Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (Xbox, 2005)

When Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 was released earlier this year, it was lauded for its nearly seamless integration between first-person-shooter control and squad command mechanics. While clearly not as twitchy as most shooters, Brothers in Arms focused on the tactical aspect of small-squad infantry combat in World War II and packaged it with a cinema-quality presentation reminiscent of HBO's Band of Brothers. Fewer than seven months later, Gearbox has churned out a sequel. And as you'd expect from a sequel turned around so quickly, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood offers a rather similar experience to its excellent predecessor, with improved enemy artificial intelligence and additional multiplayer options. The novelty has worn off just a bit, though.

If you loved the first game, Earned in Blood offers a lot more of the same great gameplay.
For those who aren't familiar with the first game, Earned in Blood puts you in the shoes of an American corporal in World War II named Joe "Red" Hartsock. Hartsock was one of the thousands of US Airborne troopers who dropped in behind enemy lines the night before the Normandy landing in France. The story and the campaign are based on the real-life stories of Hartsock and his mates as they fought across the French countryside in those critical first two weeks after the invasion. For those of you who did play Road to Hill 30, Hartsock's name might ring a bell. That's because he was a character in the first game. The storyline in Earned in Blood overlaps that of Road to Hill 30, so you'll get to see Hartsock's point of view, as well as his experiences during the same time frame. As you'd imagine, much of the game is played from a flashback perspective as Hartsock is debriefed on his experiences by a superior officer. The in-engine cutscenes used to advance the story before and after missions are as heartfelt and impactful as they were in the first game, with the voice actor depicting Hartsock doing a fantastic job of conveying the emotion you'd expect from a war-weary soldier.

The interface of Earned in Blood is pretty much the same as it was in Road to Hill 30. You play as Hartsock from a first-person perspective and have the ability to walk, kneel, fire, aim down the iron sight of your gun, and throw grenades. You'll also have up to two different fireteams, or one fireteam and a tank, at your command. You can direct each team to follow you, move to an area, open fire on enemies, or charge enemies in an all-out assault. In general, your teammates are intelligent about contextually evaluating their surroundings and finding the proper cover in a given situation. If you direct them near a low wall or log, for example, they'll take up cover behind it. Move them to the side of a building with windows and they'll sidle up between the openings and peer through the windows so they don't leave themselves vulnerable. Once in a while they'll do something stupid, like take themselves out of cover or set up in a bad place. Usually this happens if you plant yourself in the spot you told them to move to.

Though improvements have been made to the AI, and you've got additional multiplayer modes available, it's somewhat difficult to call Earned in Blood a true sequel. In the end, it delivers a pretty similar experience to the first game, even going so far as to tell an overlapping story. Of course, if you enjoyed Road to Hill 30, then Earned in Blood is definitely worth picking up!

Brothers to Arms:Earned in Blood is a great game that challenges you as a gamer. This new Brothers to Arms is online and can play with one or two players. The game is also rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence and Strong Language. Unlike the first one, the german soilders will try to flank you, assult you and they will move from cover to cover to get a better shot at you. The game also has a new co-op skirmish mode. But, the game is like a copy of the original with some new guns, smart germans and the skirmish mode, but, you play as Hartsock not Baker. But, the game is one of the best WWII games I have ever played.

HI. This is superegio, and this is my review of Brothers in Arms (BIA).

I had previously played Earned In Blood as a rental and knew what I was getting when I placed my bid. X Box has good games: graphics and game play is awesome for BIA. I like the BIA saga because it is based on a real story and a real war. It may seem unlikely that anyone might learn anything positive from a game that hinges upon a brutal and bloody war--the gore and violence in the game can offer a glimpse of what happened in WWII--but the truth is that you can also learn some History and have an idea of how tragic wars can be.

I also have the first installment of this story. BIA: Road to Hill 30, which also bought on Ebay. The first game left me wanting for more WWII action and BIA: Earned in Blood did just that. The game does a great job at revealing some key plot events from the first game. The two game stories are very closely interwoven and the characters truly feel like real people. Overall, I recommend this game for people who do not mind playing shooters with the simple yet deadly weapons of WWII, like the American Browning Automatic Rifle, BAR, and Tommy assault rifle and the German F42 and the STG 44 assault rifles, just to name a few.

If you play Earned In Blood you are in for a lot of fun and surprises and may be a lesson or two in WWII History.

Play on!

This game is based on a true story of a Unit that fought in WWII Normandy. You battle Nazi troops in Germany thruout the game using Military tatics and stragities. I think the best option the game has is that you can control both squads at the same time having them take on diffrent areas. You control wether they suppress attack take cover or what ever you want them to do while you have the other do something else. There is blood and gore, intense violence and strong language so it may not be sutible for your young children. This first person shooter is one of a kind and great for gamers who love a great challenge.

Awesome Game! You won't last long if you blunder in shooting like most shooter games. You must use military tactics and your head, your choice of weapons can have serious impact on your success. Improper use of squads will make for a short game. Overall an exellent game with only one down side, the awards system is based completly on the difficulty level and not on your playing ability. If not for that one flaw this would be a 5/5 !