Brother in Arms: Furious Four 2012

[Boy.Tuko(BT)]

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[B]Game Review:


Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 is completely insane, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing yet.

It's easy to make the association between Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds from a premise/style perspective, but that's not really fair. There's much more of a comic book vibe to Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 mixed with the over-the-top war movies of the 60s and 70s starring actors like Lee Marvin. Even the sound effects hearken back to the sort of spaghetti WWII films of decades past, and that's kind of a cool thing.

So take the Dirty Dozen, mix it in with some Warriors-era Walter Hill, and you're almost there. Then, as our demo began and score multipliers and bonuses were called out on the screen, all I could think of was Bulletstorm.

Clearly, there's a lot going on in Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 - almost too much to process right away. The four player co-op, a first for a Brothers in Arms game, almost seems incidental to bear traps combined with grenades, or tomahawks thrown into a Nazi skull. Then there are the slow-mo action moments, where the Furious 4 will kick open a door or do something really stupid and crash a troop-transport through a door and then have to take out absolutely everyone - while ideally completing an optional challenge, like killing three enemies or blowing up (illogically explosive) oil lamps.

There's also a narrator, who feels like as much of a character as any of the Furious 4. He'll be the one clueing you into the plan of attack from moment to moment, and will also generally make known that he thinks the Furious 4 aren't very smart. Because they're not. They narrowly avoid ineptitude through sheer brazen willpower. And firepower.

Each of the Basterds... er, I mean, Furious 4 (see, even I'm doing it) has their own preferred weapon. Our main demo'er was controlling Montana, the giant who carries a gatling gun by all appearances. He was joined in online co-op by other Gearbox players using the rest of the Furious 4.

In fact, Montana was gatling'ing everyone so well that there was little more than token resistance anywhere in the demo I saw. There were some forced "survive!" moments here and there, where the Furious 4 had to kill an endless stream of enemies until a bar ticked all the way down, but there never seemed to be any danger present until the very end of the level. At that point, a heavy machine-gunner with a giant steel shield attached to his gun proved to be more problematic than I'd expect, followed by a fight with a helicopter about 20 years earlier than I understand those were hovering around.

There's a lot going on, but what I couldn't escape watching the demo was a feeling of unease that I didn't quite understand until a bit later. My disquiet at Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 relates, I think, to how flippant and non-contextual it is to its setting. You're killing Nazis, yeah, but it's a sort of balls out, feel good murder-fest that comes off a little strangely given the thin historical context inherent in every World War II game. I don't want to sound like a prude, but when Montana pulls out his chainsaw (yep, there's a chainsaw), the targeting reticule turns into a smiley face. Which is supposed to be funny, I think. Here's hoping it is when the game comes out some time in the first half of next year.





Note: I will update this soon for more game details
Source: IGN


Updates:

Brothers in Arms Furious 4 is slated for release during the first half of 2012 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Source: V24/7

System reuirements: Not officially released(will update soon)