
This design conceit gives you incentive to actually use established army doctrine to find, fix, flank, and finish the enemy. Tanks play a large role in the game, both as your allies and your enemies. Unsuppressed enemies are much more accurate with their shots and may actually move, either to get a better attack position, or to find more useful cover. Fully suppressed enemies will not move or fire much, and when they do shoot, their accuracy is poor.
#Brothers in arms road to hill 30 bonus full
Like in Full Spectrum Warrior, you'll see icons over enemy positions to signify their condition. The former is usually armed with submachine guns and is better at charging and eliminating enemies, while the latter carry rifles and are better at establishing a base of fire on an enemy position for suppression. Infantry are either designated as an assault team or a fireteam. There's plenty of incentive to play on the higher difficulty settings, though, as this forces you to perform in a more disciplined fashion with sharper command decisions.ĭepending on the mission, you'll command either one or two squad elements, each of which can consist of a few infantrymen or a tank. The campaign should last most players about 10 to 12 hours on their first play-through. You'll also be treated to shooting gallery-style missions later on, where you're defending a position while armed with a sniper rifle. You'll need to deal with enemy tanks on a couple of missions, and while you will often have access to a bazooka or your own armor under your command in these cases, it's much more thrilling and satisfying to sneak up behind the enemy tank, climb onto it, and drop a grenade into the hatch to take it out.

Another chapter has you clearing obstacles off of heavily defended farms in order to make a path for gliders to land. You'll also explore hedgerows filled with hidden mortar teams and German 88mm guns, which are a menace to your tanks. Some will have you assaulting small towns crawling with German infantry, machine gun nests, and snipers.

The game's campaign offers an interesting mix of mission types. The quiet, introspective thoughts that Baker and his squadmates share between missions is a stark contrast to the intense, chaotic battles you'll fight. This is a minor gripe, though, and the game would be unduly difficult if you weren't allowed to lose any squadmates over the course of a mission. There is one thing that breaks the mood of the game, and that's when squadmates who die in the course of your gameplay all of a sudden appear fully healthy in the next mission. These presentational aspects set the mood of the game well, but unfortunately can't be skipped. You'll also watch some in-engine cutscenes before and after missions that not only summarize the previous mission in the context of the war, but also get you personally acquainted with the rest of your squadmates. Every chapter begins with a simple screen and title in stark black letters, narrated somberly by Baker's character. The game's presentation is extremely cinematic, borrowing cues from popular World War II fare such as Band of Brothers. As you beat each mission, you'll unlock extras, such as photographs and reconnaissance photos, which show you how closely the game's levels match what Baker's platoon fought through in the critical first days of the invasion. Each chapter and all the settings are based closely on actual missions carried out by Baker's platoon. You'll start out the night before D-Day, when you and the rest of the division parachute behind enemy lines into France, fighting your way into and capturing the town of Carentan. The game's 17-chapter campaign stretches over a week's time. Matt Baker, a real-life member of the 101st Airborne Division. Now Playing: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 Video Reviewīrothers in Arms puts you in the role of Sgt. The online aspect is equally compelling, making for a complete and thoroughly impressive game experience.īrothers in Arms offers a satisfying mix of tactical strategy and action thrills.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's

But the game more than makes up for any apparent absence of run-and-gun action with the raw intensity and realism of its battles combined with the added tactical considerations required in the challenging campaign. And, oh, what a difference it makes! Brothers in Arms is paced more deliberately than other popular WWII shooters, such as Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. The big difference with Brothers in Arms is that it puts a gun in your hands and actually allows you to pull the trigger. When we first heard about Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, a small voice inside our heads said cynically, "Just what the world needs.another World War II-based first-person shooter." Sure, it has some squad command mechanics, but it wasn't lost on us that those design aspects were rather similar to another military game, Full Spectrum Warrior.
