Brothers In Arms trailer released

Ubisoft has released a fourteen-minute trailer of Gearbox Software's World War II first-person shooter Brothers In Arms, and if you were sceptical of the need for another WWII shooter when you first heard about the game, we recommend you give this a watch. It's doing stuff that none of the others have even attempted. The file's available right now from Eurofiles.

Narrated by Randy Pitchford and a retired US Marines Colonel, who has been acting as historian and military advisor to Pitchford and co., the trailer focuses on an early encounter in the Normandy countryside, and introduces us to characters and mechanics that left us with high hopes for the title, largely on account of its accuracy, which is genuinely unparalleled.

Not only could you visit the same exact spot in Normandy and see largely the same landscape and landmarks (like a nearby church) as you do in the game (says Pitchford, "I like to joke that if you memorised this game you could go to Normandy and become a tour guide."), but the game is actually based on a true story rather than an approximation, and the characters are actually real men. At one point, Pitchford insists that we Google the name of one of the men we're looking at; one of only two soldiers to receive the US Congressional Medal of Honour for his services during the conflict.

What's most impressive, however, is the way Gearbox's pursuit of accuracy extends beyond the presentation. It's meant to be equivalent to real combat, and as such the soldiers under your command will behave in a way that befits them. Using a one-button, context-sensitive command tool, you can direct your fire and assault teams to engage the enemy, and whereas Call of Duty did this sort of thing with a kind of obvious scripting, your brothers in arms appear to be figuring everything out on the fly - looking for better firing positions, covering each other, and trying to flank and kill the enemy.

The trailer also demonstrates just how gorgeous the game is turning out to be. Although the developer is far more interested in delivering solid, accurate gameplay, we couldn't help smiling at the sepia-tinted visuals, the effect of fading sunlight and the level of detail in the characters. This also goes toward fostering a genuine relationship with your fellow soldiers. They have to be believable - so if you stand there staring at soldiers, their eyes will follow your movement and eventually they'll mutter, "You okay sarge?" if you linger in front of them.

As Pitchford puts it, "As a squad leader I make decisions that affect their lives and their deaths, and those need to be important decisions." In other words, expect a story to back up the gunplay, and expect a much more mature experience than the visual grandstanding of rival World War II titles. You can see more of Brothers In Arms in our screenshot gallery here.