It is unbelievable that ‘Hell Let Loose’ is one of those games that has somehow slipped past the eyes and ears of the majority of the gaming community. A true underrated diamond of a game ‘Hell Let Loose’ is no doubt the most realistic World War II game available on console as well as PC, in my own opinion of course. Don’t let this put you off the game, however. It manages to nicely balance out realism and simulation with fun and enjoyment, a trait which many first-person shooters fail to balance.
Developed by Black Matter and published by Team17 using the Unreal Engine 4, Hell Let Loose is a game that essentially urges you to use game chat and communication, which although may be daunting to those more introverted players like me who tend to crack on without using the mic, once you build up the courage to actually communicate with your teammates like you are part of a war movie, you realise just how good this game is.
Game Modes and Objectives
Hell Let Loose’s gameplay in terms of modes is most comparable to Battlefield 1’s ‘Conquest Assault’ mode, where there is a point that needs to be captured in order to unlock the next capturable point. Hell Let Loose has two game modes that essentially put a slight spin on this format.
WARFARE
In Warfare, each team begins the game with control of half the map, with a no-mans-land type middle sector that is neutral. Pushing the enemy back and securing the enemy HQ is the goal in order to win the game. If the match reaches the time limit before either team has captured the enemy’s HQ, the team with the most of the enemy’s sectors held is crowned the winner of the battle.
OFFENSIVE
The Offensive game mode has one team attacking while the other defends. The defending team controls all zones at the start of the game, and the offensive team can only win by capturing all strong points. Strong points can be captured if your team has more units nearby. Each map has around 90 different possible areas for strong points and when combined with the enormity of the maps, it helps with keeping each match feel fresh.
Roles and Classes
Each player has an important role, meaning you rely on your teammates to all pull together for the win. The toughest and biggest role is most definitely the ‘Commander’. This player needs to be ready to talk first and foremost, as they are the leader of the whole team. The ‘Commander’ directs each squad where to go and what to do, from setting up resupply camps to launching a flank attack on the enemy. They call the shots, whether your squads listen to you or not is a different question.
As for the squads, each ‘Infantry’ squad has 6 players and a ‘Officer’ who has direct communication with the Commander and other Officers. They then relay what the Commander says onto his or her squad of Infantry. Again, this player has a decent amount of responsibility on their hands as they need to get the correct message across to their Squad, so I wouldn’t take up this role in your very first game if I were you.
There are the ‘Armor’ squads which are essentially tank teams, all working together to keep their tank pushing. You pick a role within the tank and do your part to make sure that your tank does not stop. Whether you choose to be a gunner or driver, picking a spot in an Armor squad requires the most amount of will to use teamwork, so be prepared to use your microphone.
“Recon” squads are limited to 2 per squad, with one player being the ‘Spotter’ and the other squad member being the ‘Sniper’. This squad format is perfect for when you only have one friend online and you fancy a bit of stealth and intense gameplay. The Recon have an important role in spotting where the enemy is and what they are, so whether they are tanks or foot-soldiers.
The Spotter is equipped with binoculars and the Officers watch which allows them to set up bases just like officers. They also have communication with the Commander and other officers. The Spotter’s main job is to find targets for the sniper with the binoculars, whilst also protecting their sniper from close combat threats with their SMG. Of course, the Snipers role is pretty straightforward – you take out enemy players from range when your infantry can’t reach those spots.
The Infantry role is most definitely the safest role to pick, if you don’t feel ready to lead your own squad yet or you’re not fully comfortable with using your microphone. The infantry players can pick from the following sub-roles:
- Rifleman – Equipped with a standard loadout, specialized for general-purpose combat, along with carrying a small ammunition box.
- Anti-Tank – Equipped with an anti-tank weapon, this role is aimed at providing fire support against armoured vehicles.
- Machine Gunner – Equipped with a medium machine gun, the main responsibility of this role is to provide heavy suppression on enemy units and positions.
- Assault – Equipped with a semi-automatic rifle or submachine gun, the Assault is an ideal close-quarters combat warrior.
- Medic – It is the only role capable of healing and reviving teammates. The Medic also has access to more bandages than other roles.
- Engineer – This role has access to an array of explosives, specializing in the destruction of objectives and breaching points.
- Support – It is the only role in possession of supplies needed for deploying Officer’s spawn points and Anti-Tank emplacements. The Support also acts as a resupply point for other classes in need of ammo.
- Automatic Rifleman – Equipped with a fully automatic weapon, this role’s goal is to attain fire superiority in a skirmish to allow the unit to advance.
Experience
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay of Hell Let Loose is one most comparable to Battlefield 1, but with the feel of ‘Hardcore’ mode from Call of Duty, where you have a limited HUD and die in one or two hits. This adds to the whole realism or simulation effect that the game gives you, as, like real life, one or two shots in those kinds of conditions will kill you. Although some players will not like this, those who do will love this game.
The immersive nature of this game is added to by the realism of the gun sounds, bomb explosions and plane engines. Each reloads of an M1 Garand or the volley of a Kar98k being shot is satisfying, with clean sound on every effect.
Although this has been criticized in terms of volume, with some asking for louder sounds with things like explosions, I personally found the volume to be pretty damn good. If a bomb was dropped to the side of me in-game, the rumble and booming sound would not only make me jump, but also give my hands a nice massage with all the vibrations. The sound of a Luftwaffe plane soaring down which its machine guns locked and loaded is terrifying in-game, and presumably in real life too.
Overall, the sound with decent headphones or speakers, of course, is extremely immersive in my personal opinion. Although you have to keep in mind, it has been a topic of debate amongst the games fan base, so that leaves the door open for a potential area of unsatisfaction.
GRAPHICS
In the graphical sense, this game has some beautiful landscapes portrayed with unreal realism and high-quality graphics.
The game’s landscapes also affect how the game is played. For example, Omaha Beach works well for snipers and heavy machine gunners raining bullets down. Then a map like Hürtgen Forest takes a different style of play, suiting medium range or closer combat fire where you seek cover behind trees and bushes in order to flank or ambush the enemy. Hell Let Loose also has more urban maps like Carentan, a strategic city with intense house-to-house and street-to-street combat, suiting the higher adrenaline close-quarters combat.
Left: Actual drone shot of Omaha Beach in France. Right: In-game map of Omaha Beach.
What also makes this so cool is that all 9 playable maps are completely real and designed to be as simulation-like as possible, from each street to each field. The actual ‘Map’ display when in-game is a replica of a real drone photograph from World War II, meaning the map you will see when pressing the button to bring up your map will be the same as what Officers and Generals saw back in the day.
It’s the finer details like that which make this game stand out, as you can tell that not only is this game extremely historically accurate (unlike certain bigger name games), but it is committed to making the experience as immersive as possible for an FPS multiplayer shooter.
Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars
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