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Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway, Gearbox's new World War II shooter offers you the experience to be a part of the ambitious but doomed Operation Market-Garden. As Sergeant Matt Baker you will be in control of different squads of men in a moving, often epic story, that is told brilliantly through intense cut-scenes and what is arguably some of the best graphics on the xbox360 console to date. BIA: HH whilst an excellent game is not perfect, being let down by bugs within its unique gameplay. Fortunately these bugs do not ruin the game, as there is so much on offer for gamers after a different style of WW II game.

The core of past Brothers In Arms games has been both its focus on storytelling and squad based combat. Series Enthusiasts will be happy to know this has not changed, if you enjoyed previous games there is no doubt that you will appreciate the care and production values Gearbox have taken and adhered to.The story itself follows Baker as a sergeant, within a special regiment as part of the 101st Airborne division. As Sargeant Baker must deal with not only the orders issued to him and his squad, but inner demons that haunt him from previous missions. These inner demons consist of death, lies and hidden truths that played out in previous BIA games. Gearbox did a great job to ensure that those who have not played previous BIA games will be brought up to date with the story. There are still moments within the story that may confuse those new to the series until the end of the game, which puts closure to several plots with interesting and sometimes unexpected twists. Due to the powerful story, BIA sometimes feels like you are playing out an episode of the Tv favourite Band Of Brothers. As you progress through the game you get to know the characters via outstanding cinematics, to the point where you really start to feel that you are a commander of a squad that are entrusting you with their every move and ultimately their lives

This would have been no easy feat had Gearbox not taken care to make their game look stunning. Character models are some of the best to date, and you can really see the effort Gearbox put into the facial animations, as they are not only realistic but also act realistically. Characters will blink, frown and show genuine looks of pain which complements this game due to its graphic nature and realistic showing of war. The backdrop of the game offers windmills, towns and buildings that would have been scattered around the Netherlands and German at the time offering a realistic setting that succeeds in offering an authentic experience. The more typical battlegrounds that will be seen in BIA consist of towns, fields and farms, but each has its unique spin with one farm even having modelled sheep walking around as gunplay occurred. These battlegrounds are complemented by what for the most part are highly detailed models of buildings, vehicles and fences. I mention highly detailed with caution as there is times when you will notice poor models such as 2d grass or flowers that serve up somewhat of a letdown when you consider the caution and care taken to get everything else looking so great. Guns themselves look quite nice and the focus effect when zooming in on targets is excellent. Other details such as particle effects during explosions, rubble that fills war torn villages and destructible cover do serve up some highly enjoyable eye candy. Cinematic slow motion shots also deserve a mention as when they occur they zoom in and focus on kill shots, such as a bazooka ripping through sandbags and ripping limbs off un-expecting soldiers or headshots which are brutal but ultimately satisfying. The frame rate of the game is generally steady until the latter parts of the game where this reviewer had multiple frame rate drops, to which the only real difference in the level was that it was raining. Overall the game offers a solid visual experience which almost makes you forgive Gearbox for the few irks but with the extra development time they had to work on the game you can help but feel some of these issues could have been rectified.

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