The game centres around one Sergeant Matt Baker, Squad leader of a recon unit attached to the US 101st Airborne, which took part in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden which aimed to end the Second World War before Christmas 1944. The story in BAHH will, for the most part, be lost on newcomers to the series, but suffice to say Baker is carrying baggage in the form of fallen comrades from previous titles who haunt his actions and decision making throughout.

When the player assumes control, they are charged with commanding various unit types on their journey from Holland into Germany, during the great allied push after D-Day. The basic premise is to use different units, each with different abilities, to advance deep into German territory. Each enemy placement has a red circular indicator over them, which confirms they are hostile. If they become suppressed, it turns to grey and this gives the player a window of opportunity to advance. Cover also plays an integral part for both sides of the war. Wooden fences are flimsy and can be shot to pieces, flushing out enemies hiding behind them, whereas a stone dyke is a far more preferable structure to crouch behind and direct operations from.

BAHH makes no bones about its attention to realism, and there is no grey area or moralistic stance on the sheer brutality of war in this title. Enemy troops are killed without any fanfare or great triumph, with only eerie stillness on the battlefield after a particular German squad has been polished off by the troops under the player`s command. As gamers, we are used to the over the top nature of these titles, but the sombre tone throughout, coupled with its heavyweight backing from actual soldiers who were privy to the events chronicled - here acting as advisers to the game - goes a long way to establishing its credentials early on.

The gruesome kill-cam zoom, which occurs when a particular shot or grenade hits an enemy placement just so, results in a level of gore never before seen in a game. Seeing limbs ripped asunder, the insides of people’s stomachs and the like is not for the faint-hearted. Another nice touch is that German soldiers bark instructions to each other in their own language instead of `Allo `Allo accents.

While the player can leave their units 'parked' as they plough through the title, this temptation should be resisted as they will become unstuck when a mounted machine gun placement or 88 Gun needs to be dealt with and their Bazooka or MG team is at the far side of the map. Effective management of each squad must be taken into account and the player will find themselves absorbed into proceedings on a deep level: making sure that each squad is covered as they reload, and advance when the occasion requires. If a squad member becomes injured or lost in the battle, the sense of loss can be profound, not only on a personal level, but, for example, if a member of the bazooka team who actually handled the munitions is incapacitated, it diminishes options within the squad.

When the action splits Baker from his team, the game starts to unravel ever so slightly. As the main thrust of BAHH is centred around strategy and squad movement, it doesn`t have the level of gun-play that the likes of a Call of Duty has. This makes these sequences deeply disappointing, as it’s painfully obvious that the game isn’t set up for this type of solo action. There is one part of the game that works in the absence of your squad, and that's the tank sections. Relatively straightforward in nature, they funnel the player down a set course, clearing tanks and deadly Panzershreck placements. Unfortunately these sections are far too short and don`t appear until later on in the game but provide a fun distraction while they last.

Other issues surface when it comes to controls. Unless the selected team is exactly in front of an enemy or Machine Gun placement, the targeting reticule won`t appear, which can lead the player to accidentally send them deep into enemy positions. This can sometimes lead to casualties, necessitating the need to reload the last checkpoint. Also, the use of the “dig-in” command, which allows the player to hunker behind cover to either replenish health or direct squad members, can prove problematic. Sometimes, in narrow bunkers, the player can become embroiled in a game of “to me, to you” as they stick from one side to another, which isn`t particularly helpful in the midst of a raging gun battle.

Considering the proliferation of the Unreal Engine, BAHH can be slightly disappointing in the visual department. Having been in development for a good while now, you could be forgiven for thinking that BAHH was in development for the original Xbox before production was swiftly moved across to the new platforms, as the graphics in places are patchy to say the least. Cut-scenes in particular erode the excellent work of the voice talent on offer, and later on in the game this becomes more apparent as the visual clarity starts to shine, only for the player to be pulled back into the rather flat-looking story sections.

It jars with the excellent writing of the story and the cut scenes can often dissolve into unintentional comedy, which is unfortunate, as BAHH deserves a lot better. The quality of graphics later on are highly impressive, especially when the titular Hell`s Highway has to be negotiated. An atmospheric, eerie and unsettling place, the player must be careful he is not distracted by the sight of whole hillsides ablaze, because numerous ambushes are awaiting.

There is much to admire in Brothers in Arms: Hell`s Highway. The air of authenticity hangs heavy but never leaves its audience smothered with its intentions. There will obviously be another in the series, by which time Gearbox Software will have hopefully managed to tame both their engine and the irksome controls, and ultimately provide the game experience that this title should have been.