Customer Reviews

Brothers In Arms: Earned in Blood

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Having played through BIA: Road to Hill 30 not long ago and loving it, I gladly spent the money on EIB a couple months ago. I've read so many complaints about this sequel and I have to say, it's a bit confusing to me.

The only main issue I have with EIB is its similarity to RH30 in level design. The first half of the game is set in environments way too reminiscent of what I've already played through. The second half of the game makes up for this, however, by offering a nice array of urban combat.

I firmly believe all other gripes about this game are moot points (besides the ones who said their game wouldn't load...Ubisoft should be ashamed of themselves for that one.) As for the aiming scheme, it's more "realistic" than any other game I've seen. Though not all of the game designers were veterans, I think they do a veritable job of simulating the unsteadyness of the human hand. And if you don't like the weapon you have, find one that does suit you. The Kar 98 is extremely accurate, even from long distances, and is far superior to the Garand. I love the BAR for its firepower and accuracy, and the Thompson is the best for close quarters. The mp40 sucks from anywhere beyond five feet, and the FG42 is an extremely accurate automatic rifle which can double as a sniper rifle. If you don't like the weapon you have, kill a German and take his.

I read a complain about not being able to drop grenades down tank hatches anymore...I'm sort of wondering how it was that I managed to beat Carentan, because I'm pretty sure I shot the tank commancer when he opened the hatch, and then saw myself climb onto the tank and finish it off with a grenade...The only difference this time is realism. Instead of being able to pry a tank hatch open any time you want like in the first game (which i'm pretty sure is impossible), you have to wait for the right moment and then strike. It's called patience, I think. Or you can try and juke like crazy and shoot five panzerfaust rounds into it and call it a day. But I'll take the easy way out.

The sign that tells me that EIB is a good game is that I can't play it for more than an hour and a half at a time. It frustrates me, it's depressing, you die ten times before you figure out the best way to approach a level, and it's flat out intense. Every moment of the game is spent trying to figure out how to move your men around the map, the best flanking route, possible German counterflanks (which is a wonderful AI upgrade this time around), and keep your teams alive. Because without them, you are nothing. Maybe this team concept frustrates the Call of Duty lovers out there who like to be WWII Rambos, but having played through COD dozens of times, it just bores me. I know where every enemy spawn point is, where the MG's are set up, when to duck behind a window, what action I have to complete to trigger the scripted gameplay. Sure, I still go back and play through some classic levels, but it doesn't keep me riveted like BIA.

Forget the cheesy cut scenes and dialogue that doesn't match the characters mouth movements and creepy looking eyes and repetitive commands (though how many ways can you really say "Go over there!")?. For me, it's all about the gameplay. Each new level is like a moving chessboard - make the wrong moves, and you could be defeated in two minutes. Play it better, and you might take it all the way down to the wire only to be defeated by the last two enemies. Execute it perfectly, and you win, simple as that. And that's why BIA is so incredibly frustrating and satisfying to play all at once.

I recently purchased Brothers in Arms and am genuinely impressed with the game. I am a veteran of many FPS and Brothers in Arms is something totally unique. You will spend more of your time managing your squad than actually engaging in combat. One of the first things I discovered is that alone, the player will not last long. Utilizing your fire and assault teams is essential to completing many of the missions. Rarely will the player find himself going solo on rambo-style missions, which is a nice change to other FPS's where computer-controlled players are fodder at best. All in all, this is a nice change from the normal "run into room and kill everyone" style of play from most WWII FPS.

While I find online play somewhat lacking (I prefer EA's Battlefield series), the single player is a solid game with good (though not great) replay value.

I also have researched StarForce at length and have found no real problems with the actual software itself. It is merely a driver package that prevents your CD or DVD burner from writing while StarForce protected software (like Brothers in Arms) is in the drive. While this can cause some people with older CD-Roms a hard time, it is hard to imagine a well-maintained system having a problem with it. The only real problems I can conceive of are users with dirty CD/DVD-Roms, dirty disks or users of the Windows 9x series operating systems.

You can find an interview about StarForce here: http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starforce_interview/

My system is a 2.1GHz with 1Gb RAM, GeForce 6600 GT and I run this game with full detail at 1024x768 with only the slightest of video caching (chop) on my initial load.

If you are a big fan of Real Time Strategy and First Person Shooters, this game is with the fifty dollars. If you are more of the run and gun type, you might want to pass this title up or at least wait until the price drops below thirty dollars.

I hope this review was helpful.

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, the sequel to Hill 30 turned out to be better (and harder) than I expected.

It still does have its minor quirks. The sound is a bit off, skipping some when maps and scenes are loaded. It's just a bit annoying when you're hearing this beautiful orchestra and then having it stutter and skip.

I'd still say the accuracy is a little wonky, it might even suffer from being TOO realistic. This is especially the case with the M1 Garand, where you will have the enemy dead-to-rights in your ironsights, pull the trigger and see your shot piff nowhere close to your target. The K98 doesn't seem to suffer much, so I'd suggest finding one of those rather than suffer with the Garand, heck, I can hit stuff better with the BAR on full auto than with the Garand. Any soldier with the weapons proficiency of Red Hartsock or Matt Baker from Hill 30 should never have made it to the U.S. Army, let alone the Airborne.

I would also liked to have seen more flanking routes, but it is an improvement over Hill 30, where there was only one.

On to the good...

- This game is multiple times harder than Hill 30. Germans actually have a brain, and use teamwork of their own. You could be sitting around with your teammates in a defensive position when a German 2-man team either flanks you or heaves a grenade into the middle of your team, killing you all. The enemy also turtles up if it finds a good cover spot, and scrambles when a pineapple lands near them, extremely realistic in the sense that they might actually run into the open to get themselves away from the grenade.

- Although its tough to hit Germans with some weapons, it is very gratifying watching them go down like a sack of bricks when shot. They give a lifelike rigor mortis stiffening when they go down.

- The new additions to the game itself, like the M3A1 Grease Gun (haven't gotten to use it in the SP mode yet), the Greaser seems to never be featured much in games. Call of Duty 2 actually had one on the loading screen, but you never even saw one in single player mode. The German Para FG-42, one of my favorite weapons in any game is included. One has a scope and the other doesn't. Lots of German armor, and some horses too.

The team also found a way to help with the character interaction. In Hill 30 it was hard to identify with characters, as they'd magically come back to life in the next mission if they had been killed in the previous engagement. At least this time a message comes up that you were not good enough basically, and either revive the soldier and continue the storyline, or try the map again and not have anyone be killed.

I also love the dialogue, its not cheesy, nor is the speech. In Hill 30 at times it sounded kind of cheesy. EiB is much better in this sense. It is a very nice change of pace with the commanding officer talking with Hartsock as more of a recollection than actually "being there". Hartsock gets emotional at times, and choked up, and it adds to the dialogue. Not many games can boast having a good dialogue, but this one can.

If you are some kind of run and gun cowboy player, you probably should avoid this game. In the Brothers in Arms world, running into a room by yourself without doing anything beforehand WILL get you killed, and angry.

But if you're a history buff, or a tactically sound player, this game is for you, in terms of historical accuracy and challenging gameplay.

I'm not going to bother reviewing the single player aspect of this game since so many already have. And as far as all the cautions about the anti-piracy issues, etc... all I can say is I read someone mentioned it works fine if you have a CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) only device, which I happen to have and I have not had any issues.

To be honest the first 2 nights of playing Earned in Blood on line were rather disappointing. At first, after playing games like Battlefield 2, Day of Defeat, etc., I am used to finding over a thousand servers to play... the UBI engine only lists on the average about 3 servers, 8 at the most that I've seen. I also got very frustrated with how I would get beat so quickly (being a 'noob' and all). So why did I give this game such a high rating? Read on.

After a few days of playing I got more used to how the strategies of flanking work, and how you can even use an overhead 'birds-eye' view to check on enemy movements... though you are vulnerable while scanning the overhead, it can be very helpful. It also took time to get used to firing the weapons WITHOUT any virtual crosshairs. I love games that are realistic, and having no floating arcade-like crosshair to target your opponents makes the action seem very real... you actually need to use your gun site to help, OR you can just fire with the gun at your side at random. There is a Half-Life mod called "Hostile Intent" which is similar in realism. The grenades are also realistic, with a nice, powerful explosion that does significant damage. Whenever bullets wizz by you or a grenade blast is close pieces of dirt fly onto your screen which adds a realistic element of debris and confusion. It would be nice if they added the drowsy, blur and hollow sound effect that many action shooters now incorporate, but nevertheless, this game still has a lot of bonus points for realism. When you kill someone there is no floating text showing who shot who, you just have to LOOK and SEE if they've dropped or not. Love it.

Commanding a small squad to run at your side, or flank, etc. is such a great experience! I wasn't sure how to use these fellas at first, but once you get the hang of it, any other shooter may make you feel rather isolated or just plain useless. It's hard to believe that the on line multiplayer games are only 4 people playing total, since there are so many more troops in sight. The Germans speak German, the Americans speak English, so you can actually hear the enemy approaching if they happen to issue a command. Should you die, you can instantly chose to be another person who is left in your squad... if you are the last one, you have a choice to call for reinforcements so you don't sacrifice your position. This truly is a perfect blend of tactical combat and good action. There are the typical objectives (plant bomb, deliver documents, etc.), in a certain amount of time which adds an extra edge to the rounds. Some people run servers as 'deathmatch' only, which I don't care for. The on line community, though rather small, is very friendly... you join a server and instantly you get "hi" "where you from" "let's go" etc.... If you don't wish to play this game on line, another added bonus is in addition to solo missions you can play a quick skirmish. Skirmishes are always a great add-on to a game if you just want a quick action scenario.... in the skirmishes you also command a squad and have an objective.

What started out to be a slightly difficult game has become one of my favorite WWII shooters. I'm not giving it 5 stars because certainly there's always room for improvement in any game. I would start by adding a heavier sound to the Axis rifle (the game has a cheesy 'pop' sound - just a little bass would help), plus there are so few servers running... I don't know why, but if you buy the game and get on line, there will be even MORE people to play! Caution to parents: the soldiers use profanity in both the missions and even in multiplayer.

A lot of people say this game is bad and you can't aim and the germans won't die and etc. Which is not accurate.

The reason why people "can't aim" is because most people are used to Call of Duty or Medal of Honor where the gun is completely still and the sights are lined up perfectly. Which is unrealistic because in BIR they make the gun move a little on purpose because it's impossible in real life to hold a gun completely still without resting it on a stump, branch, or tri-pod. I know this because I target shoot, the game creators are making the game as realistic as possible.

And as far as the squad mates goes, well that can be true as far as they not listening to you but it doesn't happen that often.

Have you ever shot a real M1-Garand? Or a K98? Because a lot of times in war one side will have better weapons than the other side, where in Call of Duty it's all fair for both sides. This game has gotten awards from organizations (I can't name any at the moment) on how realistic this game is.

And when people say the Germans won't die it's because they think they have the sights lined up but they probably don't. When I go target shooting with my .22 with iron sights I think I have the sights lined up on the bulls eye but I find out after the shot that I didn't. This game is only for people who want to be as close to realism as possible, where as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor are for people who just want to play a un-realistic game thats too easy. Everyone has their own opinions and this is mine.

First of all, this review is based only on the Single Player version of the game. I only play Single Player in PC games. I don't play Multiplayer. "Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood" is a well made, well thought out game with great replay value. I thought the first PC game "Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30" was good but this latest game is ten times better than the first one. The maps in this game are well thought out and well made. The graphics are more sharper and crisper and you can hold your weapon more steady now than you could in the first "Brothers In Arms" PC game. You can control fellow soldiers and tanks throughout the game and you can tell them what to do and where to go. You now have choices for taking numerous paths to reach objectives in maps which is how all "First Person Shooter" PC games should be made now. The developer (Gearbox) needs to be commended for making such a great game. They added in a new part to the game called "Skirmish Mode" which was a brilliant move. Now you can play the roles of the Americans or German soldiers on different maps at different play value settings. The "Skirish Mode" alone has great replay value. I knew this game was going to be great because Gearbox already had a great reputation for making great PC games. They made the great add-on PC game for the original Half Life called "Half-Life Expansion Pack: Opposing Forces" back in 1999 which was ahead of its time back then. With the latest Brothers In Arms PC game, I can tell a lot of research went into making this game. What amazes me is how fast this game came out after the first Brothers in Arms game came out and still turn out to be such a great game. There is no excuse and no reason why game developers with today's techology can not make open ended maps for PC games now. I am really disappointed that the game developer "Infinity Ward" didn't do that with the demo for the PC game "Call of Duty 2". The demo is a Single Player version of the game with one map set in the coastal town of El Daba, Egypt on November 4, 1942 that forces the player to take one route throughout the demo. You can't even enter most buildings in the map or use most alleyways or streets in the town. You can't control any fellow soldiers in the demo like you can in Brothers In Arms. Hopefully Infinity Ward didn't end up doing a rushed game just to meet a deadline date. They had a lot more time than Gearbox to make a great World War II PC game. I'm not saying Call Of Duty 2 is going to be a bad game because it's not. I'm just saying look at the game which is going to have more replay value. "Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood" is definitely going in the right direction as far as replay value goes. Thanks, Gearbox, for a great game.

I just bought my copy and found out too late that it will not work properly on your computer unless you have a cd-rom only drive. This seems to be due to the anti-piracy software that UBI have silently included into the package.

Also, if your cd won't work......As it seems that some have experienced, you have to write to UBI support and wait for them to issue the correct key.

Even if you do get past all that nonsense and get to what you think is the start of the game, you get an error notification or file not found message which directs you to the UBI webplay site. Once you get there, you can't play the game because of the software errors. All this and I downloaded the patch as well. No doubt this is due to the anti-piracy software in some way.

I for one am returning my copy for a refund. If I can't play it and I have an up-to-date top of the range machine then I'm getting my money back.

Save your money or buy another game!How they ever dared to put this on the market is beyond me. It shows very poor judgement on UBI's behalf.

I just installed my copy and the game will not accept the serial number that's clearly printed on the manual. So I'm thinking of just uninstalling it.. Then I have to deal with removing the Starforce crap as well. What else needs to be said. BTW There are no support email addrs listed at their website.

For those folks that say that they cannot make someone go down when firing at them, all I have to say is you are not aiming. It might take a couple rounds to down them, but same goes for you. One squeeze of the trigger with a grease gun or BAR does the job. One slug from a German sniper does it.

For those who don't think the fire and maneuver is realistic or boring. Sorry that is life bud. There is more than one way to do it also in this game.

For those that don't like the script, learn a little history.

For those that think the AI is too predictable haven't been playing the same rounds that I have been playing. The tanks are anything but predicatable.

This is a great game that you game (a) learn something, (b) have a bit of fun and (c) stop to remember all those folks that have and are still dying for our freedom and those of other people. In the real world you don't have restart checkpoint and heal the squad.

For anybody who is still disappointed, see your Army recruiter because this is as real as it gets without doing it for real.

I bought this but had to return it because it needs a read only CD-ROM. The copy protection prevents it working with any sort of burner. I bought it retail and was only given store credit event though it does not work. UBI-Soft also does not give a refund if the store doesn't, even if the product does not work.

Stay away from this game - not worth the hassle. Demo looked good, but I could not get it to work, due to the copy protection.