Brothers in Arms:  Road to Hill 30 by Gearbox Software.

With the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe hearts and minds all over the world turn to a different time, the era of the so called “greatest generation”.  A fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by veterans of that era can be found in the loving details and hard work put forth in Brothers in Arms:  Road to Hill 30.

Brothers in Arms is a new squad based tactical game that recreates a historic mission of the 101st Airborne division of the US Army (the same one portrayed in the HBO series Band of Brothers).  I played the Xbox version but it’s also available for PS2 and PC.  This is no run of the mill first person shooter, it offers a unique game experience where the player controls a squad dropped behind German lines one day before the Normandy invasion.  The controls and overall game play are reminiscent of a Tom Clancy game (like Ghost Recon) as it focuses on realism and squad based tactics.  Storming in and trying to shoot everybody up won’t work as a tactic in this game.  What I found most interesting about this game was the intensive depth and realism of all the little details.  Every map in this game is based on real settings, visited by the developers, photographed and recreated digitally for us to play in.  You have to dig into the special features to really get a sense of the work that went into these details.  They’ll show you side by side pictures of a farm in France where a battle took place and the digital simulation of the farm in the game.  The game play itself is particularly immersive, the men will sometimes swear and panic in the heat of battle.  Through cut scenes you’ll get to know your squad and its individuals as they share conversation both lighthearted and heavy.  It seemed to make it all the more difficult to hear someone’s name called out by one your men because they went down in a blast of enemy machinegun fire, you’ll actually feel more than a little responsible to keep your platoon alive while accomplishing your objectives.  I have a problem using “realistic” to describe a war game.  No game can capture the feeling of being away from home for an indefinite period as a young man, perhaps never to return, or the feeling of sleeping outside without basic creature comforts for days on end and that’s before you see any action.  This game gives you a sense for all of these experiences and more, it gives you the exhilarating side of combat but also tragic elements through remarkably deep storytelling.

The tactics are based on infantry flanking maneuvers on a variety of terrain, you’ll try to outflank your enemy firing lines to render them easy targets.  Only they’re not just sitting around waiting for you to figure this out.  You’ll be required to make decisions based on the terrain and objectives as you to move teams of infantry around the battlefield so as to exploit their particular strengths, there are even missions where you get to control Sherman tank.  The video resolution was only 480P, typical for Xbox games.  Although it’s not a true high definition game the graphics look remarkable.  Especially good looking are the people, the way they move, the models are so realistic it’s a bit eerie.  Just walk up to a soldier and click on them, they’ll stand there looking at you, blinking intermittently.  Eventually they’ll have something sarcastic to say to you, as a good soldier should.  The sound of this game is outstanding too.  The surround channels are well used to recreate the environment, directional sounds are flawless as you twist your way through the woods trying to flank a machinegun nest the sound of its location remains audibly consistent.  Even the sounds of individual weapons seem realistic.  Too many times in games or movies are assault rifles made to sound like cannons.  In this game some of the standard issue rifles sound much like hunting rifles.  Turn up the sound and you’ll eventually start recognizing the kind of weapon being fired in battle.

The special features unlocked after each mission are where you’ll learn valuable bite sized tidbits of history from the period and a lot about how they developed the game.  On hand through much of the special features is Colonel John Antal, US Army retired who appears on the game’s credits as military historic director.  Brothers in Arms:  Road To Hill 30 makes a truly respectable tribute to a defining moment of the 20th century and capturing realism and historic detail was at the forefront of this games design.