While WWII shooters have been done to death, the Brothers in Arms series has taken a different approach, focusing on group tactics and squad combat. The third installment in the series, Hell's Highway, finds Sgt. Matt Baker more world-weary than ever. The setting is Operation Market Garden, a two-pronged Allied assault into German-occupied Netherlands in the autumn of 1944. Allied forces encountered early successes in the operation, but they ultimately failed to capture the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem, leaving them just shy of the German border. At this point in the war, Baker has sent far too many young men to die, which accounts for his grim countenance. But soldier on he must. Luckily, his squad command mechanics have been refined, so he can continue to fight the good fight.

This is Real-Time War, Son

At Ubisoft's recent press event, we were shown a demo of Hell's Highway, from a single level in the game. The scene was a village north of Eindhoven called Son, where a tactically-relevant bridge was located. According to Gearbox's Colonel John Antal, this area was painstakingly recreated in the game by means of blueprints and photo records from the era. While it was initially hard to believe that the footage shown in early videos was indeed real-time, this demo effectively squashed all doubt; the game looked mighty impressive. The environments were richly detailed, superbly lit, and pleasingly animated; stuff actually fell apart when shot at, and not simply a few surfaces tagged by the designers to explode. Since much of the gameplay revolves around finding viable cover, the integrity of the surfaces that you duck up against actually matters.

Far and away, the most welcome new feature in Hell's Highway comes in the fully-realized cover mechanics. They work similarly to those in Rainbow Six: Vegas, allowing you to peek out over areas of cover and take pot shots at your enemies, or hold out your weapon and fire blindly. You also need to take your surroundings into consideration: wood will eventually splinter from rifle fire, while stone is a bit more resilient. When it comes to sandbags, well, you'll have to give a holler to your bazooka team to smoke out those thus entrenched. Longtime fans will also be happy to know that Baker will be able to traverse any modestly sized environmental obstacles, too. No longer will the hardened squad leader be foiled by a waist-high fence.

You can still depend on your squaddies to do what needs doing

Gearbox's Randy Pitchford was clear about one thing during this demo, and it was that he refused to break the Brothers In Arms tradition of preventing abstractions from breaking the player's sense of immersion. Apparently, he considers "health packs" to be key offenders. Though the solider icon that doubled as a health meter in the previous games was a bit more elegant of an implementation, even he would admit that it was essentially a "hit point meter."