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Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 Xbox Ubisoft  War
games are a dime a dozen these days, and World War II games doubly
so. So how does a game distinguish itself from the rabble? Ubisoft's
'Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30' strives to recreate as accurately
as possible the events which unfolded during World War II before the
D-Day landing by using real locations, real troops and real scenarios
to put you in the boots of a WWII sergeant in the thick of things.
On the whole, it manages to achieve this with lots of action, a solid
script, and solid gameplay.The story accurately recreates the days leading up to D-Day as the US 101 Airborne Division parachutes into France to conduct operations behind enemy lines. You're thrust into the role of Sgt Matt Baker, reluctantly taking charge of the men with you, and have got to lead your team through nine fairly tough missions, all of which are based on the team's actual campaigns. At first, everything seems complicated and strange, just as it would for the troops. There's no standard walkthrough or training mission, but rather a video shows you how to command yourself and move your team. You're also introduced to the Situational Awareness View, which allows you to look around the local area map, see both allied and Axis troop positions, and plan your attack and flanking manoeuvres. Your squad mates are well-trained and this is reflected in their AI: they'll tell you when they can't carry out an order, will take cover and fire upon enemy encampments when directed to. Ordering your troops is as easy as pointing and shooting and it's context sensitive, so if you point at a German machine gun your team will try and suppress it, although if you point to a hedge the team will go and take cover. You control 'Armour' (tanks) in much the same way, and these metal beasts can also clear roads and take out enemy armour. The game doesn't skimp on detail. There's no default shooting reticle: rather, you have to rely on your guns' sight. Furthermore, you can turn off the suppression indicators for enemy troops, and also turn the auto-aim feature off for the really masochistic. This means you'll have to rely on sight and sound alone, and luckily the game looks and sounds fantastic and authentic. Although there's a greater deal of character development in the game than most war games - you never feel as though your team is cannon fodder and feel genuinely upset when one dies - if killed your squad does miraculously return at the beginning of the next mission. And there's always something going on in the background: planes fly overhead, guns fire and explosions boom off in the distance; and when things do start happening, you really do feel like you're in the thick of things. Bullets whiz past your head, mud and blood splatters in your face, and teammates cry out the position of the enemy when they're under fire and so on. The enemy is no slouch either, and they will unload a world of hurt on you if you don't plan your movement through an entrenched field carefully. Online play is quite like the single player missions. You take a squad of men online and work with or against another human player. Like offline play, the AI is superb and it's not wise to ignore them and go for their commander. Online or offline, 'Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30' is one of the most intense war games since 'Call of Duty' on the PC, and the most intense on Xbox by far. It's cinematic, realistic, and gritty and the closest we armchair generals will, hopefully, ever come to fighting in a Great War.  |
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