In the Game Room - Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Full disclosure - I am an unabashed Brothers in Arms fan. Ever since its seminal first offering Road to Hill 30, I have never stopped praising the good people at Gearbox for having the guts to introduce smart, tactical gameplay into a genre that cries out for innovation. I've met Randy Pitchford (Gearbox CEO) and Col. John Antal (the game's military consultant) at two different E3's, and were always struck by their passion for the franchise and excitement to deliver something truly different to the marketplace.

So what if the multiplayer kinda stunk? The single-player campaigns were always magnificent. What's more, I've completely changed as a gamer over the past few years - I don't even play online multiplayer anymore except on rare occasions and only then with people I know. Maybe it's because I'm older, or because I'm a Dad, or just because I have so few hours a week to play, but I love me a good single-player mode now more than ever.

And Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway delivers that in spades.

I played HH over the course of almost 2 months, spending an hour or so a night a few times a week. The more I played it, the more I realized that's probably the right way to go. Simply put, HH is so intense and demanding that you become exhausted after just a level or two. And it's also hard - really freaking hard. But not hard in the "we're just out to punish you" hard, just "you have to think about what you're going to do then do it and not abandon smart tactics when things start to fall apart" hard.

Hell's Highway is an apt description; taking place during Operation Market Garden, you're placed in the (familiar to those who've played earlier versions) shoes of Matt Baker, who's dealing with all sorts of issues surrounding the events of his squad's earlier forays in Europe during D-Day. He and his regiment are dropped right into the center of the Market Garden mess, from the initial heady moments all the way through the painful defeat. Blistering setpiece firefights, house-to-house squad combat, tank battles, and haunting solo excursions all make up a surprisingly varied and satisfactory game.

This ain't your typical Brothers In Arms game either; sure, there's plenty of fix-flank-fire strategy, but there're also a healthy dose of vehicular and corridor-shooting levels to mix things up a bit. At no time will you ever be comfortable - which is exactly what I'm sure Gearbox was going for.

Unfortunately, Hell's Highway does have its share of problems. The cutscenes are shockingly jumpy, with texture changes and awkward movements. The story is also a bit of a wreck, even to fans of the series who know the characters well. The good news here is that it does a better job near the end, as opposed to the first few chapters, where I couldn't tell what the heck was going on. Even better, there's a clear indicator of yet another BIA title on the way, as "To Be Continued" precedes the ending credits. Evidently, Baker and friends will be heading to Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge next time. And that sounds freaking awesome.

Unlike some WWII shooters, Hell's Highway also spares little expense in gore. One of the, um, hallmarks of the game is the Action Cam, a mechanic that shows you your best kills in super-slo-mo, such as exploding heads for good sniper shots or dismembered bodies flying through the air when you time a grenade just right. Maybe it was happenstance or just bad timing, but half the time I got the Action Cam I didn't seem to be in the right place, as my camera angle was blocked or at least partially obscured. On those occasions when I had the right line of sight, though, it was more than a little disturbing to see chunks of Nazi arms and heads flying through the air in slow motion. I'm not sure if I hated it or not, but it's not completely necessary and isn't executed particularly well.

Even so, Hell's Highway remains one of my favorite games of the year. Unfortunately, it looks like it's getting buried in the holiday avalanche; who knows if it will even sell enough to get its clearly-alluded-to sequel even made. No matter what, I'm glad I played through it and despite its bevy of problems, I had a heck of a good time. It's strongly recommended to anyone with an Xbox 360 and a penchant for a thinking man's military game.