Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (Xbox 360)

Taking cover and taking names in slow motion.
10/1/2008 6:35 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

"What is it that makes a great soldier? His brain or his heart?" -- Sergeant Matt Baker

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway finds Sergeant Baker and his howling commandos paratrooping into the Netherlands just in time for Operation Market Garden. One of the bloodiest and most sustained offensives in World War II has been painstakingly recreated with Unreal Engine 3, showcasing what happened when then-modern destructive technology met quaint Old World architecture. The result of that destruction is cover -- precious, precious cover -- and the excellent cover system is what gives the game its "brain."

Meanwhile, Hell's Highway wears its "heart" on its sleeve (or more accurately, it's painted on the sides of helmets) with its ambitious and increasingly melodramatic cut scenes. The game tries to cram the human drama of several fine WWII movies and the HBO series "Band of Brothers" into cinematics that are too short and poorly written and voiced to be impactful, while still feeling interminably long and eye-rollingly maudlin. It's frustrating to see the ambition in the plot while also being painfully aware of how far short it falls. Aside from a few obvious clichés (all I need say is "small boy" and "young, pretty woman," and most of you will know exactly how those stories unfold), the story is unrelentingly depressing. These men have to go from horrific battle to horrific battle, and in between they suffer endless psychological and emotional torments torn from the most lurid pages of "True Stories of WWII" and the most schlocky films ever made. This is remarkable because the fast-paced excitement of the missions feels totally at odds with the laconic, molasses-thick pace of the main plotline.

Thankfully, aside from a few "Why am I alone with only a pistol?"-style missions, the story doesn't have much to do with the missions. Characters never refer to the previous mission; instead, the game offers written documentation about the battle and each mission map has two areas that can be reconned for more info. That's where you get your sense of place and purpose -- the cut scenes can thus be skipped and your head can concentrate on jumping from cover to cover, and on cramming the business end of an M1 Garand down Hitler's throat.

Part 3-D first-person shooter, part tactical game, Hell's Highway is like a less stealthy and more chaotic Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. The missions are puzzle-like and usually have you rooting out entrenched German positions or defending. Sergeant Baker carries three guns (usually a machine gun, pistol and M1 rifle, but he can pick up heavy weapons like bazookas and any German weapon he finds) and can command up to three units: a Base-of-Fire team, an Assault team and a Bazooka team.

The main purpose of ordering troops around is to suppress the enemy. They're under cover too, and while you're trying to pick them off, they're picking you off. So you need to order your men to fire at enemy positions until the red circle around them turns grey, signaling that enemy fire has been suppressed. Then you use cover -- ranging from flimsy wooden crates and fences to metal tank barriers, ruined cars, sandbags and embankments -- to get into a flanking position to blow them away. You drop into cover with LB and order your troops around with LT. This can be awkward, as it's very easy to order troops to the wrong side of cover or even straight down the enemy's throat by accident.