War is hell. We’ve heard this adage with just about every war-themed film or documentary release, but the truth is most of us will never experience the ravages first-hand, God willing. For many of us, these horrible conflicts are nothing more than stories we read; movies we watch. But in fact war is drama we don’t need to fabricate because it has been all too real; just ask those that have taken part. Perhaps no other war in history touched so many lives than the events of World War II. It was a time that ushered in many changes across the world, especially for the art of war. While tanks, machine guns, and other technological weapons of destruction had been used during the first World War, they didn’t show their true destructive power until the second worldwide conflict. This is one of the reasons that more than fifty-two million people lost their lives during both the European and Pacific Theaters of World War II. The invasion of Normandy alone saw nearly 30,000 US troops killed and 106,000 wounded or missing. War is hell…indeed. So why would we want to relive the trying times of WWII in a videogame? The answer might be different for every gamer. Some folks are history buffs, other people simply like to shoot things. As for me…I like to think of it as a tribute to those men and women that died so that I can enjoy the life I have today. The problem is the majority of WWII-themed games have been more arcade like than an actual representation of how things actually were during that time. To that end I can honestly say that Ubisoft’s latest release, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is a TRUE tribute and the best WWII game to date.
