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You are placed in the shoes of Sgt. Matt Baker, a D-day paratrooper
squad leader, who must lead your team as you balance their
lives with the success of the mission. The true stories and
historical events you experience on your perilous journey
take you through real battlefields meticulously recreated
from aerial reconnaissance images, US Army Signal Corps photos
and eyewitness accounts of war-torn Normandy...
Brothers
in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is
based on a true story, so the PR machine tells me. But before
you scoff and say: "Well, duh! That claim can be made
of any game set during WWII!" The developers have gone
that little extra distance.
Apparently
not only did they gather detailed aerial reconnaissance images
to ensure that everything is as authentic as possible, but
they also researched US Army Signal Corps photos and eyewitness
accounts of war-torn Normandy to push realism that little
bit further.
So
why should you buy this when this genre is swamped with similar
games? Well, for starters (with the exception of Full
Spectrum Warrior - which is in a totally different
genre) I don't think I've ever been this impressed by a WWII
first person shooter. The only thing that comes close are
the Medal of Honour series. But Brothers in Arms
is head and shoulders about anything that has gone before.
The
graphics are breathtaking and the game play is just hard enough
to ensure you get shot to bits on your first attempt, but
not hard enough to have you totally frustrated. This mix is
essential in ensuring that you don't complete the game in
a day, or get fed up being riddled with bullets every five
seconds and switch off never to return.
Also
worthy of note is the music - a cross between John Williams
and Howard Shore at their finest. Sadly, I'm not sure who
composed the music, but they should be working in Hollywood.
There
are problems, be they minor. Firstly your guys can be really
frustrating sometimes as they tend to get in your way. This
happens a lot when you take an enemy stronghold that houses
a machine gun. More often than not you can't use the gun as
one of your men is in your way. But it's more annoying when
the enemy are shooting at you and you can't hide in a doorway
because one of your people is just standing there.
Another
little nit-pick is that you can't really interact with the
background. You can't shoot and destroy barrels or items of
furniture. And, if you shoot a muddy area grass seems to appear
out of nowhere and fly up into the air. Okay, this two last
niggles are tiny, and would probably have slowed the game
play down considerably.
As
far as I'm concerned, at present this is the finest WWII first
person shooter on the market. You know you're onto a winner
when your heart beat rises and your hands start to sweat as
soon as you enter enemy territory.
Pete
Boomer
Buy
this item online
We
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£29.99
(Amazon.co.uk)
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£37.99
(MVC.co.uk) |
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£28.99
(Powerplaydirect.com) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
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