Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 Preview

From Gearbox Software, the creators of Half-Life Opposing Force, comes Brothers in Arms, an immersive World War II FPS with a unique twist – it’s based on a true story.  The game will be a first-person tactical shooter (the first of its kind according to publisher Ubi Soft) and will allow gamers to use a variety of squad controls on order to command their troops through the action.

Brothers in Arms will take place right before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and will put players in control of Sgt. Matt Baker as he commands his squad of paratroopers through France.

The game will feature some great AI, both from enemies and from squad members.  Each member of the cast of characters will have their own unique personalities and styles, and will react differently in the heat of battle.  The AI will use real military tactics and take full advantage of the Army’s “four F’s”, meaning find your enemy, fix their position with suppression fire, flank them, and finish them off.  All in all the AI looked like it was going to be extremely adaptive and realistic.

While the squad control functions can be very deep, they will be simple enough for casual gamers to be able to pick up and understand.  Within no time, gamers should be maneuvering their team across the battlefield with ease.

The graphics engine looked fantastic.  Soldiers each had a unique look complete with different facial expressions and emotions, and the environments looked extremely realistic complete with great lighting effects and shadows.

When it’s released on the Xbox and PC fourth quarter this year, Brothers in Arms could very well be the shot in the arm that the WWII FPS genre greatly needs.

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