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Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway, a sobering look at the reality of war with Gearbox Games & Ubisoft

August 18, 2008 in Blog comments 7

A very sobering look at the "reality" of the game Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway, and a game about not winning. As the campaign Operation Market Garden was a huge failure for the allies.

Gearbox Games and Ubisoft are out to show the gamers of today that wat=r isn't always about glory and winning, it's about the loss of friends, mates and the terrors of war that can turn men inside out and challenge their convictions around life its self.

"I can still remember how sick I felt when I first watched Saving Private Ryan in the cinema. The D-Day scene and later when the German hushes as he slowly plunges the knife into the U.S. soldier shocked me like no other film before it. I had seen plenty of war movies and even later movies with more visceral gore like Gladiator, but there was something that made me hate this movie for making me feel so weak in the stomach.

War as glorious, war as adventurous, war as tragedy, war as a bonding experience, war as necessity, war as patriotic: I had seen and understood all this. War as pure, unadulterated, horrifying hell, where basic survival is the only prize, and sometimes even that prize comes at a cost to humanity or sanity, "
XboxOZ360 via xboxoz360gamer.com »
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  • 1
    XboxOZ360 Aug 18, 08
    I like the article as it touches an area than many skirt around. Plus the fact that when you play the game - you do NOT win . ..no, you fail. The only victory you have in the game is a moral one IF you get your men through the ordeal. Not if you kill all the bad guys.

    Because you don't. Market Garden was a huge failure for the allies, and an embarrassing campaign they should have planned better.

    Many gamers will come at BIA:HH expecting to win and come out the other end triumphant, well that didn't happen, and Gearbox Games have NOT changed that situation just for the sake of the game. Which I think is an excellent way to approach a game based around real historical facts.
  • 1
    kik36 Aug 18, 08
    Wow, I may need to take a look into this game. I'm glad they are sticking with historical fact.
  • 2
    Duality_18 Aug 18, 08
    They just made a game that I never thought about picking up look like a rental posssiblity. Very nice article.
  • 1
    Gameroz Aug 19, 08
    I've seen a lot of 'gameplay' type footage but the videos (at the site) and the article really show that Gearbox are really trying for storytelling and emotional engagement.
  • 1
    RabidChinaGirl Aug 19, 08
    At their E3 press conference, Ubisoft talked about BIA:HH in much the same way. The demonstration for it was also very emotional for me to see. Laurent Detoc said himself that the it sends chills down his spine each time he views it.

    I just hope gamers won't dismiss it because they'd rather not have to think about the ramifications of war and all that it entails.
    • 1
      XboxOZ360 Aug 19, 08
      Same here mate. Too many gamers dismiss war as trivial, at least Gearbox via Ubisoft are doing their best NOT to do that, and to stick to the historical facts as much as possible.

      You can't make a game that in history the allies lost and turn it around so they won, IF you are basing it around real people.

      ALL the people in the game that are Sargent and above are based on REAL people who actually took part in the campaign, now that is pushing reality to the extreme.
  • 0
    Sith Lord Jim Aug 21, 08
    Definately made me reconsider purchasing this title. Was not to keen on another WW2 game, but if they are taking this much of a serious approach to it, I may be able to get past that.

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