I sat down with Elvin Glee, Gameloft’s public relations manager, to get a firsthand at this GI-approved title. The first thing I noticed was how fully realized the game seems to be. I’ve often been frustrated by the one-dimensional nature of Gameloft combat offerings such as Modern Combat: Sandstorm and Terminator Salvation, but BiAII’s is much more immersive and complete.

The action gets up close and personal in Brothers in Arms II, coming soon to the iPhone and iPod touch.
During the cut scenes, the camera cinematically shifts between first and third person view—an ability you also have in game. You’ll be able to toss grenades, snipe with a scope, take cover, and even sprint to avoid fire. In the game’s tutorial, my character was about to be executed by some Japanese soldiers when a buddy sniped my would-be killers. The camera then shifted from first person to third, and the mission began.

Another mission has you hop into a tank and take on German half-tracks and panzer tanks as you assault a Nazi base. While there’s plenty of running and shooting in Brothers in Arms II, Gameloft seems to be paying greater attention to the overall experience. There’s a cover system, more varied missions, and Allied artificial intelligence—in short, you feel like you’re part of the action.

More cinematic and smoother transitions between missions hopefully will lead to a more cohesive experience, but so will more content. Glee informed me that Brothers in Arms II will feature nine weapons—including rifles, machine guns, and many other authentic firearms from the era. The iPhone game will feature five campaigns, with theaters of war ranging from the Pacific to the European and back, with different tasks and characters in each.

If the game looks vastly different than the previous version of Brothers in Arms for the iPhone, it’s because Gameloft built it from the ground up and used completely new code. The improved graphics are noticeable—the backgrounds are much more detailed than previous Gameloft shooters and the vehicles, bunkers, and explosions are all impressively rendered on the iPhone’s screen.

Glee claims that Gameloft have improved its voice acting and writing for this title, though I didn’t see any evidence of that during my demo. Hopefully the dialogue and writing will be improved over Modern Combat, a game that was apparently written by Gameloft’s French development office as a cruel joke on American action flicks.

The theaters of combat in Brothers in Arms II range from Europe to the Pacific.
As you progress in Brothers in Arms II’s seven-hour plus single player campaign, saves will be performed on a checkpoint system. While some players may groan at having to replay especially difficult segments of mission until they pass, others will welcome not having to save the game every few moments for fear of getting a phone call or having to exit the game for some reason.

Gameloft is also working on a multiplayer component that will allow you and up to seven others to compete head to head as either Allies or Axis soldiers in battle for control in four theaters of war.

Though no launch date has been set for Brothers in Arms II, WWII enthusiasts and combat simulator fans should be looking for the title in the app store in the coming weeks.

[Via MacWorld]

Cammie Dunaway, who is the executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America, stated that, “Wii has reached more video game players than any game system before because it attracts everyone – both men and women, and people of all ages. Our research shows there are 50 million Americans thinking about becoming gamers, and this more affordable price point and our vast array of new software mean many of them can now make the leap and find experiences that appeal to them, whatever their tastes or level of gaming experience.”

Nintendo is saying that, despite the reduced price, buyers will still get the same package, consisting of a gaming console, a Wiimote, the Nunchuk and the video game Wii Sports. To get the most out of their gaming rigs, players might want to pick up a second Wiimote, maybe one or two Motion-Plus add-ons, and even a Classic Controller.

It seems a bit of a missed opportunity for Nintendo. The price cut is nice in itself, but the manufacturer could have also introduced the Motion Plus as part of the package, to make sure that all the players who picked the console up from then on could enjoy the better motion tracking, or it could have opted to replace Wii Sports with the newer and more interesting Wii Sports Resort. Still, the new price point of 199 dollars means that the Wii will get a boost in sales beginning with late September, probably holding its lead on the PlayStation 3 Slim and the Xbox 360 Elite, which both retail for 299 dollars.

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