Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is an excellent first person shooter, that blends first person action, with a traditional third person strategy game. I've had the luxury of playing Brothers in arms on both Xbox, and PC and I have found no significant differences between the products in game play, how ever the PC is able to render the game in a much clearer and crisper image.
Graphics, Brothers in Arms graphics are good enough to be ranked in the top echelon of games. They are an improvement over the quake 3 engine, but are not quite up to the source engine. I would argue that graphically Brothers in Arms could go toe for toe with Medal of Honor Pacific Assault. Reflections are rendered on water; there are realistic shadows, but nothing like Doom 3's engine. During daytime fighting the Normandy country side is rendered in a colorful, all most eerily pleasant pastille palate. There are lots of tall grasses, hedgerows, and over all picturesque to look at, unlike the somewhat dirty images from games like Call of Duty or Medal of Honor Allied Assault. The graphics are not the absolute best in a video game, but they are better than 95% of the games on the market 10/10.
Game play, Brothers in Arms is not a traditional first person shooter, and it is not a traditional Strategy game, it is a blend of the two! In brothers in Arms, you can be tasked with ordering two fire teams around the virtual battle field, while functioning as a 3rd fire team yourself. The key to mastering the game is to not play gung-ho, and try and win the war by yourself, but you must utilize your teammates to suppress enemy units, while you, or another fire team close with the enemy to destroy them. Several missions replace one fire team, with a Stuart tank, and another few give you control of a Sherman, which are handy units to use in completing missions, but they are vulnerable to German tanks, and Pak anti tank guns located on some of the maps. Players should also expect, not to be able to find health packs anywhere on the maps, your character will only gain health in between missions. Also ammo can be scares for yourself, although your squad seems to have a limitless amount. Luckily you can swap your empty weapon for a fully loaded German one. The only downside to the game is the inability to save the game as you want. Players are locked into the same check point system as the console players. Overall the game play is unique, new and refreshing and very enjoyable 10/10.
Replay Value, Brothers in Arms, supports a unique multiplayer format that can support up to 4 players. This would equate to a 2v2 objective based game type. The catch is you are give command of 2 AI fire teams (6 more targets) in a 2 v 2 however you are given control of one of the 3 man squads, and you human counterpart has control of the other. Basically each player would use the fire teams under their control, in the same way they would in single player, except that there will now be human players apposing them. With 4 single player difficulty levels, and multiplayer the game should have some staying power, but given the limited scope of multiplayer it may not last a player as long as some other games. 9/10
Sound FX this game has topnotch sound FX with EAX support for surround sound, things can get laud. The game continues the tradition in World War 2 based first person shooters of having an orchestral score as the main sound track. Ambient sound and adequate voice acting add to the overall experience of the game, and give a player a heightened sense of realism. But at times voice acting seems a bit awkward, or poorly dramatized to be taken seriously. Overall the sound earns a 9/10.
Create an Account
Member Login
