Ubisoft unveiled a new version of its Brothers in Arms series in hopes of reviving the ailing World War II combat first-person shooter genre.
World War II spawned the great Call of Duty and Medal of Honor games of years past. But gamers got tired of playing those games, and the developers moved on to make modern combat games that sell much better. They left World War II behind, for Ubisoft to take for its own.
The new Brothers in Arms game will be the third in the series and it will be made by Gearbox Software, which recently finished making the Duke Nukem Forever game. Like Duke, this Brothers in Arms game is funny and irreverent. A band called the Furious Four will fight Nazis and kill them in comic and spectacular fashion. It’s sort of like making a World War II shooter version of Duke Nukem and Inglorious Basterds. Or maybe it’s more like Valve’s Team Fortress 2.
Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox, said on-stage at Ubisoft’s press conference at E3 that this game is a re-imagining of World War II.
It’s probably a good idea for Ubisoft to stay in the World War II setting. After all, it has the Ghost Recon Future Soldier title for the modern combat genre. And if it does this game right, it could revive what was once a very lucrative part of the business.
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