[//Aneurysm\\]

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
One of the best WWII shooters ever.
-By //Aneurysm\\ on 11/25/05

Developer: Gearbox
Publisher: UBIsoft
Genre: Strategic WWII FPS
Platform(s): PC, Xbox, and Playstation 2
Price: PC-about $29.99 Console-About $49.99

World War 2 games are growing more popular by the day, but, they all seem to follow the same, broken-up gameplay, but not Brothers in Arms (BIA). BIA is a fresh take on a dying genre—with a unique, and realistic combat scheme, and intense, bone-chilling explosions. It’s safe to say that BIA is the best WWII game ever.

BIA is based off the true story of the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles. You play the role of a newly assigned squad leader Sgt. Matt Baker. The story unfolds through the mind and diary of Sgt. Baker. As he claims; he never wanted to be squad leader. The story goes through moments of happiness, chaos, and tragedy. You will fight your way through real places that the 101st Airborne went through like the beautiful Carentan and Vierville on the way to the battle at Hill 30.

What makes BIA such an excellent and unique game is that you will use your squad with an actual war technique called flanking. The first step is to find your enemy, and tell your squad to take cover. The 2nd step is to “fix” your enemy by suppressing, or pinning them down so they cannot move. The 3rd “F” is to flank your enemy. The last “F” is to finish him off. This method is the most important part of the game. You will use this all the time, and every time throughout the game. The US army still uses this technique to this day.

Issuing these commands may seem confusing, but it is actually quite simple. By right clicking and holding you will get a cursor. Wherever you place the cursor that is where your assigned squad will go. Your squad mates are smart enough to find cover when they are issued there. When you find an enemy, you will see a red circle—this circle represents their suppression. Read means that they are firing back and completely grey means they can’t move or they will get shot at. To focus your fire on a certain enemy you just hold down the right trigger button and release it when you point it at your enemy. This will tell your team to shoot at them. Instead of simply letting go of the right mouse button, press the left mouse button and you will send your other squad, your assault squad usually, to charge at your enemy, or, you could do it yourself since you have more health then do. Your squad is smart enough to fire back if they are getting shot at, and will finish the enemy on contact. You will be doing this through the whole game.

As I said before, the levels in BIA are based off real places—even some of the buildings are exactly as they were back in WWII. The battles you face actually happened but maybe not in the exact way. One thing that makes BIA unlike any WWII game out there is that it has no crosshair. You have to bring up your gun and look through the sights in order to see exactly where you are shooting at. Your squad mates are also real people; Hartstock, Corrior, Mac and others.

The weapons you use in this game are also real, and cool. The rifles make better use for long distance combat and suppressing. The sub-machine guns are better suited for close combat and charging at your enemy. There are also grenades and all the German guns. Like CoD, BIA has turrents which are amazingly fun and easy to use.

The AI in BIA is amazing. It is one of the best of any WWII game. When you tell your squad-mates to take cover behind something, they will automatically do it, and they will start firing back. Your enemy is also very smart. They will do the exact same techniques as you. They will flank you and nade you. If you wait for them to come, or take to long, they will come after you and try to flank you. One of the best parts in the game is when you are at the top of Carentan’s church tower, snipping down Germans and destroying tons of tanks while the church is crumbling.

BIA delivers some very good graphics and character models, yet the textures on some buildings and the grass don’t look as good. The character models are top-notch. Your squad leaders look incredibly real. Their facial expressions rival those of Half-Life 2. The characters have certain medals and items, and, they move really cool. The textures, on the other hand, look a little low-quality and rushed. Most of the buildings look great, but a handful have some dirty, not too good to look at bricks. The grass is what kills it. It looks blocky and just gross at times. Sound wise, BIA is breathtaking. Your squad mates all sound amazing and will yell at you to do things and they will help you out. BIA may not have any music, but who needs music when you have gunshots whizzing by you and explosions boom right in front of your face?

FPS is always games that seem to have incredibly replay value, but a rather short campaign. BIA is a lengthy game, and has a good amount of replay value. The game is about 15 hours long, but it has a solid amount of replay value. The missions are so different and varied they provide different experiences every time you play through. Not to mention a truckload of unlockables like trailers, demonstrations, and pictures and facts on the places, and people in the game. BIA does have a decent multiplayer. Sadly, it’s tough to find anyone willing to play. The multiplayer is the same as the campaign—you command a certain amount of soldiers and order them around. The multiplayer won’t replace Unreal Tournament or Counter-Strike: Source anytime soon. It has a decent amount of maps, if you manage to find a server.

Despite its downfalls, BIA delivers a fresh and intense WWII shooter. It is arguably the best WWII shooter. BIA has an original combat scheme that is based around a real military technique—flanking. By ordering your troops to suppress your enemy, you then can send out a different squad to flank the enemy and finish them. The guy’s at Gearbox have done an amazing job controlling, and ordering, your squad mates around. It may seem confusing and clunky at first, but it is incredibly easy to get used to. BIA has great character models, but rather bland textures and environments, but it still looks really good. BIA does sound incredibly good, even though it has no music. Explosions sound excellent, and bullets whizzing by never have sound better before. BIA gives off a great value, and nice replay value, since the levels are so varied. BIA does have a decent online multiplayer, but no one is ever on to play, but with all the unlockable trailers and demonstrations, it is easy to get around that. BIA is one of the best shooters of 2005.

Scorecard
Presentation: A
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: B+
Sound: A
Value: A-
Tilt: A-
Overall: A- (93%)

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