Brothers in arms: Earned in blood (16+)
Verdict: Deep, strategic and bloody
Platform: Xbox, PS2, PC.
Rating: 4/5
There’s a reason Brothers in Arms has the subtitle ‘Earned in Blood’. Besides distinguishing it as a sequel instead of a number 2, it sums up the underlying tone within the game. Brothers in Arms is a bloody, violent, sometimes shocking game and it’s all the better for it. I’ve never been a fan of World War II shooters - I prefer bigger guns and fictional enemy’s, but this one has opened my eyes.
The game is a story being told by an American soldier in a series of flashbacks broken into chapters that chart his shaky arrival by parachute in France and subsequent mission to survive behind enemy. The advantages of hindsight allow for some nice directorial flourishes, mixing up gameplay with filmic edits and emotional gravitas.
On first glance it is a standard first-person shooter - yet another World War II cash-in but within minutes of playing you discover a whole different kettle of tactical fish. Rather than being a bloodless cardboard cut-out shooting gallery (like the Medal of Honour series) it introduces squad tactical control, the Situational Awareness View and a story with depth and realism - every bullet hurts.
What this amounts to in-game is the ability to command your squad in real time and plan your attack utilising an overhead camera that, whilst pausing the action, allows you to survey the rustic battlefield from various viewpoints. This mode gives you the freedom to carefully plot your moves almost as if playing a game of chess but the awkward camera controls and occasional interference from scenery can unfortunately spoil it.
Back in the action you have three types of command to issue to your squad - move, suppress and charge, allowing you to attempt to out-flank the enemy whilst they keep them occupied. It may be a basic sounding repertoire but it’s effective nonetheless and allows you to quickly get into a strategic rhythm of plan, suppress, flank and attack. The constant repetition of this however may be one of the game’s weak points but the variety in level design should ensure it doesn’t get boring.
As a sequel it doesn’t seem to bring much new to the series, a multiplayer mode here, a skirmish mode there but what it does do is attempt to tell another well crafted (true) story whilst producing more of the same tactical first-person action from the original game.
The whole package is polished with solid, familiar controls, decent online support, strong level design (centralising on great close quarters combat) and engaging, brain exercising combat.
I recommend this game if only on the grounds of it treating the subject with respect, honesty and attempting to do something different in a genre choked with clones.