Monday 17-May-2004 4:11 PM Gearbox's new FPS takes us back to World War II, but with a refreshing twist - Randy Pitchford offers insight as we take control Yes, it's another World War II first-person shooter, but Brothers in Arms covers the conflict from an angle different to the likes of Call of Duty and Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Instead of jumping between Allied forces or following one man's WWII experience in a variety of operations, Gearbox's title narrows focus down to D-Day, the 101st Airborne, 502d, Fox Company and Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad.
Brothers in Arms covers the first eight days of the Allied invasion of Europe. "It starts with the paratrooper drop into Normandy at midnight before the beach landings," explains Gearbox president Randy Pitchford who's on-hand to talk us through the game. And then continues to relate the combat encounters and tells the remarkable real-life story of the men at the centre of the events, say we.
However, rather than get to check out the airborne drop, for us it's a leap to roughly the middle of the game and a mission called "The Crack of Dawn", where Baker and his company are preparing to lead an attack on Caranten. A veritable mine of information, Pitchford says that Caranten was a vital objective for the Allies as it allowed them to unify the forces coming in via the beaches.
Impressive initially is the visual style of Brothers in Arms; before plunging into any action we take a few moments to look around. The environment is delicious, with gorgeous foliage and buildings that are spot-on recreations of the actual houses etc. that were at the location in 1944.
In fact, the lay of the land is pretty much identical to that of 60 years ago, Gearbox employing a wealth of historical information to deliver pin-point accuracy in this regard.
Gazing further, we spot the vague outline of buildings way, way in the distance. "This is Caranten in Normandy. That's geometry out there - that's not a picture on a skybox that's actual geometry," enthuses Pitchford, replying "yes" when we ask if we could actually walk over to it. "This is geometry, the fields of Normandy," he adds pointing to the screen, "and this in this direction is the town of St. Come-du-Mont." Nice.
Attention to detail is also happily carried across to squad members, stepping up close revealing eyes the eerily follow you around and facial animation of a like we've only seen in one other game before: Half-Life 2. Oddly, Randy remains coy when asked about the game engine, only saying that "We'll be talking about the technology at a later date".
Pitchford promises that each squad character in Brothers in Arms will "have their own personality" and hints at an impressive line-up for the voice acting: "There's real talent associated with the game - I can't talk about this yet as the ink's not dry on the contracts, but you'll notice this guy looks a lot like Vince Vaughn," he says.
Before heading into enemy territory, we're advised to take a few moments to practice with the squad command system in the game. As team leader, Baker or the player has two different teams under his command, a Fire Element which is used as a base of fire to suppress enemies and an assault unit or Movement Element that is used to, say, out-flank and enemy while it's being suppressed. The two units perform the standard US Army tactics of fire and manoeuvre.
Despite "squad command" sounding a little daunting, in Brothers in Arms it's a breeze to operate. The command system is context-sensitive, the Fire Element and Movement Element depicted by different cursor icons when the order action - on Xbox, orders are simply given by holding down the left trigger, the white button switching between the two units - is in operation.
All that's required of the player is to move the cursor to a point on the screen and the ordered unit does the rest. Point to the ground to get them to move to that location, for example, or point the cursor at the enemy to get the team to attack that enemy. "The command system is very accessible," Pitchford says. "It's simple and yet it's very complex - I can do a lot with it."
We also briefly practiced switching between weapons before the plunge - "a lot like Halo" you can carry two guns - in this case the Thompson submachine gun and M1 Garand rifle. You can also use "iron sights", looking down the sight of a weapon to gain accuracy; and Gearbox has added depth of field here with everything in your vision outside of the eyeline down the gun sight blurry.
Attack! Feeling that we'd mastered the rudimentaries of squad command and weapon management it was time to get in the thick of things. Positioned in what could be described as a small village on the outskirts of Caranten, we cautiously moved out down the central road, buildings, trees and fences ominous thanks to the potential of hidden threat.
Suddenly, German voices cry out and bullets start zipping. Attempting to remain calm under fire, we order our Movement Element to the left to take cover and fire on the enemy from behind a house, while our Fire Element is moved right, takes cover behind a wall and puts down a base of fire on the enemy. It's a moment of respite as the Germans duck down behind cover.
At this stage our attention is brought to a small graphic displayed above enemy heads, which we're informed is a suppression metre. It's optional in the different skill levels - you can have it turned on or off - but what it is in a nutshell is a visual representation of what the soldiers under your command know about the state of the enemy. "They are freaking out right now," Pitchford says of the cowering Germans.
"But every once in a while you see the German stand up and fire back - he doesn't want to be suppressed because if he's stuck there he knows he's going to die," he adds.
Hesitancy here could mean disaster, and obviously spotting that we're in a minor dilemma Randy reveals another part of the game we haven't yet seen - Situational Awareness View.
In the hit of a key or button, a kind of top-down overview fills the screen, showing the battlefield, friendly troops and currently spotted enemies. Pitchford explains that this is a representation of Allied troops' knowledge of the area prior to the drop, soldiers having studied aerial reconnaissance photos and sand tables showing the lay of the land.
Now we have the Situational Awareness View up, it becomes obvious that our Fire Element can continue suppressing the enemy while we take our Movement Element on a flanking manoeuvre through an orchard around the left hand side. With one unit pinning the Germans down, we order our second unit through the orchard, only to run slap-bang into more enemies camping out in a bomb crater.
Leaving the Movement Element firing on the Germans in the crater, for some crazy reason we make an attempt to out-flank the enemy on our own. So far so good, we're not spotted, M1 Garand is brought up to shoulder, looking down the sights, taking a bead and... Boom! A member of the Movement Element has lobbed a grenade at the Germans, sending smoke and bodies flying through air. "You'll notice that it's all simulated rag-doll," Pitchford comments as the bodies fly.
Eventually we do get to pop off a few rounds, taking the option to charge another pocket of German soldiers discovered on our ever more doomed attempt to out-flank the original enemy troops. Bang! An explosion goes of nearby, and we get to witness the effects of concussion as our vision blurs from the effect of the blast - an effect similar to that seen in Call of Duty.
It's a part of the game's dynamic that you can approach situations in different ways, whether you want to "go first" or take more of a back seat and take greater advantage of the tactics offered thanks to the two teams under your command. However, according to Pitchford, tactics become increasingly important as enemies steadily get tougher.
Going into more detail about the AI of squad mates, Randy says that: "These men will cover each other and take up covering positions as they move into the positions I want them to. They'll go where I go they'll do what I do, they'll cover each other and manoeuvre as I manoeuvre." Or in other words, they act like a proper combat squad, and can do so independently if desired.
Asked about scripted events, Pitchford explains that some events are controlled to some degree with scripts while others dynamically happen. Later on in the level, we're in a field and one field across we can see American airborne troops (apparently this is Mac, your platoon sergeant - plus his soldiers - who said he was going to go round and meet Baker on the other side of the village) approaching German AA guns.
P-47 planes are flying over head, under fire from AA guns - "There's a system that allows the AA guns to track planes as they fly overhead, and sometimes they get lucky and hit one. Now our designers will say 'now it's time for the fighters the fly' [i.e. a scripted event] but if an AA gun shoots one down then that happens - it's war."
It certainly is war, and a war that while being already covered in the first-person shooter genre is handled slightly differently in Brothers in Arms. The lengths that Gearbox has gone to with authenticity is definitely commendable, but what's perhaps more important is that thanks to the addition of the squad dynamic the game promises to be a gameplay experience of a like not really seen in the world of the World War II FPS.
Check back soon for a full and in-depth interview with Randy Pitchford about Brothers in Arms, where further gameplay details are revealed and multiplayer - which we haven't played but know all about; and it sounds great fun - is discussed at length.
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