Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 Review (no fat)

Rather then an open free-for-fall dash for freedom, the game focuses very much on squad based combat, and encounter to encounter objectives. That is, you have to use your squad to seek out tactical advantages over a number of fortified enemy positions that you come across, in your attempt to regroup and fight your way out.

Road to Hill 30 Gameplay

As you’d expect from a wartime FPS, the main focus of Road to Hill 30 is the combat. However, that doesn’t mean that they swept the storyline, background or authenticity, under the carpet. Quite the opposite – Road to Hill 30 prides itself, and has done a superb job, on creating an immersive, authentic feel of fighting your way through the streets and fields of occupied France.

Combat is structured around ‘encounters’ – you travel a little, stumble across some entrenched enemies, and use your squad to help you uproot and defeat them. There’s also a wide selection of weaponry and vehicles to be taken advantage of later in the game, and the ever popular mounted turret is available for use to the player - although the enemy is smart enough to take cover when the bullets start flying.

Thankfully, there is no ‘superman’ combat here. It’s gritty, difficult, and hard to aim or shoot. Most of the actual action can be left up to your Squad Mates (who can be controlled with a few simple mouse clicks to rush, take cover, attack, and so on.), leaving you to execute a few clever tactical moves and flank the enemy.

Road to Hill 30 Combat

Combat is extremely intense, and very realistic. Charging an enemy emplacement will get you killed, and simply pointing an automatic weapon and spraying will simply result in you running out of ammo. Having said that, putting down intensive fire on an enemy position can often be beneficial – by doing so you ‘suppress’ them, and thus reduce their chances of hitting you, or even breaking out of cover. It’s at this point that it might be a good idea to order your squad to rush the enemy fortifications and clean up (…just like in the movies).

Road to Hill 30 Audio

The game is authentic to the extent that the creators of the game researched and fired authentic WWII weaponry, flew the aircraft, and explored the locations in order to perfectly recreate every last detail. From the midst of combat to the gentle chirping of insects on a country lane, the audio is immersive and unquestionably good.

Road to Hill 30 Graphics

Road to Hill 30 – 2cent

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 isn’t without its problems. Due to the fairly static nature of the encounter-based combat system, it often seems like you’re cheating when you immediately spot a way to outflank your enemy, and simply divert your squad to hold their attention while you sneak around and pick them off from behind. Also, it gets a little repetitive in some places, when you’re simply traveling from encounter to encounter with no ‘dynamic’ combat.

That said, it’s still a very impressive, and very fun game to play. The superb graphics, audio, storyline and squad tactics give it an overall good feel. There’s also a huge amount of unlockable content for the enthusiast – Information on weaponry, locations and squad members, and a myriad of interesting miscellaneous facts. Road to Hill 30 is a promising title.

Road to Hill 30 Price

The game retails for $19.99 US, at the time of this review.