Brothers In Arms DS (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

WWII shooters are incredibly popular and, ever since EA's original Medal of Honor, developers and publishers have all wanted a piece of this very lucrative market. Out of all this three front-runners emerged: Activision's Call of Duty, Ubi Soft's Brothers in Arms and (the already mentioned) Medal of Honor. These have always been very successful on the PC but bringing them to a handheld audience has not been without its problems as PSP owners learnt this year. We've had two such offerings for Nintendo handhelds, both of which featured MoH. The first of these: Underground, was less than successful at bringing the excitement of the FPS alive and featured bland visuals and uninspiring missions. Infiltrator was the next where the developers were more accepting of the GBA's limitations so they went the top-down route. Think WWII Cannon Fodder. It's this recognition of platforms strengths and weaknesses which can make or break a game and, with that in mind, Ubi Soft have employed Gearbox to produce a third person shooter based on their classic series. Well, it's here at last. You've seen the screens, you've heard the hype, but what is the game actually like.

Gameplay

Brother in Arms takes place over 16 missions and 3 different campaigns in three very different locations: Normandy, North Africa and Ardennes. The missions themselves start off reasonably simple but there are always multiple objectives. An early Normandy mission, for example involves you shooting and lobbing grenades at Germans whilst also picking off sharp shooters with your sniper rifle You also have to place explosives on a number of gun emplacements, all without being killed. You are directed, to a certain extent, in all your missions, your next objective point is marked in yellow and rather helpfully, also in meters. You don't have to stick to this route though, in fact, you may need to deviate from it if you are being constantly shelled. Everything is objective based; complete one and another will be issued until you reach the level's end. This is all fine to begin with but later missions contain more objectives and it's easy to become lost especially on the more advanced settings.

Some of the missions also include drivable vehicles and you have both a recon car (which looks like a jeep) and a Sherman Tank at your disposal although not at the same time. Just because you are in one of these it doesn't mean that you have to stay in. You may have to get out, for instance, to clear the path of set charges. There is one big difference between the two vehicles, other than their speed, you actually aim and shoot with the tank while the recon car features automatic firing thanks to the 'wing-man' mounted on the back with a machine gun. There's also a multiplayer which, because Ubi Soft only sent us a single copy of the game we couldn't play. It does claim to be (according to the press release) a 'new multiplayer experience: Fight major multiplayer battles with three of your friends in different multiplayer modes, including Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. Well, now you know as much as we do until we get our hands on another copy.

Controls

Your traditional controls are called upon here to move your character around but this only works in conjunction with the touch-screen. The shoulder buttons operate the firing mechanism. This makes for a very intuitive and comfortable interface and, as with all good games, there's more than enough on-line text to help you out. There's even an auto cover feature so that when you approach a wall you crouch. This works fine most of the time although another nudge on the controls means you jump over the same wall.

Graphics

Visually the game is just about as good in motion as those initial screens led you to believe and the attention to detail is occasionally jaw dropping. You'll notice this on the first level when you have dropped into enemy territory only to get stuck in a tree. The instructions tell you to 'look around' and, while you are viewing the wreckage and carnage of a battlefield laid out in front of you, a DC9 comes crashing into the picture and bursts into flames. It's this kind of stuff that elevates the whole thing to a more cinematic experience. Even when there's nothing going on it's a pleasure to wander around just to admire the design. In Normandy you'll find yourself in a beautiful town with a windmill and playground, complete with swings. The animation's pretty good too, whether you are on foot or in a vehicle with absolutely no sign of slow down regardless of what's happening on screen.

Sound

It's very clear that the developers have spent some time on the sound and the results are really quite spectacular. A great military soundtrack complements this as you run through the various options and missions. The audio throws just about everything it can at you to heighten tension and demonstrate that danger is just around every corner. There's gunfire, explosions and your commanding officer constantly screaming instructions at you. Get in a tight or potentially life threatening situation and you'll hear your heart beating out of your chest. The same is true before entering battle and the ambient sounds of the surrounding countryside only serve as a reminder that danger is just around the corner.

Dual screen

Like the 'shoe' in Metroid Prime the touch screen's main use is to look around and aim your gun. This works surprisingly well and the collision detection is very good. Your cross hair even shakes when you move into sniper mode. It's also used for weapon selection and, like the recent Dead 'n' Furious, to reload as you enter some of the more dangerous situations. In addition you throw grenades using the touch screen and as soon as you select them the screen will flip to an overhead view allowing you to easily judge throwing distance.

Final comments

Given that the most anyone had seen of this DS version of Brothers in Arms were a bunch of incredibly impressive screenshots, it's certainly lived up to expectations. The game itself is atmospheric with well-constructed and immersive missions, it's just unfortunate that there aren't enough of them; in fact you'll find yourself so engrossed in the game that it's all over in a few sittings. There are higher difficulty levels and the multiplayer modes but this does little to rescue the single player missions. Still, it looks and sounds amazing and is definitely one for every DS owners collection.

Pro: Very Atmospheric, Immersive Missions, Great Sound and Visuals.
Con: A Little Too Short, Sometimes Difficult to Know What's Going on.
Final score: 8.7

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