G-pinions

I'll tell you right now that I have no idea how well Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 has sold thus far. I do work in a game store, and based on what we've sold, I'd say it's as much as the average new release. But no cold hard facts yet. I have a feeling though, a very strong feeling, that Ubisoft has dropped the ball yet again. They've released a really great game, probably the best of it's kind, with absolutely no anticipation or marketing for it. Two things have been proven in the last year and a half - that the most consistent developer these days is quite possibly French, and that said publisher doesn't know the first thing about selling games.

Let me tell you why I wasn't excited for this game: up until release, all media relating to the project had shown you doing the same damn thing in the same damn level. And there wasn't really anything particularly impressive about it, despite some pretty foliage and depth-of-focus effects on your gun when you aimed. It looked like every other war game, of which there are way too many of. But it was being published by Ubisoft, and developed by a team responsible for some solid ports (Half-Life to PS2, Halo to PC). So there was hope, but little anticipation.

All of a sudden, IGN had given the game a 9.3 and my pal Nadir who has solid taste in games was stark raving mad about it. And so it began, a completely fabricated, throbbing desire for the game. Nothing major, but I told myself I'd buy it when it was cheap - I like shooters, and I like good games. So I did. And the game is great indeed. I still haven't decided if the tactical focus is for me, but after a handful of mission I can stamp my State-certified G-Pinions Seal of Approval on it. It's intense - like, Resident Evil 4 intense. This isn't Call of Duty; there aren't a hundred soldiers running this way and that, and a dozen enemies to gun down at every turn of a corner. It's you and your diminutive squad versus the world. Well, the Germans, but yeah, it's rough. You have to play tactically, and you have to play defensively. There's no health to pick up, and after a couple shots you're done for. Same deal with your men. And when the lead starts to fly, so does the blood, the dirt, and the four-letter words. This is one of the most foul-mouthed games yet, but it doesn't feel unnatural for a second in a setting like this. The game looks amazing, sounds even better, and plays very...realistically. Things are loose, but not in an out-of-your-control way; just in a things-could-easily-go-wrong-at-any-second way. Ordering your squad around is easy and fun too, especially when you take verbal control of a tank.

I guess the main point of this post is to complain about how badly Ubisoft markets their games. There was so little hype surrounding this, and it's so well done and so polished. It happened with Sands of Time and BG&E, and it's been fairly consistent since. Here's an idea - every goddamned person in the world knows about the Splinter Cell series already - why not take half the marketing budget for Chaos Theory and divide it amongst your other games? They deserve it.