BROTHER IN ARMS: HELL'S HIGHWAY

GAME DETAILS :-

Developer : Gearbox Software

Publisher : Ubisoft

Engine : Modified Unreal Engine 3

Genre : Historic First-Person Shooter

Release Date : October 7 , 2008

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS :-

Operating System : Windows XP / Windows Vista

CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo Processor / AMD Athlon64 X2 5000+

Memory (RAM) : 2 GB

Graphics Hardware : DirectX 10.0 Compatible Video Card with Memory 512 MB

[NVIDIA : GeForce 8600 Series
ATI : Radeon HD 2400 Series]

Hard Disk Space : 8 GB

GAME FEATURES :-

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway sticks to these strengths, and commanding your squads through Nazi-occupied territory is more thrilling than ever thanks to the vibrant, beautiful scenery and the brutal, exhilarating action. Sergeant Baker (your character) and his squad are all nuanced, sympathetic characters, though the story doesn't quite live up to the promise of its protagonists. Despite a few irregular beats, Hell's Highway is an exciting, intense shooter that is sure to quicken your pulse. This go-around finds Sergeant Matt Baker and his crew carrying the memories of their fallen brothers and welcoming replacements into the fold. As they get set to drop into Holland as a part of the ambitious but doomed Operation Market-Garden, you meet the men whose lives you will be responsible for. The story isn't so much a narrative as it is an exploration of the relationships between soldiers; it's a mature look at the way bonds can be forged and broken in the emotional furnace of war. Through engaging cutscenes and lively battlefield communication, you'll find yourself developing an attachment to these characters. Many great moments, both comic and tragic, resonate with an admirable emotional clarity that unflinchingly evokes the turbid reality of war, where triumph and tragedy walk hand in hand. Unfortunately, some of these potentially great moments will fall flat if you're not well acquainted with old characters like Leggett, Allen, and Garnett. Hell's Highway often tries to lean on emotional pillars created by traumas from the first two games (both released in 2005), but the "previously on Brothers in Arms" segment isn't solid enough to support these references, and the framework crumbles a bit as a result. As the game progresses you'll gain the knowledge needed to prop up these references; this makes a second play-through more appealing, but it's a shame this understanding isn't established earlier. Strategy boils down to firing on German positions to keep them suppressed, then flanking around to a better angle and finishing them off. Your men are capable soldiers and will shout advice at you if you seem to be stagnating. They will also do their fair share of killing but are still occasionally liable to run on the wrong side of a wall when ordered to a different position. It hurts to lose one of your men in battle, regardless of the fact that he'll be patched up at your next checkpoint. Hell's Highway motivates you strategically and emotionally to be a smart leader, and it's surprisingly engaging to focus on something other than yourself in a first-person shooter. Battles become even more complex as you take more squads under your command and incorporate machine gun and bazooka units. The former is excellent at suppressing enemies, while the latter can destroy sandbag barriers and elevated enemy positions in houses and towers (particularly awesome). As you get the hang of squad command, you'll begin wielding your men as extensions of yourself and moving through battlefields as an elite, coordinated unit.

Realism is abundant throughout the game, though, thanks to the excellent audio and visual design. Each gun has a variety of unique sounds, and nearby explosions cause your ears to ring, drowning out all other battlefield noise. Bullets smack into cover you've hidden behind and whistle by your head disconcertingly, while tables and fences splinter and break in ways that both sound and look realistic. Your comrades are also quite detailed, though occasionally their facial textures will load a bit late, leaving you with a blurry, expressionless facsimile that can vitiate any emotional involvement you may feel. As you venture through the Dutch countryside and into more-populated zones, the landscape will change, but the superb level of detail will be constant throughout, only periodically marred by a lackluster texture or two. There are a number of multiplayer maps as well, and each supports up to 20 combatants. Two teams face off in successive standard capture-the-territory contests, respawning only at the beginning of each round. The twist is that each squad member has a certain role, from squad leader to weapons specialist to tank operator. Squad leaders can call in aerial recon, while weapon specialists travel with protective squads and deal their own unique brand of destruction. Hell's Highway is a game you should consider playing twice. The unlockable "authentic" difficulty mode removes all the heads-up display elements and really allows the visual design to shine. Hell's Highway proves to be an exciting, engaging ride despite a few bumps along the way.

GAME REVIEW :-

8.5/10

Brother In Arms: Hell's Highway Trailer :-