Product Description

Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway brings the critically acclaimed squad-based WWII shooter into the next generation of gaming with amazing graphics and sound, new cutting-edge gameplay features and a completely redesigned online component. Delivering on the franchise's compelling story, unrivaled authenticity and intense squad-based action, Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway drops you into Operation Market-Garden, the largest airborne operation of World War II. Lead Matt Baker, Joe Hartsock and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division as they fight to open "Hell's Highway" in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1266 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2008-09-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Original language: English, French, Italian, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French, Italian, Spanish
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review

In a nutshell:
After a successful tour of duty on the current gen consoles Brothers in Arms returns in the ultimate WWII squad based shooter, set during the closing months of the war as you take part in the crucial Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands.

The lowdown:
Although there were many astonishing looking games at the recent E3 event this was for most people the most graphically amazing next gen game seen so far. The levels not only look near photorealistic but the game world is huge and almost completely interactive. The gameplay works in the same basic way as before, with an easy to use onscreen cursor enabling you to direct your men with a single button press. New movement types now exist though, allowing you to specify stealth or patrol postures depending on what you’re doing and how fast you need to move. The only problem is the enemy have the same abilities and their artificial intelligence is advanced enough to make proper use of them.

Most exciting moment:
Not only are the enemy intelligent but they’re also well trained, reacting just as a real German soldier would. They’ll hide in doorways, ambush at road junctions and even, in one memorable encounter, hide behind a washing line – where your only warning is from a Dutch civilian at a window above.

Since you ask:
Everything in the game is as realistic as possible with streets and house copied exactly from photos taken at the time, while all weapons and vehicles are modelled to work exactly as they did in real life.

The bottom line:
The most realistic WWII game ever – in terms of history, tactics and graphics.
HARRISON DENT

Manufacturer's Description
Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway brings the critically acclaimed squad-based WWII shooter into the next generation of gaming with amazing graphics and sound, new cutting-edge gameplay features and a completely redesigned online component. Delivering on the franchise's compelling story, unrivaled authenticity and intense squad-based action, Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway drops you into Operation Market-Garden, the largest airborne operation of World War II. Lead Matt Baker, Joe Hartsock and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division as they fight to open "Hell's Highway" in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.

Customer Reviews

Well I Loved It
Having read some of the other reviews I find myself needing to put my thoughts down.
I have been a PC gamer for years but last year bought a 360 to go with my new LCD telly. I have tended to avoid FPS games due to the fact I am proficient with a mouse and always found gamepad controls fiddly and awkward.
Having played and enjoyed the the 2 previous games on PC I decided I would take a huge gamble and get this on the 360 to see if i could handle it.

After a short while fiddling with the controls the whole thing became completely intuitive. Above all though I have never enjoyed playing a game through to its conclusion as much as this one.
There are many comments about poor AI and squads doing what they like,but in my experience the squads will do exactly as you tell them as long as you get your instructions right and don't give them stupid instructions. For example if you are in a building them don't wander miles from your squad before ordering it around or yes they will most liekly be killed as they try and find you. They don't know where you are and will stumble into enemy fire. If you are a short distance away they will reach you in one piece. For me this ups the immersion factor.
I am slightly biased in that I love WW2 games full stop, you can't beat killing a few Nazis for entertainment and the settings and weapons are for me the best.
Yes you could complete this game without your squads but for me the immersion factor is all important so using your squads in a sensible and tactical way adds to the fun immensley. The weapons feel right, I love the cover system, the action cam is brilliant, the bazooka squad is awesome.
I also liked the tank sections, yes they are arcadey but are great fun.
I loved the graphics to, again they gave me the real immersion factor.
Negatives. The story was Ok but the cut scenes sometimes seemed to drag on a bit and err thats about it really.
I can't wait for the next installment.
One final thought is that I have read a lot of comments about the WW2 theatre being done to death. Well I partly agree but only in that we seem the same parts of WW2 done over and over again, ie Normandy. I would like to see a FPS at the start of the war, battle of france for example, and more in the far east against the japanese (roll on COD 5). If we are going to stick to Normandy then lets have some different armies (British would be nice) and different equipment. Not all allied tanks were Shermans, lets have some Cromwells, Churchills etc. The germans had a huge vareity of equipment but all we seem to see are 88's and panzer IV''s.

Finally though if you love WW2 games and are prepared to play this properly and use your squads intelligently you will love this game. When completed you can then pick any of the missions to play all over again and try out differnet tactics.
Love it, don't expect the world and you will love it to.

Should have been released earlier
its almost approaching two years now and ubisoft finally released hells highway. unfortunately the reason it took so long is because ubisoft wanted to 'perfect it'. it's far from it. this game is enjoyable if your relaxed and willing to take your time with it. graphics are good, dialogue is great and there's also individual storylines mingled into operation market garden along with bakers main story. the game you can tell is modelled on the series band of brothers (especially the colonel who i think is in both the series and this game). Cover system is good but it's not perfect.(it could also benefit from blind fire). once in cover its awkward to get out making it frustrating especially in the middle of a shoot out. as i said you need to be in the right frame of mind for this game, commands need to be thought out e.g. positions and when to fire etc... the game does allow the player to organise successfull killings (stealth) as i said it just needs patience. however the game does have a flaws in it's commands. now and again your troopers can run to your chosen position by running into blind fire or ignorin you (way around this is to have them follow you). as i've noticed on some reviews that say your troopers cant aim thats a lie. on several occasions i've accidently run towards enemy and as they've popped out to shoot me my troopers have taken em down (however your bazooka team are partial to the odd miss. way round that is re organise their position).it's all about positioning and patience.overall the game isnt a bad effort a few flaws and gameplay can be a bit rough at times but what it lacks in makes up for by rewarding patience and also cool kill shots. if you love to go gung ho then dont buy this game you'll find it extremely frustrating. however i do feel this game could have won more fans over if it had been released a lot earlier but never the less an enjoyable game. 7/10 i'd give it.

Awkward and a bit frustrating
I am a bit surprised no-one has written a review of this yet!

I have played this for around 10 hours so far and am probably near the end, so here are my thoughts...

Graphics - they are quite good, but not as good as I was expecting given a few pre-reviews I have seen. They are better than in Mercenaries 2, but not as good as in Battlefield Bad Company.

Controls - for some reason they don't seem very intuitive. Getting into and out of cover is quite difficult and sometimes you end up standing up in the middle of a firefight and get yourself killed! Movement seems stunted and it doesn't really flow as you would expect.

Squad Based Tactics - This doesn't really work at all. Half of the time the squads don't do as you expect, and as the controls are awkward you do end up sending your men into the middle of a load of crossfire by accident, or you find for some reason they have ignored your request and are just following you around.

Enemy AI - the enemy AI is actually quite good. They will try and outflank you (sort of) and do respond as you would expect when you fire at them, or throw a grenade.

Squad AI - Absolutely terrible! When you order a squad to a position, be careful if you are in a building because they will take THE most convoluted route possible - in the process aggro-ing all the enemies andgetting themselves killed. I have found that in a building I tend to leave the squads in one place and take out the enemies on my own. Your squad are also the worse shots in the world! Don't rely on them to actually kill anything!

Acting - the voice acting is quite good (apart from the British guy who is absolutely terrible!), but the storyline is incredibly cheesy. Some of the cutscenes are quite atmospheric, but others seem rushed as if they were done at the last minute. The story is nowhere near as well done as Bad Company for example.

Conclusion - if you are looking for a freeflowing fast paced shooter, this is definitely not for you. If you like totake your time and are willing to put up with some stunted gameplay then it might be worth a shot. If this game had been a demo on XBOX Live, I probably would not have bought it (yet again I fall for the hype!). My advice would be to wait for a demo and decide for yourself.