‘Great. Another WW2 shooter. That’s all we need,’ will have been a lot of people’s reaction to the arrival of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (hereafter BiA:RtH30 to save my poor typing fingers). Given the number of games that now have WW2 as their setting, such an attitude is understandable, but just because something doesn’t immediately strike one as totally original doesn’t mean it should be written off. Originality is all well and good, but there are drawbacks to being the first to do something as well as advantages to taking someone else’s basic idea and building on it. I cite the London Tube system as evidence. It was the first in the world and has provided a brilliant template to other countries of how NOT to run a metropolitan underground service ever since.
That said, of course, any good idea does tend to spawn a torrent of derivative effluence – particularly if one is talking about reality TV shows. Occasionally, though, a sparkling gem can be discerned amongst the tide of detritus, something which takes the basic concept and develops it to produce a better product. BiA: RtH30 is just such a thing.
So what’s striking about it? Well, several things. First is the core idea of playing as a squad rather than as a one-man army. Although on one level BiA:RtH30 is a FPS where you play as Sgt. Matt Baker of the 101st US Airborne Division, you also have to control a squad – sometimes two or a squad and a tank – as you endeavour to complete your missions. And, boy, do you need your comrades’ help! Run around like a headless chicken, spraying bullets everywhere in this game and you won’t last long, believe me. Not only do you (and your men) die quickly if you get caught in the open, but the aiming is far more challenging in BiA:RtH30 than in other FPSs, with the aiming reticle realistically moving around unless you kneel, steady yourself, and look down the sights. Needless to say, ardent ‘run and gun’ enthusiasts might not find this to be quite their cup of tea.
The route to success in BiA:RtH30 is to be more tactical, using one squad to suppress an enemy position while you and/or another squad flanks them. Or vice versa. This not only brings a welcome sense of realism to the genre, but also makes the game more of a cerebral challenge as you decide where to place your men, whom they should shoot at, how to move against the enemy’s rear (oo-er, matron! Sorry, I’m a fan of the Carry On films…) and so on. Overall, the mechanics of controlling your squad(s)/tank are simply and very well done (basically, hold down L1 and point to where you want them to go/shoot/charge). There are occasional lapses with the AI, such as when some of your squad choose to stand on the wrong side of the cover you’d directed them to – d’oh! – but while this can be frustrating, I never found it to be much more than a niggle. In truth, I was more impressed by how good the AI generally is and on the occasions when it let me down and I had to redo part of a level, I never had to go back too far and rarely minded replaying through a section I’d just done anyway.
Playing with a squad also gives BiA:RtH30 a different feel to most other WW2 shooters. As the game progresses, you start to feel a real affinity for the men you command and their names become as familiar to you as those of your own mates. Some nicely done cut-scenes help develop their personalities and add to the sense of realism that is one of this game’s great strengths. Indeed, personally, I would’ve liked the cut-scenes to have been a bit longer and added more background story. The fact that the action takes place over an eight-day period in a geographically restricted area (Normandy on D-Day and after) also gives BiA:RtH30 a more coherent, genuine feel than most other WW2 shooters. The objectives in this game – for example, clearing a field so some gliders can land safely or finding an armoured vehicle to come save your buddies – may seem more mundane than trying to derail the Nazis’ nuclear programme or take out V2 production, but again this just augments the game’s excellent sense of authenticity. I thank my lucky stars that I’m never likely to have to experience for real what my grandfather’s generation went through in the 1940s, but BiA:RtH30 gives me a better idea of what it might have been like to be a soldier in WW2 than any other game I’ve played.
Technically, BiA:RtH30 is impressive and pushes the PS2’s hardware pretty much to its limit. It looks and sounds great, and generally runs very smoothly (I did encounter one moment of slowdown, however, when a host of Germans rushed my squad as they attempted to make it across a causeway). The lack of in-game music adds to the gritty feel as well as making it easier to hear the shouts of your comrades when they’re trying to let you know something useful (like that they’re being ripped to shreds by a machine gun – eek!). The voice-acting is top notch, especially for a video game, which, let’s face it, has a chequered history in this department. Both the towns and countryside of 1944 Normandy are very nicely recreated, often with reference, as the game’s many unlockable extras explain, to original photos and reports. BiA:RtH30 really feels like it was a labour of love for Gearbox and you have to admire that.
Other than the occasionally slightly wayward AI and rare technical glitch, I’m honestly hard-pressed to find anything negative to say about BiA:RtH30. Like most Ubisoft games, it can be quite hard, but there’s always an easy setting (as well as a hard and even an authentic level for those who REALLY fancy a challenge or want to induce a stress-related breakdown of some kind). The level design is both varied and intelligent with several different ways of completing most missions. Being restricted to two guns and a limited number of grenades is another neat touch and sometimes helps shape your style of play (if you don’t have a rifle, you’re gonna have to get up pretty close and personal with your Thomson or BAR to make sure you take your enemies down!).
All in all, I thought BiA:RtH30 was a great game to play. I’d hesitate to declare it the best WW2 shooter ever, what with Call of Duty 1 & 2 out there as well as the much-underrated Hidden & Dangerous 2 on PC, but I’d say it’s in the same ballpark. It won’t float everyone’s boat, but then what game does? If you like games with a WW2 setting and if you like FPSs but sometimes wish they were a bit more tactical and realistic, you really should give this a go. I did and had one of my most rewarding gaming experiences in a while as a result.
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