Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 seems a mix of Borderlands, Inglorious Basterds

A preview of Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 has gone up over on Kotaku, and according to the post it sounds like the game will have tinges of Borderlands mixed with a bit with Inglorious Basterds.

Flamethrowers and smiley faces

The Furious Four in the game carry "badass weaponry," according to the preview, and can acquire class-specific upgrades and attributes through leveling.

Enemies are rather formidable in numbers, but when caught alone they are ripe for a "gratuitously scenic death."

One mission shown, was an Oktoberfest celebration getting blown to bits with guns, bazookas, chainsaws and a flamethrower. Other weapons include a hand axe and a cattle brand.

Bullet-time breach-and-clear is included in some scenes to give a bit of theatrics to the mix, like one in which a  kerosene lamp catches your enemies on fire and one in which a wall was blown to bits with a machine gun to kill the SS on the other side.

This is definitely not your typical Brothers in Arms title

, and if you need more proof, heavy gunner Montana can switch over to a chainsaw for a weapon. When he does, smiley-face crosshairs pop up on the screen for you.

Sgt. Matt Baker will have to wait a bit longer

Ubisoft's Nouredine Abboud told Kotaku that when everyone sat down to chat about the next installment in the BIA series, "all of the ideas came out flat and boring."

"If we had a great idea of what would be the best sequel to Brothers in Arms, we would have done it," said Abboud . "Maybe the next wave of consoles will give us some ideas of what to do that is new and different."

Abboud goes on to say that Furious 4  was not inspired by either Borderlands or Inglorious Basterds, as the game's framework was already there before the two were released. That said,  the popularity of both gave credence to the vision the team had for the game.

"We didn't derive inspiration from Inglorious Basterds," Abboud said, "but when the film was shown, and we saw it, it reinforced the confidence we had that this would be something that many people would like."

You can read the rest through the link leading to Kotaku.

Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 is slated for release on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 during the first half of 2012.