Posted on: September 30, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Hell’s Highway is the third of the Brothers in Arms series, and it saw a release on the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the PC. This time out, the Playstation 3 version of Hell’s Highway will be reviewed. Regardless of the console through which the player enters into “Hell’s Highway”, the storyline is the same. Based off a real World War II offensive (Operation Market Garden, where the Allies attempted to go up through the Nazi-occupied Holland and into Berlin), individuals will find a familiar crew in place. This means that Sergeant Matt Baker and eir cronies are more or less all present, but there have been some changes and modifications to the Brothers in Arms series between Earned in Blood and Hell’s Highway.

The one thing that individuals will immediately notice that represents a difference between Hell’s Highway and Earned In Blood is that there are new units to tinker around with, of which the bazooka and machine gun teams are the most interesting. Where there seemed to be a little easy of a time going through the previous iterations of the Brothers in Arms franchises, there is a little stronger of an AI that makes defeating the Germans a little harder of a chore, more closely representing the reality of World War II than was previously had.

The graphics are stellar, even in the heaviest of battle scenes: the modified Unreal 3 engine used here shows no signs of dated-ness or being unnecessarily unwieldy. If one really wants to get a Brothers In Arms fan the ultimate version of Hell’s Highway, make sure you pick up the Limited Edition of the game. This includes a half-foot tall version of Baker with a number of accessories, along with a comic book, map, and a few additional types of characters that one can play as that all were not included in the original iteration of the game. Where a number of lines seemed to have lost steam when they came up on the third installment (Doom, anyone?), Brothers in Arms seems to have the power and fury, along with the capable design crew, to continue on indefinitely with the series. Pick up and play through this game, and involve yourself with the multiplayer until that time when there is an expansion or further addition to the Brothers In Arms line: with so much stuff to do in the game and such a rich experience to be had, it will feel like a much shorter time.

Rating: 8.6/10

Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway (PS3) / 2008 Ubisoft / http://www.ubisoft.com /

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