I got an update on Brother’s In Arms: Hell’s Highway with one of my favorite old school devs Randy Pitchford of Gearbox.  We go way back   The game is shaping up quite nicely - the squad system seemed well implemented – and the cover and suppression systems, as well as their accompanying visual representations could make this a fun WWII get out this winter.

In this most recent demo (we’ve seen the game a few times to date) Randy and Col John F. Antal US Army (Ret.) chose to focus on the refinements made to the squad tactics and visual cues as to your current ‘risk’ state.


The squad system seems much improved over previous entries in the series. This time out your crew will have more ‘situational awareness’ and won’t just stand still while being fired upon waiting for your next command.  They’ll take cover, shift positions and return fire giving you some time to catch up on your own ‘situational awareness’.  Suppression icons hover over enemy targets letting you know just how free they are to move and fire upon your position.  Order one of your squads to suppress a position and the icon will turn from red to gray – in increments reflecting the level of suppression – giving you good indication when it’s safe to move without risk of return fire.  That’s a good time to run a flanking maneuver – let your guys pin’em down and then sneak around back and take care of some unfinished business.

One new squad type is available in Hell’s Highway – the Special Teams.  These guys are rolled out for special situations – like when the nearby bell tower is owned by an enemy .50 cal and you need to cut the chatter.  Call up your bazooka ‘special team’ to silence the goons.  You won’t have to worry about loading out the appropriate squads however – at the start of each missions you’ll be given the appropriate ‘tools’ to do the job depending on the objectives therein.


The other feature that stood out was more of an upgrade to the invisible HUD system.  When you’re team is taking fire your field of vision will go red in the general direction from which you’re assailants are firing.  Take cover and your vision will immediately go clear letting you know you’re safe.  You are playing a professional soldier after-all and soldiers who’ve been in the field for any length of time have a good sense of their surroundings in a hot combat situation. Since you’re not there to physically ‘feel’ the lead inbound on your position – the visual risk indicator is there to clue you in.

One key element I think the guys got right – and is worth mentioning – is the grenade tossing mechanic actually prototyped by Randy and the team on the DS version of Brothers in Arms released last month.  In games like Gears of War and the upcoming Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune an arc is displayed on screen showing the current path your grenade will take based on your controller settings. However, as the camera is fixed at your point of view (PoV) you often cannot tell exactly where the grenade will land as it’s destination is typically obscured by geometry. 

A simple solution the guys found on the DS version was to raise the camera slightly above your position giving you a top down view on the situation thus allowing for more accurate tossing.  Hey, you are a professionally trained soldier after all so you wouldn’t toss errantly on every occasion – and you’d still need to execute this quickly under fire so t's not like you're getting a freebie either!

Set during Operation Market Garden – one of Germany’s last major victories of the war – Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway depicts one of the darkest chapters in our involvement in the war and Gearbox hopes to convey this in the games overall darker tone.  I’ve been frustrated by the squad mechanics in previous iterations of the game.  If the game comes off as smoothly as demoed here at E3 – I’ll be up for one more romp through Europe.

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway is set to ship November, 13th for PC, X360 and PS3.