14 DAY TRIAL // Story
Brothers in Arms 'Earned In Blood' is at it again with new and improved gameplay, action and a spot on perception of what it was like to lead a squad of men through the hell that was WWII. Focusing on a French backdrop, Ubisoft gives us an authentic story-line with glimpses of fear, honesty and action-packed intensity. Brothers in Arms E.I.B. takes us through the somber life of troops in WWII and transforms the user into a military leader fighting in a war that changed the century.
Assuming the identity of Sgt. Joe 'Red' Hartsock, you take on the role of delegating orders to your squad and executing your military prowess on the battlefield. Being a paratrooper means being part of the toughest mother truckers in the military. With casual drops behind enemy lines, these soldiers go in and take care of business the old fashioned way.
The typical motto of 'behind enemy lines' is a way of life for these soldiers who wanted to prove that there's really a reason why they're called the best. B.I.A.:E.I.B. gives players an in-depth perspective of life as a paratrooper.
Be prepared to play through the real missions and tactics starting from D-Day to +15 (fifteen days prior to the Normandy landing). The action, fighting, dialogue and feel are incredibly well done. It's as though you were in the real show of Band of Brothers, but instead of just watching, you're actually participating, interacting and leading your troops to victory.
Taking part of the 101st airborne, 2nd squad, you start off the game by listening to a dialogue between 'Red' and his superior recounting the details of his mission. You command both assault and fire teams through cut-throat missions in France's rural and urban settings. Get ready for a night time drop that gets you caught in branches and looking down the enemy's barrel. Not the ideal way to start any mission, but learn for yourself what happens, I don't want to spoil anyone's adventures'
Gameplay
This First Person Shooter isn't like anything you're used to. If you've already played Brothers in Arms:Road to Hill 30, then you've already adapted to the intricate style of commands and orders, but for the ordinary FPS shoot'em up fan, get ready to click your heels together Dorothy, cause you've just entered Oz.
The main objective of this game is to make you and your squad work together as one cohesive unit. You're a professional soldier who's been trained to work together, to cover, to return fire, to flank, and most of all, to eliminate the enemy. You will have to work together, or achieving the end-result will be utterly hopeless.
B.I.A.:E.I.B. has an incredible focus on tactics. To truly succeed, you need to learn how to correctly apply suppressing fire to an enemy's position and how to cover your own troops while in the heat of a battle.
Along with these rudimentary fundamentals, you learn that flanking is the key ingredient in battle. You are attributed two main teams (and sometimes a 3rd armor team for even more fun). Your primary teams are the 'Fire' and 'Assault' teams, one for suppressive fire and the other for assaulting an enemy's position. Both can be used for assault of firing, but your men are less likely to die if you take advantage of their specific training and specialties.
The AI seems to have dramatically taken it up a notch as well. Not only are you out-flanking and shooting the fish in the bucket, you're also trying to avoid becoming the fish itself. By this I mean that suppressing fire and flanking doesn't always work. The in-game battle shifts just like it does in war. You soon become aware that enemy troops, just like you, don't want to die. You notice that while trying to flank your opponents, they are instead out-flanking you.
Toggling through the 'Situtional Awareness View' (A view that lets you pause the game, assess the battlefield and come up with a plan), you see that enemy soldiers hold onto key points of advantage and retreat to a more secure position when fearing being flanked.
Along with the usual WWII weapons introduced in the first Brothers in Arms game, Earned in Blood comes out with some of the new weapons like the M3 grease gun which is a pleasure to use.
Video
You'll need a pretty fast machine to play the game, but nothing too special. The engine runs well, but it isn't at the level of Half Life 2. That's not to say that the feel and graphics are flawed in any way. The game ripples with feeling of realism and action.
You'll need a 1GHz CPU with 512MB's of RAM to meet the minimum requirements for this puppy, but the guys at Ubisoft recommend that you have a 2.5 Gig machine with about a 1 GB of RAM.
Audio
You hear the leaves crackling below your feet, a grenade explodes somewhere far in the distance and then the echoes of mortar shells thumps to the left while you're making your way through the slushy swamps of France. You can almost taste the water beneath you as you play through Brother in Arms: E.I.B. The ambient sounds are acute and clear. You hear the enemy rushing and the clicks and clanks of reloads and grenade clips getting pulled and thrown.
The dialogue is honest and is meant for 16 year olds or older. That's the truth. You can sense fear in people's voices, panic stricken screams and brutal disappointment in the loss of another soldier. The guns each have a distinct sound and battlefield the environment of a firefight seems gruesomely and frightfully real.
Multiplayer and Skirmishing
The skirmishes are all extremely enjoyable to play, especially in co-op. It's a great way to improve your tactics and find out just how good you are on the field.
The multiplayer is just as good. Keeping the in game graphics running smoothly, it is a pleasure to dominate others over the net.
Overall Impression
As an avid lover of nearly any FPS, I'd have to say that this was one of the hardest I've had to get used to for single player. Having to learn to interact firsthand with AI that's trying to kill me while analyzing battlefield situational tactics, giving orders to suppress enemy fire while rushing, shooting and giving more orders to flank is not as easy as they make it look on TV or in games.
That's not to say that it isn't worth it, but real-time multitasking is tough to learn. Once that's achieved, this game proves to be one of the most realistic wartime experiences I've ever had the pleasure of playing. It's fun, challenging and rewarding! Definitely buy this one, it'll be worth the single-player, multiplayer and most of all co-op skirmishes (in my opinion).
Story: 10 Gameplay: 8.9 Video: 8.0 Sound: 10 Multiplayer: 8.5 Overall Impression: 9.0 Softpedia Mark: 9
Take a look at some screens below
