If you're unfamiliar with the story, the game revolves around the 101st Airborne Division, based upon an actual World War 2 mission called Operation Market Garden. Originally a joint effort between America and Britain, three divisions were dropped into the Netherlands and tasked with taking over various bridges, in the hopes of securing a passage behind enemy lines. The game follows the path of these soldiers faithfully from what I understand, but with mostly fictional characters, including the guy you'll be playing as. Players of the previous games will recognize some returning faces, most notably with the main character, Matt Baker. There are a few other returning faces as well, including a few notable new entries for the series. The story itself is pretty fantastic, and easily one of the best war stories I've come across in a video game, topping Call of Duty 4's narrative in my opinion. The dialogue is solid, and the voice acting is definitely top notch. The actual character animation and cut scene work doesn't quite deliver these lines as well as I would like, and while the game isn't ugly, it's definitely not in the top tier of current-gen titles.

However, the actual gameplay is incredibly fun and interesting, and pretty much never grew stale for me. As Matt Baker, you're thrust into an FPS environment, like a typical shooter, but with various squads to back up your actions. All together there are four different squads at your command, Base Line, Assault, MG, and Bazooka. Most levels will only have you using two or three squads for the most part, but each squad has it's own particular set of abilities, and usually the levels are designed to make the most of what you have available.

The core mechanic of the game is issuing commands to your squad by placing them behind cover on the map, and then telling them to lay down fire in an attempt to suppress opposing squads. Each enemy grouping will have a red circle above them, which will degrade into gray as you shoot at them. When the circle turns entirely gray, then they're completely suppressed, causing them shoot erratically and typically stay behind cover. This allows you, or another squad you command, to attempt a flanking maneuver, which usually results in catching the enemy off guard, and makes them easy pickings once you get the hang of how this works. However, while early maps will make this mechanic seem a bit too overpowered, the later levels will throw quite a few enemy squads at you at once, causing you to prioritize who you want to suppress or let go, in the hopes that you can run and cover quick enough to avoid getting shot.

The other main mechanic is the cover system, which feels like it's lifted straight out Gears of War, probably in part to the Unreal 3 engine being used here. The only thing really missing is a blind fire option, but besides that the cover system works really well, and it's fairly easy to line up shots behind cover. The only real issue I have is that getting free from cover doesn't always feel intuitive, as you can either hit the cover button again, or pull back away from cover to pop out. However, it's not always responsive, which makes it annoying if you're trying to hurry up before your suppressing fire wears off.

There's a tactical map available to help you out, which can be aided by recon points, two of which are situated in each level. These recon points are typically high up, and if you're willing to take the time and search them out, they'll give you a little bit of an advantage in locating enemy patrols early, so you can try and plan ahead instead of being caught unawares by German patrols. There's no endless supply of soldiers that pour out waiting for you to hit an invisible checkpoint though, so once you take out a group of enemies, they'll stay down forever, which is definitely nice.

Normal mode might feel a bit easy for shooter vets, but the hard mode, and especially the Authentic mode that gets unlocked after you finish the game for the first time, will definitely amp things up for most players. The enemy AI has occasional problems, but for the most part it reacts to your moves accordingly, and will even attempt to flank you at times. Occasionally you can take potshots at enemies that have a bit too much exposed behind their cover, and they won't always move to fix that error, but usually they'll try and get up and switch cover, or turn to face you as soon as you start shooting at them from a flanking position, so at least they're not mindless. Likewise, your Squad AI is solid, but there were occasions where I'd place them behind cover and issue fire commands which would be ignored, usually because I placed them too far away from an entrance or opening, and they wouldn't auto adjust until I moved them again. It didn't happen often enough to be really aggravating, but it's still doesn't work as well as it should.

However, I'd still say Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway, is easily the best World War 2 shooter I've played to date, and I had a great time with the single player experience. I've dabbled a bit with multi-player, which supports up to 20 players with a team capture the area mode, and while it's pretty fun, I don't find it nearly as engaging without the story accompanying it. The squad format comes into play here with one player being assigned the role of squad leader, and 3 additional teams of 3 players each being assigned different roles. There's no respawning either, so once you're dead you stay that way until the next round. There was also a noticeable amount of lag while playing, and while it wasn't quite game breaking, it's definitely something that needs to be cleared up for me.

It's definitely worth picking up for not only shooter fans, but those that enjoy a little bit of strategy with their action. You won't get away with run and gun tactics on this title, and it's easily one of the better representations of squad based combat I've seen in a game since the original Brothers In Arms. Gearbox has made the transition to 360/PS3 quite well, and it definitely gives me hope that we'll see some more great titles from these guys in the next few years.