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Brothers in Arms: Road To Hill 30 (Xbox)
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4/5 |
Sometimes brilliant, always good
(September 04, 2007) |
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Anyone who's seen Steven Spielberg's 'Band Of Brothers' or 'Saving Private Ryan' will know exactly the brutal reality faced by soldiers in World War II. And a fair whack of those people who have watched either will want to witness it from another perspective, from behind a controller. Which is where 'Brothers In Arms' comes in. Having been described by many as the ultimate World War II FPS squad-based shooter, it easily achieves in its aim of putting you in the hands of a realistic squad and throwing you in at the deep end. There's just one snag - to be honest, we've seen it before.
'Brothers In Arms' does everything its set out to do; with damningly intelligent AI, you, as the leader of your squad, have to navigate through some of the most dangerous and Nazi infested towns and countryside, where there may be a Nazi machine gun post waiting around the corner or a group of enemy soldiers, or 'krouts' as you squad members love to call them, in any window of any building. The words 'incredibly atmospheric' don't even come close. And your squad aren't just cannon fodder - you have to learn quickly that it is them that will get you through the game, not yourself. Controlling your squad is simple, and the 'suppress and flank' move that is nigh on forced on you is so rewarding when done right, as is sending your entire squad charging one lone, reloading Nazi - cruel, yes, but this is war, and the Nazis don't make things easy at all. The extremely easy and useful 'recon' view you get helps a lot, allowing you to survey areas of the battlefield and objectives whilst keeping you head out of the way from flying bullets. Throw into that the fact that game is completely historically accurate, with squad members being based on actually soldiers and missions, naturally, being identical to those that happened some sixty or so years ago, you do have the most realistic military FPS out there. The graphics of the various locations are well detailed and a pleasure to look at, though the animation and graphic of the squad is so good - a little too reminiscent of those 'Medal Of Honour' cross-port games. But the game itself is a genius; it forces you to be clever, patient and professional - try any of those 'Medal Of Honour' style rampages, and you'll be dead quicker than you can say 'shot'.
So why haven't I given it five stars? I said at the beginning that we've seen it before, and to some degree, we have. In the past few years, the gaming world has been flooded by tactical shooters (Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Full Spectrum Warrior, Shellshock Vietnam...) and we have all experienced plenty of WWII shooters - Call Of Duty, Commandos and Medal Of Honour being the most famous. So, apart from being incredibly realistic in terms of environments, we've kind of seen a lot of this before. Don't get me wrong, it is a very good game, there's just a strong sense of Deja Vu. And the squad commands, although fun, get a little repetitive and are few in number - but that's realism for you. And the quick wittiness and 'jokes' of your soldiers become really tiresome. They are there to add some none-combat realism, to give your soldiers ('Brothers' as we are repeatedly told) a personality, to make us sympathise with them - but it usual just narks us off, they are so predictable. The constant cut scenes and irritatingly passionate and overly dramatic string music also becomes frustrating. Saying this, it really is a smallish price to pay for such a realistic thriller of a game.
Overall, the game is a stunner. Brutal realistic, with simple to use commands, it does hold true to being the most realistic WWII squad-based shooter out there, even if it does suffer through a few small annoyances - sometimes brilliant, always good.
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5/5 |
One of the best games I've ever played.
(July 14, 2007) |
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Racers had been done. First Person Shooters had been done to death, and even squad-combat was getting tiresome. This came along and blew me away.
A squad-sombat WWII game was crying out to be made, and finally this presented itself. The graphics are also awesome for current-gen consoles.
But the main thing I find cool about this game is the way your squad is used. In Rainbow six you make them go somewhere, they will shoot at the enemy and, if you want you can try to flank them, that is assuming all of the enemy are pinned. On this, a.) you have control of a larger squad and b.) if you order them to shoot at an enemy, the enemy will be pinned. All this allows for far more tactical opportunities than in most squad games.
LOOK AT THE PRICE! Buy! Buy now! |
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5/5 |
Road to hill 30
(March 12, 2007) |
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this game is absolutely amazing!! graphics and gameplay are amazing and storylines are good... the authenticity is really good and the characters look amazing!! if you have ever seen the hit series Band of Brothers you can really imagine you are in that series!! i love this game and it is a must get!! well worth the money!! overtakes the Medal of Honor series and seriously challenges the Call of Duty series!!!!! overall this game is one of a kind!! |
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3/5 |
pros and cons
(April 05, 2006) |
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I recently bought the game on the good reviews and it seemed interesting. it is a brill game but reall easy i think the game play is smooth and it has a good story line but i dislike the fact you do not have medipacks. The graphics need to be brushed up a bit. I also think you should be able to skip the cutscenes it can be very annoying. |
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5/5 |
Brother in Arms: Road to Hill 30
(February 18, 2006) |
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This game is the best WW2 game ever! When it first came out I got Ghost Recon 2 instead and found it really boring and reasonably easy. So I decided to get this game, and I have to say it's so cool!!! The most important aspect of this game for me was its realism, Games like Call of Duty: Finest hour (for Xbox, The PC version is awesome!!) And especially Medal of Honour mocks the history and realism of WW2 completely, for example in medal of honour it is you against the 3rd Reich. However in Brothers in Arms it’s your squad and your command that wins the day, not your Immunity to bullets. I have played this game over and over again and not got bored of it; I have completed the bulk of the levels on authentic however some of the final missions are pretty solid to complete. What’s cool about completing the levels on harder difficulties is that you unlock interesting historical features The Graphics are good and match that of Halo 2 in detail and quality. The effects are also brilliant explosions and gunfire makes you feel like you’re in a battle. The controls are easy to use, and the command buttons are basic, for example all you have to do to get your team to move to a certain position is to hold down L and direct the curser using the joystick to that position, really simple In multiplayer mode me and my friends hade so much fun playing against each other, the nitty gritty realism and tense moments were so much fun, I wander what the hell online play could be like! In the game you have to use tactics to beat the enemy, the main principles are suppressing the enemy with your fire team and flanking the enemy with your assault team. This is so much fun because you can direct it using this in cool in game mode which provides an overhead view of the area, enabling you to chose you fire positions and cover. It is a challenge to do as well especially on authentic difficulty mode. It’s not easy to do!!! The in game story is in depth and gives emotion and purpose to the game. In summary it is about a squad leader (you) and his struggles while leading his men. All in all a brilliant game, my only criticism would be the non-dynamic AI on occasions, all they do is wait to be out flanked. However the latest version Brothers in Arms: Earned in blood is said to have a new AI system that provides a more aggressive enemy. I’m thinking of getting the latest one sometime soon!!! Get the Game!!! |
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