Brothers In Arms: Road to hill 30 (BIA) tells the tale of Matt Baker and his unit as they embark on the events during D-day and there after during World War 2. The game is based on a true story and features the war effort of the Americans in Normandy France. Using a combination of real time first person shooting and squad tactics makes Brothers In Arms a welcome World War 2 game to rival the more established Medal of Honour series which lets face it, is more of an arcade recreation of the events of this time period.

Gameplay:

Brothers In Arms starts by thrusting players into a preliminary scene which shows the squad leader Matt Baker (that’s your character by the way) and fellow comrades being attacked, pinned and finally taken out one by one in a horrific scene of death as the German troops flank and over run your position on the infamous Hill 30. Whilst this scene is an insight into what could potentially happen to you and your squad is in fact a future flashback (if that makes any sense) as when the real game starts you will actually be thrust into action several days before this event.

Starting out on board an aircraft and as an almost reluctant hero you are in command of several soldiers and as the game aptly puts it, these guys are more like your brothers rather than colleges at work. On board the aircraft the squad prepares to parachute over the drop zone but unfortunately you are hit by flak and bail out early with no clear indication of the fate of the rest of the squad. Once you have landed the game begins proper as it’s just you and your wits that will help you to survive and hopefully re-group with the rest of the squad, where ever they may be.

What is good about the game is the way in which it begins to ease you into the complexity of the game play at a reasonable pace. As you start out with a mere pistol and following a fellow soldier across the terrain, more game play features are introduced as time goes by. The first thing that you will learn is the very rewarding use of tactics which on the default settings can be ignored to some degree, especially early on in the game. However as you progress you will begin to start seeing that this is no Medal of Honour type game as there is no place for the one man army here (despite it working sometimes if you so choose).

You are quickly introduced to two main points of combat that will follow you throughout the game which are “Suppression fire” and “Flanking”. These manoeuvres are even used in today’s modern warfare and whilst may not guarantee victory are often the best approach to use to minimise casualties on your side. Suppression Fire is when you order a unit to fire on a specific target area, such as Germans hiding behind a wall. During this time and rather obviously the Germans will find it hard to return fire accurately or at all if bullets are incoming to them. Suppression will make your targets take cover rather than poking their heads out and firing at you!

Flanking is a technique which really should be combined with the suppression fire. So if Germans are being suppressed behind a wall this gives you or another unit the chance to move to the side or rear of them to get a clear shot and take them out with the minimal amount of risk to your troops. The suppression not only restricts the movement of the enemy but also acts as a perfect decoy as your second unit moves into position to flank.

These techniques are what you will mostly be employing throughout the game whether that is with a 2 man team or with tank support or even with the full squad. The correct use of these techniques will be paramount to your success throughout the game and especially on the more difficult settings. Like I said earlier there are plenty of opportunities for your character to do the flanking or perhaps run in and go all gung ho but it is far more rewarding when you come up with a plan, issue the orders then carry it out successfully.

The terrain is lifted from the actual locations in Normandy France and is littered with all sorts of cover and foliage to move around. What is handy and perhaps a little fiddly to use is the option to pause the game and scan the surrounding area and objectives with an overhead view point. This tool is very useful for pre planning your suppression and flanking moves in advance, although I’m sure purists might argue that its use could be considered cheating somewhat as it does give the general locales of enemy positions and whatnot which lets face it, the boys in WW2 probably didn’t always have that luxury of air recon.

The actual combat itself is rather a mixed bag as it seems to border on the realistic to non realistic side of things. For example when aiming at medium to long range using one of the perfectly recreated authentic weapons in the game such as the M1 Garand rifle you can see the weapon moving slightly to simulate that soldiers do not have perfectly steady hands using these types of weapons in real combat situations. However when at close quarters the accuracy tends to be rather unpredictable where you can often miss your target when at almost point blank range with say a .45 pistol! Also the damage caused by weapons are a little unpredictable as well, where you will often see Germans fighting fit after taking several hits to the chest, head area.

The team AI is of a pretty high standard as they will auto fire on the enemy and take up defensive positions, although sometimes this doesn’t always work as well as it should and often appears unpredictable when you are trying to place your troops in specific areas. That said, you do have to work a little as commander to make sure that your troops obey your every command and if you make a mistake by pressing the wrong button then it can mean instant death for your brothers!

Graphics:

The graphics in Brothers In Arms aren’t the best you are going to see on Xbox and are in fact pretty basic with the exception of the character models which look and move quite realistically. Each of your team has their own unique look and if you move close to them you will see this as they smile or frown when you stare.

The locations as mentioned earlier are faithfully recreated and having been to Normandy and some of the places in the game when I was younger do a great job here, so kudos to the developers for recreating the killing fields of Normandy. What is also rather neat are the extra effects like aircraft in the sky and like which really adds to the great atmosphere the game has throughout. There are some moments of blood but this is never over stated and works well within the context of the game. One feature I really liked was when I was almost hit by a mortar round and the screen went hazy and my movement was restricted to simulate being disorientated. Good stuff!

Sound:

For me the sound is of a very high standard and whilst some of the in game dialogue is cheesy was performed very well throughout. The narrative that accompanied the start of each chapter was very good and told the often touching story of Baker very well. Each of the team members have a personality of their own and were performed accordingly. Even the Germans had their own speech although being in German I was unable to understand what they were saying.

The weapons sound effects all sounded like you would expect them to and I assume are as authentic as they can be. When coupled with the ambient sounds on offer and the constant yelling of your team mates this created an atmosphere that puts you right in there. If I were to complain then it would be of some of the repeated phrases used such as “don’t forget to search the bodies for smokes”.

Longevity:

Brothers In Arms is not the longest game to beat and will take players little time to beat if playing on the easy or even normal setting. If Like me you wanted to increase the length or add that little more difficulty then you could opt to restart checkpoints should you lose a team mate during combat. The game does have a harder difficulty setting and of course the authentic mode which definitely adds some replay value to the game. I think the real replay value comes from utilising different strategies when carrying out missions, which again adds to the replay value of what could be considered a short game.

There are some multiplayer modes available for those with system link or Xbox Live capabilities which is great and also split screen for those who want to huddle around a single TV, so it’s not all bad. I think for the single player component you basically get what you put in which I think some gamers will probably overlook this fact as they run and gun their way through the game on easy difficulty in just over 8 hours play time! There is some un-lockable content available but this doesn’t add any more to the actual game play and is more informative than anything, a nice inclusion all the same.

Overall:

Brothers In Arms is a welcome War inspired game to appear on Xbox and whilst it may share some similarities to games like Full Spectrum Warrior and Rainbow Six 3 has enough personality of its own to stand out. Once you start to get to control a decent sized squad the game really does come alive if you are a player that likes to incorporate tactics in your game play. I think those players that opt to try and do all the killing themselves are perhaps missing out on the whole point behind the game even though the game does allow you to do this should you so choose.

With tons of atmosphere and some excellent scenes to fight through Brothers In Arms is a great game despite not looking as good as some other games on the system. I would recommend renting this game first if you are a Halo player and perhaps too used to being a one man killing machine. For anyone else who is looking for a “thinking mans” shooter then I think you will do well to purchase this title. War is ugly and Brothers In Arms doesn’t glamorise it like other games do as its all about the squad and looking out for your fellow brother during combat so that you all make it home in one piece and live to tell the tale.