Brothers In Arms: Road To Hill 30

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Developer(s)	Gearbox Software
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.0
Platform(s)	PC (Windows), Xbox, PS2, Wii
Release date	March 1, 2005 (Xbox) March 15, 2005 (PC) March 15, 2005 (PS2)
Genre(s)	Tactical first-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (M)
Media	DVD
System requirements	1 GHz CPU, 256 MB of RAM, 32 MB DirectX 9.0 compliant video card

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is a first-person shooter video game created by Gearbox Software for the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It is published by Ubisoft and was released in early 2005. The game takes place during World War II and focuses on team strategy rather than the faster paced run and gun tactics of the Medal of Honor series.

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 was also used to re-create scenarios in a 2005 History Channel special, also titled Brothers in Arms

Story

Brothers in Arms is based on the true story of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the famed 101st Airborne Division who were dropped behind German Lines on D-Day. The game is based on the historical Mission Albany (misnamed as "Operation Chicago" in the game), in which the player has to complete true to life missions of the 101st.

The sequel Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood is also based on the last missions of the 101st, such as link up with 82nd Airborne Division and capture of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte (which historically did not involve the 101st A/B). The player takes the role of Sergeant Matt Baker, a paratrooper (based on Harrison C. Summers and various other people), and the leader of an airborne squad from Fox Company. The missions range from dropping into France on June 6th to the final defense of Hill 30 eight days later. Baker must lead his men through troubled times and make decisions that may result in the death of a paratrooper, which causes him much heartache.

Characters

Baker's squad consists of Cpl. Joe "Red" Hartsock, Cpl. Sam Corrion, Pfc. Jack Courtland, Pfc. Stephan "Obi" Obrieski, Pvt Larry Allen, Pvt. Johnny Rivas, Pvt. Michael Desola, Pvt. David Muzza, Pfc. Thomas Zanovich, Pvt. Michael Garnett and Pvt. Dale McCreary. The Radioman is Pvt. Kevin Benjamin "Legs" Leggett. The squad is under a Sgt. Greg "Mac" Hassay. "Mac" served under Sgt. Baker's father, whom he had much respect for, in the First World War and has promised to himself to make Sgt. Baker into a good soldier. 7 men of the 13 man squad are killed during the Normandy campaign.

Another character included is Sgt. Baker's best friend, Sgt. George Risner, with whom he spent his childhood. He commands a M5 Light Tank. George follows Sgt. Baker into a small French town outside Saint Côme-du-Mont where his tank is hit by a panzerfaust. Soon afterwards he uses his colt.45 to try to shoot the remaining Germans but instead is shot by them. Also included are real life personalities General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading a charge against a German position.

Graphics

Brothers in Arms uses the Unreal Engine 2.0, albeit with heavy modification. It makes heavy use of pixel shaders. It also uses a form of Soft Lighting bloom effect.

Gameplay

In most levels of Brothers in Arms, the player is in command of one or two separate 1-3 man teams, with the exception of several sections in which the player is not in command of any unit. There are two types of teams, which are automatically provided before each mission:

• Fire team: Made up of soldiers with the M1 Garand and the Browning Automatic Rifle and should be used for fixing the enemy with suppressive fire. Sometimes M1A1 Carbine

• Assault team: Made up of soldiers usually with the M1A1 Carbine and the Thompson submachine gun and is good for flanking the enemy while they are pinned down by the players fire team. sometimes M1 Garand or Browning Automatic Rifle

Additionally, some levels provide the player with a tank in lieu of a team, providing players with heavy firepower and mobile cover. The player can also man the pintle-mounted Browning machine gun on the tank for additional suppression.

Brothers in Arms is notable for its intuitive command system. Teams and tanks can be ordered to move, lay suppressive fire, rally, find cover, and charge the enemy. The game stresses at multiple points the effectiveness of fire and maneuver tactics, known as the Four Fs, expressed in the game tutorial as "Find, Fix, Flank, Finish" describing the steps in suppressing and flanking an enemy. It is impossible to run and gun your way through the missions and using the tactics is necessary.

The focus on team command is emphasized by providing the player with a highly unstable firing capability. Instead of having perfect accuracy with weapons in games like Call of Duty, Brothers in Arms models weapons with erratic accuracy, and enemy fire can heavily interfere with a player's aim to simulate the effects of suppressive fire. The relative lack of accuracy is designed to simulate the difficulty in hitting targets in a combat situation as well as forcing the player to use team members to engage enemy units and provide better tactical opportunities.

See also

• The Battle of Carentan
• The Battle of Bloody Gulch
• Medal of Honor (series)

External links

• Brothers in Arms official website
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 at the Open Directory Project
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 at MobyGames

References