Hell Let Loose is the game that convinced me that the multiplayer FPS is in its golden age. No matter what kind of first-person shooter you like, there is sure to be a good one that will scratch your itch. For military sim fans, "Hell Let Loose" is one of those games. Like "Squad" before it, this game answers the question: What if there really was a hardcore Battlefield?

The main game mode is basically a big game of rush, with one team pushing and the other team defending, but you cannot respawn on top of your squadmates every time you die. The only thing that can respawn is an outpost placed by the squad leader or a large garrison that must be built from scratch. If the enemy overruns the garrison, you are forced to run more than a kilometer to get back into the fight. Yes, that's how the game is played.

It is also a game where one or two bullets can be fatal, and as the name implies, it is brutal. Often you would die before you knew where the shot came from, and resuscitation was only possible if there was a medic around (which there usually wasn't).

If you've spent any amount of time in Squad or Insurgency, you're familiar with their killing power, but when nearly everyone carries a WW2-era bolt-action rifle, the dynamic changes dramatically. Most classes cannot fire on full auto, so each shot must be carefully considered, along with travel time and bullet drop.

Hell Let Loose's emphasis on teamwork, respawn management, and vehicles will be immediately apparent if you have played Squad or its WW2 spin-off Post Scriptum.

But crucially, Black Matter simplifies most of the logistical mechanics that can stall a 90-minute Squad match. Building a garrison building where the entire team can respawn is much faster and requires half the effort compared to Squad. There is no need to manually load building materials and ammunition into trucks and haul them somewhere. Instead, certain classes can set up nodes to automatically produce resources for the entire team, much like in a real-time strategy game.

On the one hand, it is commendable that these simplifications make Hell Let Loose more accessible. It's great to be able to jump into almost any class and figure things out right away. On the other hand, Squad's impenetrable logistical strategy layer is a big part of its appeal. When you can keep building supplies for your teammates throughout a match, it's easy to see that you're a small cog in a big machine; Hell Let Loose is mostly just fighting, but that's fine, too.

My main complaint is the sound; having played dozens of hours of Squad, I can tell you that part of the immersion of that game is in overwhelming your ears with very loud gunfire, tank shells, and explosives. If everything is tuned correctly, the sound of guns should be so loud that you can't hear your teammates over the radio. This is where Hell Let Loose falls flat. No matter how much I tweak the audio sliders, it never gets loud enough for my liking.

This is partly due to the sound effects Black Matter chose for its WWII arsenal of Kar98s, M1 Garands, and MP40s. Ironically, one of the most disappointing moments in "Hell Let Loose" is when a bullet just barely misses me.

While the "whoosh" and "pop" sounds are common, Hell Let Loose lacks the intimidating "crack" you hear when a bullet breaks the sound barrier next to your face. The standard rifle sounds of all three playable factions (American, German, and Russian) sound more like a low-pitched cannon than a piercing scream. That alone is a cool effect, but the sound does not carry far; hearing the distant scream of the Kar98 in Hell Let Loose did not make me cringe like the guns in Hunt: Showdown or Squad.

I know I'm splitting hairs quite a bit with my super-specific audio preferences, but the fun in milisim really comes down to the details. I want a perfectly balanced and symmetrical competitive shooter so I don't have to run a kilometer to the front lines or get sniped out of the bushes indiscriminately.

Hell Let Loose is as good as any other Battlefield-like milsim, but it's also really similar to several other games that are much older, and I'm not sure the niche genre audience can get behind them all. squad will continue to continue to be the milsim I return to every few months, but if you want straight WW2 action, Hell Let Loose is a fine choice.