OT: Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:42 pm

I have had this one paid off for quite a while, and finally got to take it for a spin this morning.

Wow, what an awesome game. I am a huge fan of the first 2 games, and anyone who is familiar with them will feel right at home with this version. Everything works about the same.

The graphics have taken a step up, although not quite Gears Of War caliber they look great and the environments are bigger than in the first games. The first training mission and the cut scenes that follow are very cool, and even go back and revisit some of the action from the first games. A cool little thing they did was that if you start up the game after turning it off for a while, it starts with the narrator saying "Previously, on Brothers In Arms..." much like a TV series does. The scene with them landing in the gliders is very reminiscent of "A Bridge Too Far" for those of you who have seen that movie.

One cool new feature is the destructible scenery. I had some Germans pinned behind a table that was pushed over, and as my bullets were tearing holes in it they had to leave it to find better cover. Grenades and bazookas can also do a number on sandbags. The AI seems to be making pretty good decisions for the most part, as they will move around to try to get a good shot on you; still it possible to get in a bit of a stalemate battle if neither of you can get the upper hand. I have had a couple instances where the AI stood there looking at me for a few seconds before reacting, needless to say I tried not to give them a chance to shoot first.

The dialog is well written and well acted, as it was in the first games. The same cast of characters are back again.

I got the deluxe edition, since I'm a fan of the series and I was trading in stuff for it anyway, but it really doesn't add anything over the regular version. The map is neat but not real informative if you know about the real battle, the comic book is OK with a little bit more info about Baker and it leads right up to the beginning of the game, and the Matt Baker figure is pretty cool, he is standing here next to my PC ready to make his combat jump. All neat things, but not worth the extra $10 unless you are a real fan.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:05 pm

I got the game yesterday but have not played it yet (had a grad class until late). I can't wait to fire it up later on. I am an American History and WWII buff so I can't wait to get after it! Market Garden was a HUGE event. I have been awaiting this game for over a year. Glad to hear it has delivered.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:01 am

Got in about an hour or so last night and I like it alot. So far the story telling is excellent. I haven't played a BIA game in a while so getting used to the control set is taking a little time. At one point I threw a grenade at my Assault team thinking I was ordering them ahead

I am looking forward to getting into the campaign. Hopefully I can get in some good time this weekend.

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:29 am

Diablo25 wrote:At one point I threw a grenade at my Assault team thinking I was ordering them ahead

Well, that's one way to do it

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 9:45 am

LOL, I did the same thing a few times. Good thing I wasn't in charge of firing the guns when I was in the Navy.

I like the recon deal that happens when you go up into a windmill, you get a great view and it adds to the story. When you see the Germans and the Dutch farm girl you really want to kick some ass (you'll know it when you see it).

I do find it odd that no one seems to follow me into the small houses, unless we have to go through it to the other side. Although with my grenade record who can blame them for not following me into close quarters...

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:01 am

It's on its way from gamefly, so I should have it in a couple days. I'm looking forward to playing it, as I loved the other two.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:49 am

I haven't played BIA since the first one... is the basic gameplay still the same? I've got it coming from Gamefly as well, should be here tomorrow. Not that I have any time to play the darn thing.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:39 pm

I hear ya. With me being with the kids all day and my wife watching a lot of the new TV season my Xbox time is pretty limited.

The game play almost identical to the first ones, so after reacquainting yourself with a few things you should be up and running.

I'm also very interested in WW2, the more I study it the more amazed I am, both from the shear scale of it and from the horror of it. I don't know how our grandfathers did it. I never saw one who would want to do it again though.

I have plenty of board games based on WW2. Heck, I even paid over $150 for one based on the Market Garden campaign. Won't be able to afford the sequel though. As a fun aside, Critical Hit will be releasing a game based on the Normandy landings on Omaha beach, and I'll be represented on one of the leader counters. Hopefully Sgt. Sharp will make it off the beach.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:40 pm

Gurantsu wrote:I hear ya. With me being with the kids all day and my wife watching a lot of the new TV season my Xbox time is pretty limited.

The game play almost identical to the first ones, so after reacquainting yourself with a few things you should be up and running.

I'm also very interested in WW2, the more I study it the more amazed I am, both from the shear scale of it and from the horror of it. I don't know how our grandfathers did it. I never saw one who would want to do it again though.

I have plenty of board games based on WW2. Heck, I even paid over $150 for one based on the Market Garden campaign. Won't be able to afford the sequel though. As a fun aside, Critical Hit will be releasing a game based on the Normandy landings on Omaha beach, and I'll be represented on one of the leader counters. Hopefully Sgt. Sharp will make it off the beach.

Have you tried any of the PC games published by Matrix or Ageod? There's a fantastic Market Garden game from Panther Games published by Matrix that does away with the hex restrictions of board games and has one heck of a good AI to boot. I've got the sequel that's set in the Agaean (Greece, Crete, hypothetical Malta) and they are prepping to release a Battle of the Bulge game.

They're also supposed to be publishing the Lock n Load PC conversion if that ever gets done.

Best wishes,

Doug

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:28 am

Gurantsu wrote:I hear ya. With me being with the kids all day and my wife watching a lot of the new TV season my Xbox time is pretty limited.

I have the same problem with limited TV availability in the evenings (my wife's just gotta watch Cold Case in HD apparently) so I've got a backup monitor in the study that I use for just such situations. I disconnect the 360 from the TV (just the base system, no cables) and then plug it into the cables under the desk (VGA HD for the dell monitor, an extra AC adapter under the desk, and a set of gaming headphones) and away I go. The wireless wifi xbox adapter is very handy in this respect. Literally takes 15 seconds for me to move to and from either location.

As far as the kids go if you've got a spare closet you just... kidding:)

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 11:52 am

dougb wrote:Have you tried any of the PC games published by Matrix or Ageod? There's a fantastic Market Garden game from Panther Games published by Matrix that does away with the hex restrictions of board games and has one heck of a good AI to boot. I've got the sequel that's set in the Agaean (Greece, Crete, hypothetical Malta) and they are prepping to release a Battle of the Bulge game.

They're also supposed to be publishing the Lock n Load PC conversion if that ever gets done.

Best wishes,

Doug

Oh yeah, I have them both. Fantastic games, I like how you are the overall commander and give the general orders, then your subordinates do the detail planning. Sounds easy until you contact the enemy and your plan goes to hell. I didn't know they were doing a Bulge version, I'm sure I'll grab that one too.

Have you tried Theater Of War? That's another fine game that looks great and has some really good AI. Definitely get the free patch for it (its huge, like 1GB or so, but really makes the game much better). There is a demo out for it, I think on Battlefront.com.

Lock N Load is an awesome game system, I have to original Vietnam game, and the Somalia one. I do have the second edition of the WW2 one on preorder. My WW2 tactical game of choice is Combat Commander, no other game I have played has captured the chaos of the battlefield like that one has. I did get Conflict Of Heroes in the mail the other day, it has been getting rave reviews (including from the designer of Combat Commander) so I'm anxious to give it a go. Haven't had time at yet though.

And haven't had a chance to hop on Brothers In Arms since my last post. Maybe tomorrow when both kids will be at school for a couple of hours.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:38 pm

I haven't tried theatre of war - read alot of negative comments over on usenet about the game. Quite a few comments that the AI wasn't that good and that some of the design decisions were pretty deficient from a realism standpoint.

I haven't tried Combat Commander or Lock n Load yet - used to have a ton of boardgames but got fed up with the lack of opponents to play them against. That's why I switched to PC wargaming where there are quite a few games that have at least decent AI in them (plus play by email). I've still got the rules to Advanced Squad Leader for some reason - I don't have the boards or counters. With ASL it seemed I spent far more time searching through the rule book rather than playing. Games often seemed to be decided by whomever was best at remembering all the die roll modifiers!

I'll have to google Combat Commander and have a look though.

Best wishes,

Doug

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:12 pm

You'll have a blast with Combat Commander. It uses some mechanics that are strange at first (and have many ASLers turning up their noses), but for the sheer chaos of the battlefield there is no other game like it. And I have no problems playing it solo, even though it uses cards as it's main mechanic.

Just go here to find out all you need to know:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21050

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:28 pm

As far as BROTHERS IN ARMS goes...(derail central here, ain't it?)...

I'm really enjoying the campaign thus far. This game has always done a better job than most making you feel like part of a squad rather than a one man wrecking machine.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 3:26 pm

Gurantsu wrote:
dougb wrote:Have you tried any of the PC games published by Matrix or Ageod? There's a fantastic Market Garden game from Panther Games published by Matrix that does away with the hex restrictions of board games and has one heck of a good AI to boot. I've got the sequel that's set in the Agaean (Greece, Crete, hypothetical Malta) and they are prepping to release a Battle of the Bulge game.

They're also supposed to be publishing the Lock n Load PC conversion if that ever gets done.

Best wishes,

Doug
Oh yeah, I have them both. Fantastic games, I like how you are the overall commander and give the general orders, then your subordinates do the detail planning. Sounds easy until you contact the enemy and your plan goes to hell. I didn't know they were doing a Bulge version, I'm sure I'll grab that one too.

Have you tried Theater Of War? That's another fine game that looks great and has some really good AI. Definitely get the free patch for it (its huge, like 1GB or so, but really makes the game much better). There is a demo out for it, I think on Battlefront.com.

Lock N Load is an awesome game system, I have to original Vietnam game, and the Somalia one. I do have the second edition of the WW2 one on preorder. My WW2 tactical game of choice is Combat Commander, no other game I have played has captured the chaos of the battlefield like that one has. I did get Conflict Of Heroes in the mail the other day, it has been getting rave reviews (including from the designer of Combat Commander) so I'm anxious to give it a go. Haven't had time at yet though.

And haven't had a chance to hop on Brothers In Arms since my last post. Maybe tomorrow when both kids will be at school for a couple of hours.

Nice to see DSP crossover into the wargaming world. Combat Commander is a lot of fun, and is based on one of my favorite games of all time, Up Front. (A game that was a good twenty years ahead of its time.) I just got my copy of Conflict of Heroes, myself- I'll buy anything East Front-related, and the reviews have been excellent. It actually reminds me of the combat in X-Com, and in a good way. So far, so good with CoH.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:59 pm

This isn't really the place for it...but I'm not going to start another thread.

I have AGEOD's Civil War game. The micro management of it really burnt me out on their design. Having to search for your units and trying to create a front was really annoying.

They just released their second Revolutionary War game.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:15 pm

I found the same thing with their Civil War game, way too much micro-management. War In The Pacific also gets pretty detailed, but somehow makes it much easier to handle.

I finally set up and played the first scenario of Conflict Of Heroes at lunch today, and was very impressed. The game itself is fairly simple (even with the new wargaming ideas it presents), but the back and forth nature of the activation system makes for a tense game (granted I was playing by myself, but with an opponent it can only get better). Much like Combat Commander, the gameplay is simple, but the decisions to be made are numerous. You really have to plan and use the extra action points correctly or you'll get spanked. Plus it looks like it will be easy as pie to teach, which is important for me to get friends into the game.

Back to BIA, one thing I appreciate is that the bodies don't disappear. It sounds gruesome (and looks gruesome to those who haven't played it yet), but to me thats important to capture the feel and the horror of war. It's not overdone by any means, but is realistic.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 7:38 pm

seanmac31 wrote: Nice to see DSP crossover into the wargaming world.

I still cling to the Combat Mission games like a familiar old blanket. Easily the games that pound-for-pound gave me the most entertainment of any wargame.

Been a long, long time since I've played anything hex-based.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:03 pm

RobVarak wrote:
seanmac31 wrote: Nice to see DSP crossover into the wargaming world.
I still cling to the Combat Mission games like a familiar old blanket. Easily the games that pound-for-pound gave me the most entertainment of any wargame.

Been a long, long time since I've played anything hex-based.

Looking forward to Combat Mission 2 with the new engine. I think a lot of people were disappointed that the new engine went modern first. Hopefully CM2 Normandy will be released next year.

Best wishes,

Doug

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:06 pm

JRod wrote:This isn't really the place for it...but I'm not going to start another thread.

I have AGEOD's Civil War game. The micro management of it really burnt me out on their design. Having to search for your units and trying to create a front was really annoying.

They just released their second Revolutionary War game.

Same reaction. I think you'd like their Napolean game much more - the number of units is far more manageable and there is much less micromanagement. Not having to deal with production takes away much of the grind of the game and allows you to focus on movement of the forces and fighting.

Best wishes,

Doug

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:07 pm

Gurantsu wrote:I found the same thing with their Civil War game, way too much micro-management. War In The Pacific also gets pretty detailed, but somehow makes it much easier to handle.

I finally set up and played the first scenario of Conflict Of Heroes at lunch today, and was very impressed. The game itself is fairly simple (even with the new wargaming ideas it presents), but the back and forth nature of the activation system makes for a tense game (granted I was playing by myself, but with an opponent it can only get better). Much like Combat Commander, the gameplay is simple, but the decisions to be made are numerous. You really have to plan and use the extra action points correctly or you'll get spanked. Plus it looks like it will be easy as pie to teach, which is important for me to get friends into the game.

Back to BIA, one thing I appreciate is that the bodies don't disappear. It sounds gruesome (and looks gruesome to those who haven't played it yet), but to me thats important to capture the feel and the horror of war. It's not overdone by any means, but is realistic.

My only concern is that the scenarios are short to the point where you can't really afford to sit back and hoard your CAPs to react appropriately and keep your opponent's movement options in check. If you're on the attack and you pass, the defender can simply pass as well and move the clock forward one turn. With many scenarios going only five turns, it forces you to keep moving units and to burn CAPs faster than you might want.

I'm looking forward to the Vassal module. (Btw, if anyone wants to play CC:E via Vassal, shoot me a pm.)

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:09 pm

Teal wrote:As far as BROTHERS IN ARMS goes...(derail central here, ain't it?)...

I'm really enjoying the campaign thus far. This game has always done a better job than most making you feel like part of a squad rather than a one man wrecking machine.

Are you finding that it's pretty linear though? I kind of wish there was a little more randomness to the scenarios as it sometimes feels like I'm just trying to solve a tactical puzzle with multiple chances to get it right. I'd like it if they varied the forces a little each time you die so it just doesn't feel like I have to play it over and over until I manage to survive until a certain save point.

Best wishes,

Doug

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:39 pm

dougb wrote:
Teal wrote:As far as BROTHERS IN ARMS goes...(derail central here, ain't it?)...

I'm really enjoying the campaign thus far. This game has always done a better job than most making you feel like part of a squad rather than a one man wrecking machine.
Are you finding that it's pretty linear though? I kind of wish there was a little more randomness to the scenarios as it sometimes feels like I'm just trying to solve a tactical puzzle with multiple chances to get it right. I'd like it if they varied the forces a little each time you die so it just doesn't feel like I have to play it over and over until I manage to survive until a certain save point.

Best wishes,

Doug

Yeah, it's sort of linear, but not so much that I can't drastically change my approach to the enemy. And I've noticed that THEY change their flanking manuevers, at least in open ground, at least some. They will sometimes realize they're being flanked, and will counter the flank.

I never repeat my tactics if I die. I'll try something completely different, send a certain group a different direction or something. It's not as linear as, say, Call of Duty, though. Not nearly.

I also have to say I like that the screen turning red has nothing to do with being wounded, and slowly recovering. It's a danger threat level, and if you continue to push it, you'll get shot once, and you're down. I like that you're comrades question your sanity for exposing yourself to gunfire for too long.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:02 am

I had some more time with BIA's last night and its an entertaining game. I really like the storytelling as you go. I am still getting the hang of the controls and the need to flank. It took me several chances to get by a level last night...the game forced me to use strategy - not just shoot from the hip. I am only just scratching the surface of the game but, overall, it is an entertaining game. That being said, I have NHL09 and RB2 in my games library right now so BIA hasn't gotten as much time as I would like.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:27 am

Man, I played a sh*tload of Avalon Hill and SPI wargames from the mid-70s until the early 80s. At one point, I owned:

Squad Leader
Arab-Israeli Wars
Panzer Leader
Victory in the Pacific
Civil War
Veracruz (SPI)
Guns of August
The Russian Campaign
Flight Leader
Third Reich
Luftwaffe
1776
Gladiator
A House Divided (GDW)

And probably a few more I forgot. I used to horde all of my lawn mowing money and head to the local board game shop every couple of months to get a new game. Loved the hobby! Have completely fallen out of touch with it, sadly.

Take care,
PK