With Call of Duty & Battlefield both having World War 1 and 2 titles over the past few years, it’s a hard market to join and try to face up against the big shots of this genre, which is exactly what Hell Let Loose has done.
If you prefer fast-paced shooters, then Hell Let Loose might not be the game for you. But if you are looking for a realistic WW2 game that is going to get to shake your nerves, you might have just found the right game for you.
When I first started working in the gaming industry, I used to play and mod for Arma 2, mainly insurgency mod. One of the things I loved about it was that it wasn’t so intense, you had to plan out fights before taking them on and one wrong move would leave you face down in the dirt, well for the first time in years, a game has brought back those feelings again.
Customization
One of the most addictive aspects of these types of games is the ability to level up and customize your loadouts and costumes, Fortnite does it, COD does it and Hell Let Loose is no different, but of course, much like the other games, you must level up before being able to unlock many of the new skins.
Graphics
I was quite surprised when I saw the level of detail that had been put into Hell Let Loose, to be honest, if I see Team17 involved in a game, I expect to see cartoonish designs, much like their infamous Worms games, but Hell Let Loose is not only incredibly detailed, almost to Battlefield’s level, but huge as well.
The maps are big and include a moving frontline, which at first I had no idea how it worked, moved, or functioned in any way, in fact, it took me a couple of games before I started to understand what was going on and how it worked.
There are currently 9 maps in the game at the time of writing, each one of them is just as overwhelmingly huge as the other:
Hell Let Loose Maps
- Hurtgen Forest
- St Marie Du Mont
- Foy
- Carentan
- St Mere Eglise
- Purle Heart Lane
- Omaha BEach
- Utah Beach
- Hill 400
Gameplay
Some of the maps offer much more coverage than others, and if you land on one of those maps, use as much cover as you can get, this is not a game where you can simply run out in the open spraying bullets all over the place, you have to take it slow and be smart about where you place yourself.
At first, I felt very overwhelmed, voice chat was teeming with players that knew exactly what they were doing, where they should be, and how to play, while I was running around like a headless chicken not having a clue what I was meant to be doing, to be honest, I’m still not 100% sure I know what I meant to be doing, but at least I feel a bit more productive now I can keep myself alive a bit longer.
The sound is excellent in Hell Let Loose, I’m using the Astro A40’s with the MixAmp and the surround sound in Hell Let Loose adds another level of tension to the game.
It’s not just the bullet fire from both sides, it’s the other intricate details, planes being heard from the distance, the sound of bullets flying past, tank tracks rolling in the background, and in many cases, I’ve found myself being freaked out by footsteps, but not able to find who they belong to.
Summary
Hell Let Loose is a very impressive and detailed World War 2 game and stands up against some of the giants in its genre, with both graphics and audio being so immersive the game leads to some genuinely tense moments.
At the time of writing, the servers are consistently populated and at most I’ve had to wait a minute to get into a game, players are mature, with voice chat being used to talk about tactics or give orders.
A leadership and squad structure are in place, so the more experienced players can lead their squads into battle, with the ability to remove and toxic leaders, although I’ve not actually seen anyone need to be removed from the game, let alone a leadership role.
Since my days of Arma, I haven’t returned to many world war games for some time now, mostly because I felt they were either too easy or just not enjoyable, Hell Let Loose might just change that for me.
The only bad thing I can really point out from Hell let loose, is that while it markets itself as a hardcore WW2 game, which in most cases the game itself does achieve, there is no actual penalty for dying, which can make the threat of it all a little obsolete.
Personally, I would like to see a hardcore mode, perhaps 1 life or a limited number of lives before you are completely dead and out of the game. I don’t think that a hardcore mode should be the main game mode, but it would be great to see it added later down the line as another optional game mode.
