How interactive are the game's environs, and how do you balance the use of interactive scenery with the need to 'channel' a player's movements and actions in-game?

RP: The combat environments span from narrow to wide to extremely wide throughout the game. Picture an hour glass, where the wide bits have a lot more tactical options for how to approach a combat and the narrow bit in the middle is the bridge between the two wide bits. Put a whole lot of hourglasses together in all kinds of different configurations with all kinds of different sized and shaped bulbs and you have the player's critical path in Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway.

In the wide parts of the hour glass, the player has a lot of freedom to approach the combat situation and use his weapons and his squad how he wants. If it's difficult, there are a lot of other ways to approach the challenge.

The fact that weapons can shred apart the cover and objects and other elements of the environment that the enemy can hide behind just helps me feel even more powerful when I'm attacking. When I'm hiding behind things that are getting chewed apart, the sense of risk and tension is increased and I better move or I'm going to get taken down. It's even more interesting because there are harder cover elements, like sandbags, that my bullets won't do much to. So, now I can use other weapons, like my bazooka, to take that down. There's different tools for different jobs, but it's very natural and fluid and there are a lot of options in any given combat, so it's not like solving a puzzle.

Do you believe the game has, given the subject matter, an air of 'gravitas'?

RP: "Gravitas" sums up our philosophies about how to approach the subject matter in a game. When we started, we wanted to talk to a lot of veterans and learn about warfare. I'm no soldier - I make games. So it was important to talk to guys who *knew*. At first, it was difficult. Some of these guys knew what was happening with other video games and to them it was shameful or just so far off it was embarrassing for them. If you've ever seen a that's about a subject you know a lot about and it's so funny how bad some of them get the subject or the details, you know what I'm talking about. It's like watching hackers. Any of us who know anything about computers couldn't buy into it. To real hackers, that movie is insulting and embarrassing.

Our intent was to treat the subject in such a way that the guys who were actually there can respect and support. Brothers in Arms stands alone with this subject and genre in accomplishing that. It feels good because we spent a lot of time and money to do so.

Is there anything you'd alter if you could make the game again, and do you have any future plans for the series in mind?

RP: There are always things we learn. We learned a lot from the first two Brothers in Arms games and Hell's Highway is the beneficiary of that learning.

As far as future plans go, that's like asking Lucas about Return of the Jedi before you've even seen Empire Strikes Back. Hell's Highway is like Empire - the Axis comes out ahead in this battle. The Allies are going to have to rally. On the ground, it's not certain what's to become of Baker's squad or Baker himself in the fight. They may not make it through Operation Market Garden.

Colonel, why were you interested in being involved with the Brothers in Arms series?

Col. John Antal: I am a Soldier, historian and novelist. Put those three together and you can see why I enjoy being a part of creating dramatic historical fiction.

Do you play games yourself, and if so, what are your favourites?

Col. JA: Yes, I enjoy historically based games and many first person games.

Colonel, do you worry that making the subject of a game belittles or 'lightens' the obvious tragedies of the real event?

Col. JA: No. If compelling books and can be made about combat, then we can also do this in interactive entertainment.

Tactics are key to Hell's Highway. How involved were you with this side of the title, and how much of a challenge has creating realistic squad combat been?

Col. JA: Realistic WWII tactics separates BIA games from all the rest. I was central to this feature and have enjoyed working with the team to get this right.

The game is rich with authentic detail. How much of a pleasure or a chore was this side of your role on the project?

Col. JA: It is an absolute pleasure to get the authenticity right. Our fans expect this of BIA games and I am proud to be a part of providing this to our players.

What do you think other veterans will make of the game?

Col. JA: I have talked to many WWII veterans and they appreciate what we have done. In fact, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest veterans organization in the world, has endorsed our game.

Is the game's story your own work? How much research went into this side of things?

Col. JA: No, another team member wrote this latest story, but I have written a novel, Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway that will be on bookshelves when the game is released. Everyone interested in BIA wil want to read this novel.

Many thanks for your time, chaps. Best of luck with the completion of Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.

By Luke Guttridge