Furious 4 not part of Brothers in Arms series anymore

Gearbox is making yet another First Person Shooter (FPS), Brothers in Arms: Furious 4. The game was announced back in 2011, and not much has been heard about it since. Recently, according to  OnlySP, Gearbox announced that the FPS will not be part of the Brothers in Arms series and instead will be its own separate IP (intellectual property). This is probably mostly because Furious 4 is very much inspired by movies like Inglorious Basterds and doesn’t fit in very well with the realistic and sombre depiction of war that the Brothers in Arms series is famous for.

Gearbox president Randy Pitchford talked about Furious 4 in the Gearbox panel at PAX Prime this weekend: “I wanted to let everyone know that that game’s no longer going to be a Brothers In Arms game; It’s going to be an all-new IP,” Pitchford said. The developers “pushed the gameplay loop, they got into a place that got away from the core” of the Brothers In Arms franchise. Since then_, “it’s evolved even farther, and it needed to be unshackled”._

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Furious 4 is no longer part of the Brothers in Arms series

The Brothers in Arms series is well known for its downright depressing take on World War II. The games focus on using squad-tactics and strategy as opposed to more common run-and-gun gameplay style for first person shooters. The main series includes Road to Hill 30, Earned in Blood, and Hell’s Highway. It has spinoffs titled D-Day, DS, Art of War, N-Gage, Double Time and Hour of Heroes.

The last game in the Brothers in Arms series, Hell’s Highway, puts the player in control of Matt Baker during Operation Market Garden. The events depicted include the failure of the 101st Airborne of the US Army to take the bridge at Son before the Germans could blow it up. The game was notable in that it is one of the few games to depict a soldier with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
 
During the announcement for Furious 4 during E3 2011, Gearbox described the game as: “Set in World War II, Brothers in Arms Furious 4 is a brutal first person shooter that offers an exciting campaign mode playable with up to four players in co-op, as well as an extensive competitive multiplayer mode. The story follows four fierce and fearless warriors chasing the Führer himself. As one of the Furious 4, players will use special weaponry and unexpected combat abilities to fight the greatest threat the world has ever faced: an experimental Nazi army conceived in secret by the Third Reich”.

Furious 4 will supposedly be re-announced at a Gearbox community event in September 14. It is said that Pitchford will give an update on the Brothers in Arms series a day after that.