Brothers in Arms (Gearbox Software/Ubisoft)

Featured preview by Eric " Scoop" Eckstein, contributing editor


Pinned down by gunfire by a few pesky Germans, your strategy in any current World War II first-person shooter would be simple: Charge up the street unloading your BAR, while leaping into the air and strafing to avoid any return fire. Sure, it' s more James Bond than Private Ryan, but how else is one supposed to play such a game these days? Enter Ubisoft' s Brothers in Arms, and a whole new World War II experience coming to PC and Xbox at the end of this year, PS2 and Gamecube early next.

Designed by Gearbox Software, Brothers in Arms was born out of president Randy Pitchford' s passion to bring a more grounded Band of Brothers feel to a World War II game, encouraging a sense of identity of the squad members, and generally elevating the genre. Authenticity was key, and the team spent years researching and delving into the National Archives to get their facts straight, unearthing hundreds of hours of after-action reports, which were thought lost for over 30 years. Gearbox even tracked down Colonel John Antal, an Airborne Ranger in the U.S. Army and an author who had written military strategic manuals, to consult on the project. " He was writing these tactics exercises that were like choose your own adventures," explains Pitchford. " This guy was a game designer!" Antal would bring all the know-how to help make Brothers in Arms a smarter, cooler and most importantly, more tactical game.

Brothers in Arms follows Sgt. Matt Baker, a reluctant leader and a fictional character inspired by a true Sergeant who served during the war. As a member of the 502nd Airborne, Baker' s dozen must paradrop behind enemy lines to aid the Allied assault on France by taking out enemy guns, reinforcing American soldiers and slowing the advance of the German counterattack. The offensive revolves around the invasion and subsequent holding of Carentan, a French city equidistant from Omaha and Utah Beach, where the Americans landed their troops. Divided, they would be driven into the sea by the German defenses, but if they were to come together, the Allied forces would have a shot at claiming the German-occupied port of Cherbourg and turning the war around. Whether or not Baker' s able to deliver the goods is up to the player.


At its heart, Brothers in Arms is a mission-based first-person shooter and a player can run and gun if they choose. As proper military procedure doesn' t encourage making yourself a sitting duck, Colonel Antal might not approve, but the course of action isn' t prohibited. The player can switch between two weapons a la Halo, hop on fixed weapons and look down the sights of a weapon for more precise shooting. Sprinting is affected by the type of weapon you' re lugging, and while you can jump, it' s ill-advised. Standard shooter elements, sure, but the key difference here is that Baker is not alone.

As part of the leadership role, Baker has the ability to command elements, which are your fellow squad members, ordering them to attack a target, move to a position or follow him. Before anyone gets concerned, the execution is easy: On the Xbox, toggle between elements with the white button, and order them with the left trigger. Issuing these orders is context sensitive, so simply highlighting an enemy location instructs the element to attack, while aiming on a wall will request the element to move to the location and take cover. Your AI-led squad will automatically engage the enemy, taking the appropriate cover. More than utilizing the terrain by ducking behind walls or leaning around corners, squad mates will cover each other, with one soldier taking shots at the enemy while another reloads. In more than one case, a soldier would take the initiative and throw a grenade at an entrenched enemy. Theoretically, you could sit back and watch everything play out, but what fun is that?

A new concept for this shooter also revolves around suppression fire. In reality, suppression fire is the key to victory, pinning down your enemy so another can take him out. In multiplayer games, people use this tactic without even realizing it. In Brothers in Arms, suppression is measured by a threat indicator, depicted by a circle above the enemy' s head. If the circle is completely empty, the enemy is pinned. Germans will continue to blind fire their weapons over their head or around corners, and without continued suppression, the circle will slowly, filling like an egg timer. Using one element to suppress an enemy, while another swings around to flank them is the quintessential tactic in Brothers in Arms.

This is a fundamental shift for first-person shooters, and the instruction does not play out like a real-time strategy game. At times, you can pull out a 3D external view of the area as a means of situational awareness; the idea that these soldiers committed aerial maps and geography to memory, but commanding troops a la Warcraft doesn' t fly. The seamless transition between views is sweet, fading to black and white from color and tilting the perspective so that the scene resembles a recon photo. Within this setting, you can see where your elements are deployed and where the known enemies are, so that proper tactics can be used to dispatch them.

During our demonstration, it' s important to point out the attention to detail. Meticulously re-created from photos of the era, every scene is being composed as historically accurate first, a work of art second. So far, they' re succeeding as, even in this early state on the Xbox, Brothers in Arms is gorgeous and eerily authentic. Thanks to rag doll physics, an executed paratrooper (dangling from the branch he got snagged on) can be shot in the legs, forcing him to swing backwards, his arms swaying. Just don' t let the rest of the team see you do it.

Utilizing the facial expression knowledge gleaned from their work on Half-Life: Opposing Force, Gearbox has injected those details into their soldiers, who look familiar (one in fact is currently modeled after Vince Vaughn) and can even track you with their eyes. It' s subtle, but enough to make your fellow comrades feel like real folks instead of AI automatons. Voices are important too, and while no voice actors have been signed on yet, expect some real talent in this department. Already, you can hear unique chatter from the group as they take out targets, with one crying out, " You apes want to live forever!" being somewhat anachronistic (though much appreciated by this author!).

It' s important that each of your guys does feel real, as Gearbox wants to move the story along in a way that players know their buddies. It' s not just " guy in a helmet #1," but Joey, the Kansas City radio operator, for example. During some missions, players can choose to engage members, hearing their stories or just immersing themselves deeper into the moment. At any time, one can simply charge ahead with the mission, but for those looking for more depth, Brothers in Arms wants to deliver.

On our demonstration, Pitchford led Baker' s group up the road from Carentan, where suddenly they were ambushed by Germans. Axis forces hid behind fallen horsecarts, and quickly, Pitchford dispatched the two elements (Fire and Movement) under his control, placing one (Fire) behind a stone wall, and the other (Movement) near a house, which he followed. The Fire element got the situation under control, pinning the Germans down so that now, Pitchford could lead the Movement element around the back of the house and take some pot shots. Unfortunately, all doesn' t go as planned, as two separate German detachments engage our Movement element, forcing us to take cover by a wooden fence. Pitchford calls back the Fire element, needing their support, and while he waited for them, he looked down the barrel and took some shots at the Germans, capping a few in the process. Finally, with the Fire element in position, pinning down the enemy, Movement could swing into a recessed path and assault the enemy. Before Pitchford could raise his rifle, a member of his squad had tossed a grenade and sent German bodies flying. A little mop-up later, and the squad was back on its way.

There were still Germans in the vicinity, and over a hill, one in particular was on a MG42, pumping bullets faster than our squad could handle. Engaging the enemy with one element, and sneaking Movement to his side along the bushes was the plan, but suddenly, something bad happened. The ground shook and Baker' s thrown on his back; motion blur fills the screen and there' s a dull rumbling. A grenade, a mortar, who knows? Scripted? Sure, but still powerful. He hops back to his feet, and finishes what he started, before leading an element in to invade a house. Just as trouble is about to start up again, Baker' s on the fixed gun in the window, taking out a half-dozen Nazis, while moving the Fire element into an outside ditch to pick off the stragglers. It' s been a good run... this time.

There' s a lot still in the works for Brothers in Arms as it closes in on its end of October ship date for Xbox and PC (PS2 and Gamecube will follow in 2005). For both Ubi and Gearbox, the Brothers in Arms name is two franchises: a series of games within the World War II era, and the potential to break into other theaters (like a modern day combat game akin to Full Spectrum Warrior). Unlike that game, Pitchford stresses, " We want to shoot the gun!" Alongside the single player missions, multiplayer will be an important addition, allowing players to lead elements of their own (in Xbox' s current case, 2 players can play split-screen against another 2 players via the system link), and being the pros that balanced Halo PC, we have good faith they' ll deliver. So much to tell, but we' ll be seeing a lot more from Brothers in Arms this May for the E3 show.