Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway Interview

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Eurogamer: What's the connection between the storyline and characters of this game and the previous ones?

Randy Pitchford: In the first Brothers in Arms game you were Sergeant Matt Baker, recently promoted to squad leader and dropped into D-Day. His first line was, "I never asked to be squad leader, but I had no choice..." It was interesting because Brothers in Arms introduced this new type of squad combat game mechanic. It was really cool that the main character, Sgt. Baker, was learning how to be a squad leader in the story as you, the player, was learning how to be a squad leader in the game.

In Road to Hill 30, Sergeant Baker lost some of his soldiers - including Private Leggett, the radio operator with the glasses who was killed on Hill 30 in the opening sequence of the game. A couple of my other favourite characters, Allen & Garnett, were killed in Normandy. I liked those guys because they were really funny and they were good in the fight.

In Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway, Baker begins to struggle with the burden of being a squad leader. Squad leaders have to make tough decisions - sometimes they make a mistake and someone gets killed. Sometimes they have to make what is a great decision, but the decision means someone is probably going to get killed.

That's extremely difficult to deal with in real life. Many very tough men have been crushed by the burden.Baker has to deal with that in Hell's Highway - he's haunted by the memory of his dead men. There are men that he lost in Normandy whose memory will haunt him. There are men he'll lose in Operation Market/Garden that will haunt him.

The question is whether that burden will crush him and defeat him. Can he accept and overcome that burden so that he can move forward and continue to lead the men in his squad who have survived?

It's deep stuff. I can't believe we're doing some of it and actually pulling it off. I don't think the games industry has seen its Citizen Kane yet, but I am really proud to be amongst those that are pushing us there. Hell's Highway is really coming together and I can't wait to see how far along we get or if we've made it. Anything that gets us closer than the games industry has been before is a success for us.

Eurogamer: Eurogamer: There are already a lot of World War II shooters on the shelves - why stick with that theme? Why should gamers buy this WWII game rather than one of the others?

Randy Pitchford: I don't agree that there are a lot. Recently you've got the one from EA that came out a few months ago. It was okay, but was a bit rough around the edges. Then you've got Brothers in Arms coming, and that's going to be the big thing.

I think that Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway is, by far, the most interesting and exciting choice for next-generation World War II action. I don't know how to say this without sounding condescending but it doesn't even seem close, really.

I think the question shouldn't be. "Should Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway be the World War II game that I'm most interested in?", as I think that is pretty much a guaranteed yes answer. The question should be, "Is Brothers in Arms amongst the best games on the platform?"

A lot of that is subjective, of course, depending upon what you like. But if you like real-world military action, first person shooters, awesome graphics, insane destructible cover, the ability to command your squad and a deep story, then BiA is the best choice out there that offers those things.

Eurogamer: Hell's Highway is billed as offering a "completely new multiplayer experience". Does this mean compared to previous BIA games, or compared to all games?

Randy Pitchford: Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway multiplayer is new to Brothers in Arms. There are some things you can do in multiplayer that you can't do in any other game. It's going to be pretty serious and pretty hardcore. It's less of a goof around and shoot the other guy kind of game and more of a tactical, team-work oriented game. It's pretty cool and it takes advantage of a lot of the things that make Hell's Highway so awesome in single player.

Eurogamer: So what's new for the multiplayer mode in Hell's Highway?

Randy Pitchford: Well, I think we'll save that for a bit longer... Sorry.

Eurogamer: What are the current plans for the beta test?

Randy Pitchford: We are just about at beta internally. We have a hardcore internal QA team that is banging on the game relentlessly.

Eurogamer: You're also currently working on sci-fi shooter Borderlands. How's it shaping up?

Randy Pitchford: Borderlands is awesome. I'm sure we'll talk a lot about that soon enough.

Eurogamer: Does the move into sci-fi with Borderlands mean you're moving away from World War II and Brothers in Arms?

Randy Pitchford: When we announced Brothers in Arms just after finishing Halo for the PC and some of the Half-Life games, we got the same question, "Does the move into WW2 mean you're moving away from Science Fiction and Halo, Half-Life, et cetera?"

We love games and have a lot of interests. Our love for science fiction is not mutually exclusive with our love for military history. We love a lot of other things, too. We want to make awesome games and strive to be the best game development studio in the world.