-writing skill that one always expects even with poorly made war movies. Instead, at most points, the plot is delivered in an extremely predictable and ham-fisted way, much like the plots of many action games. But where other games can be forgiven as the plot usually serves only to advance gameplay, Hell’s Highway’s plot is very clearly central to both the core of the game and the gameplay itself, with much of it being directly attached to the plot, far more than the previous two games. I honestly felt disconnected from the plot, and would have made many changes to improve it given the chance. My lack of connection was repaired for one small moment near the end of the game, but only for a moment, and it only served to remind me what the game was sorely missing. Either way, leaves a lot to be desired.

In summary, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway is not the game this series deserved as its sendoff, even if they put a ‘to be continued’ on the end of the game, we all know there won’t likely be a fourth game. I played the game to its conclusion for the sake of review, but otherwise it is sorely not worth the time if one is looking for an enjoyable experience akin to the original two Brothers in Arms games. The only circumstances I would recommend this game under are if you’re looking for a Call of Duty style experience with more Squad type execution. It doesn’t excel in either quality but it’s at least unique in its makeup, if not any good. I’m going to give it a 5/10.