Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway – Reviewed – Xbox 360
The game puts you into the helmet of Sergeant Matt Baker as he not only commands his squads through Operation Market Garden but also deals with some mental issues of his own.To be honest the game seems to be a semi rip-off of the Band of Brothers TV series.... The beginning of the story plays out in a way that reminds me heavily of some of the elements used in the "Lost" TV show and then pulls you back a few days, so that you have to play back up to that point.... One of the cutscenes went on for quite a while and by the time I would usually start itching to skip, I found myself sitting back and watching as if it was a TV show. I was pleasantly surprised to also find that the game was significantly longer than I had originally though and actually had me thinking the game was about to end on a number of occasions, only to have the plot thicken and the next mission begin. The entire campaign should take you around 10 hours to complete, depending on how you approach the missions but a second play through is definitely not out of the question considering that you can approach missions differently.... When it comes to the gameplay visuals however, you will find that there will be times when the game looks fantastic and then 10 minutes later you will be running around in a really bland area.... Basically, it is a camera that zooms in and slows the action down to show off the games realistic gore system, which often has grenades blowing limbs off of soldiers, if not tearing them completely in half. 
This concerned me when I first saw the videos but was pleasantly surprised to see that it only happens rarely, keeping it fun and allowing you to appreciate it, rather than abusing it to give the game an unnecessary action feel.... This does change the game significantly and be warned, if you are one of those hardcore players that likes to run in and jump like a bunny while simultaneously getting three headshots on three noobs, then this game is not for you.... By pulling your left trigger down you are able to tell the selected squad (such as the MG team) to set up in a certain spot and then by using the left trigger again and pointing at a group of enemies, you can order them to use suppressing fire so that you can get up to some flanking mischief.... All of this is done from your characters perspective and while you can also check the lay of the land in your menu, the fact that it relies on your own field of view means that it gets you very involved in the process and ultimately adds to the experience.... Everytime I ordered them to go upstairs, instead of doing the logical thing and walking up the stairs, they decided to do an entire lap of the building the other way, which just happened to be the side that all the Germans were firing from.... When playing with your friends, be sure to not throw grenades at them As far as controls are concerned, they took quite a bit getting used to and are fairly different to the control schemes found in most other shooters.... You can sit back on your coach while your squads are in cover and take some time to scan the battlefield, look for places to flank or a piece of cover to setup your MG42 and then when you are ready, rain hell down upon your enemies.... Gameplay: 8/10 [A great mix of action and strategy] Presentation: 8/10 [ It has it's ups and downs but still good looking overall] Sound: 7.5/10 [ Corrian, lay down suppressing fire!]
The Xbox 360 has been doing really well in Japan of late, outselling even the very strong and supported Playstation 3. So just when things start going well, it's infamous fault, the Red Ring of Death decided to rear its ugly head in one of Japans most popular retail outlets. Now I don't know about you, but if I was Microsoft then making sure that situations like this don't happen would be on the top of my to-do list. The truth is that even though there are newer and better chipsets coming out for the Xbox 360, the Red Ring of Death is still causing massive issues for gamers worldwide. It scares consumers, the idea of having a console that may just break down and die at any moment. The fact that the one on display in a store was doing so will most probably not help the cause for Microsoft at all. If things like this keep happening then Japan will happily turn back to the Wii and the PS3 and Microsofts gaming console will be nowhere to be seen once again.
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