Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway Preview

With two instalments in the Brothers in Arms franchise already under their belts, developers Gearbox are currently hard at work creating the third title, Hell's Highway, as the 101st Airborne prepares to enter the next-generation. Marking the Brothers In Arms debut on the next-gen consoles, Hell's Highway throws players back into the hostile environment of Nazi-held Europe, specifically the events of Operation Market Garden. Taking place between September 17th and 25th 1944, the operation took place in the Netherlands with the aim of capturing a number of bridges across several rivers, which would enable Allied forces to travel quicker towards Germany in a bid to end the war that Christmas. Sorry to plant a spoiler, but needless to say, the Germans won that battle by stopping an attempt to capture bridge at Arnhem. Anyway, back to the game.

Announced in September 2005 following confirmation by Gearbox that the team were using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 to create 'the next Brothers in Arms' game, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway promises to offer gamers an increased visceral and immersive game experience over its predecessors. Once again recruiting retired Colonel John F. Antal as military advisor throughout the course of development, Gearbox is focused on creating a more realistic experience for players of its tactical military FPS franchise and at the same time, harness the power of Xbox 360 and PlayStation3.

Once again reprising the role of Matt Baker, inner monologues included, players can look forward to enjoying both old and new gameplay elements during the course of Hell's Highway. The trademark elements of the franchise including its strategic squad system of course make a return, with gamers given command of a third heavy weapons squad team (using bazookas and heavy machine guns), adding to the Assault and Fire teams introduced in the first two titles. It seems that Gearbox are intent on taking the franchise further into the realms of strategy and tactics than ever before...

Compounding the continued emphasis on tactical gameplay is the introduction of destructible cover, so that both players and enemies can no longer rely on staying protected for long. Tactically this will mean that gamers will have to move the squad around, picking suitable (yet temporary) cover, and continue working through the more open gameworld created by Gearbox. Enemy AI has always been a strong point of the series to date, with German soldiers attempting to out-flank players, so expect it to continue in Hell's Highway. Taking the experience one step further will be the addition of 'ambush' gameplay, where players and the rest of the squad will be able to track bands of enemies thanks to intelligence from HQ, and launch devastating attacks whilst their targets remain unaware.

A new feature in Hell's Highway will be the 'Brotherhood Moments' (shortened by some to 'Bro-mos'), essentially interactive cutscene elements that Gearbox hopes will enable gamers to take stock of what's happening around them in and around the battles. In a recent post on their forums, Gearbox's CEO Randy Pitchford likened the sequences to the crash camera angles in Criterion's Burnout series, which pulls back from the player's car to focus on the crash that they've just caused. The studio's philosophy is the latest example of interactive cutscenes, with Capcom's Resident Evil 4 in 2005 a prime case. Pitchford also explained that the team wanted players to care more for the characters in the game, which hopefully the new element will help to accomplish. Each of the characters in the squad will have their own storyline and back-story, which will then unfold through the course of the game; again the aim is to enhance the feeling of being part of a brotherhood.

Based in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, Gearbox's early demonstration of the game saw Baker, Joe "Red" Hartsock, and some of the other soldiers of the 101st Airborne based in and around a toyshop. From the outset the leap in visuals from the previous two titles on the current-gen jump out from the screen; highly-detailed environmental textures, facial details including stubble and imperfections, HDR lighting and shadowing, all help to create a stunning graphical standard that is sure to make other studios take notice. The relative peace is broken when an explosion rocks the street outside; the glass windows shatter, and the soldiers (including a player-controlled Baker) are thrown back. Pulling a piece of embedded glass out of his arm (which looked as painful as it sounds), Baker then led the team out into the street to counter the attack launched upon his men. Moving stealthily through a number of gardens, players are given the task of destroying a number of anti-aircraft guns. Demonstrating the bazookas carried by the heavy-weaponry team new to the franchise, Gearbox ended the first-look preview with an example of a 'Bro-mo' as the camera shifted from Baker's point of view, and followed the rockets to its intended target.

In both previous Brothers in Arms titles historical figures appear in-game (Dwight Eisenhower in Road to Hill 30, and WWII historian Samuel Marshall in Earned in Blood), and Hell's Highway will be no different; Gearbox has confirmed that real-life war heroes Lt. Colonel Robert Cole, Colonel "Bob" Sink and George Koskimaki will all feature in the game. Whilst not essential to the overall game experience, the fact remains that Gearbox's decision to continue adding these figures strengthens the overall realism for players who know of these characters and their exploits in the war.

Both Ubisoft and Gearbox are keen to point out the redeveloped multiplayer experience for Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, with squad-based death-matches just one of the options being prepared for the final game; expect a more complete list closer to release. The franchise has always been more directed towards Xbox, with both PC and PlayStation 2 versions delayed by at least a few days in the past. It'll certainly be interesting to see whether Ubisoft will follow a similar strategy for Hell's Highway, especially when all three formats are due for release in time for Christmas 2006.