Brother in Arms: Earned in Blood Xbox Review

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October 19th, 2005 Jason Rybka Leave a comment Go to comments

Earned in Blood is another WWII game, but this one is different and has some fame to it thanks to the hit HBO series, however the two are not really connected. You will play as Joe â€œRedâ€ Hartsock. His name may be familiar as well since the game’s events are based on his real life experiences during the war. What makes this one truly different is the angle of the story. You will hear his debriefings and stories and that’s been done before. What is really the twist is using the flashbacks of his experiences and being able to pull it off.

They say for every action there is a reaction and of course this is true. Just go and smack someone at random and see what happens. You may get smacked back, go to jail or worse. What if a game placed you in command for the first time? Only now you have to make the decisions that may place you as the hero or wind up watching your men die. Brother in Arms Earned in Blood captures this so well it’s scary. For some the game may seem a lot like the last one; Road to Hill 30, and there is allot of the same gameplay. However, after playing this one you will see the action as well as the emotions that no other game has captured before. Read on to see why the sequel is better than the original game in many ways.

Gameplay

When the game opens, you hear Joe talking about his first experiences behind the enemy lines. The tone in his voice lets players know he is bitter and somewhat remorseful for his attitude towards the Germans. He has a right to and as the missions start, you soon learn why he has these feelings. Right in the first mission you get to feel a near death experience. No I am not joking; the game handles this scene in a slow motion semi flash-back presentation that will have anyone saying wow! Joe is faced with the fact he may die in a split second then his heart pounds, time slows down and you will hear him speak about this near death experience. Capturing the look is impressive enough but to feel like you are about to die yourself is amazing.

Brothers in Arms is more than fancy tricks and novelties or gimmicks. It does not use these camera angles and slow motion effects to impress; instead it uses them to place you in Joe’s shoes. The talented voice actor doing the voice of Hartsock really makes the story and angle work. As Joe, who is cold, tired, and scared must learn to command in a short period of time behind enemy lines; he soon must take those emotions and stuff them. Gamers get a chance to control the other men in the squad as the story progresses. The number of men Joe is in charge of, and the number who depend on him increases as the game is played. If the game so far sounds like a movie or a book, in many ways it plays like one, only in real time and in flash backs that are mixed perfectly.

The other thing that separates this from the other war genre games is the weapons and the accurate looks of the surroundings. When you fire a gun in most games, you still are able to have a perfect line of fire after the shot. Of course anyone who has fired a real firearm of any kind knows the recoil takes affect and you need to readjust your aim. The game nails this perfectly. Joe will need to learn how to flank the enemy, pin them down, and protect his men from enemy fire. Survive a mission and bring the men with you back alive, you earn medals that unlock more stories, Joe’s dairy notes and trailers. While this may seem similar to other titles out there, none have ever captured the look and feel of a war-like atmosphere that Brother In Arms Earned in Blood has. The A.I is very smart and it is not a game you will simply breeze through.

The enemies will be smart enough to retreat or back track and set you up for the kill. So not only must you bark out orders and look over the whole situation, you then have to decide who goes where and the best tactical move for the certain fight your about to enter. It may be for medical supplies, ammo or just to overtake a stronghold. So each fight or mission within the mission is different. To move and command the men is a bit tricky and will be covered in the control section. I will say that Gearbox really made a great intense war game that makes you think instead of run and gun. Each chapter places Joe in another new situation and at times you will get to see and feel those first experiences again. Of course the chapters are setting the player up for each new experience.

Say a man dies or Joe dies, yes, you can restart from the save point, but the death is in slow motion and each bullet that hits you will rock your body and blur your vision. Emotions play a key role as well as brains and being able to be fast on the trigger. The game is long and with each new challenge there is more of a risk when deciding whether to take it and risk the men or stay back and risk losing. The way you play is up to you to a certain point and the game has more than one way through each mission.

Control / Playability

The controls are a bit complicated. Basically at the first chapter you enter a tutorial of sorts where you will be prompted to find a weapon and your field sack. This helps to introduce the controls for the first time. Say you want to command someone to open fire on an enemy or group of enemies, you use the right analog and the left trigger to move to the red section that represents a threat and then command to open fire. Later in the game you will have two separate squads. You will need to hit the back button that allows you a limited view of the area so you can plot where the best place is to place each squad. You exit this zoom mode and then make the commands and hope you made the right choices since the A.I will hear you and can change their tactics to outsmart yours.

The learning curve is about 40-50 minutes and then you will know the analog and trigger commands as well as how to switch weapons and get ammo or supplies from a member of the squad. Most gamers will get all the commands including the D-Pad that acts as quick command; like open fire, retreat and follow me. Overall, the controls are the type where you need to actually read the game manual and on-screen prompts. The camera will also play a key role at times. The controls are complicated but they work well and after a while they seem much better than most titles I have played like this. You will make mistakes and you also can easily miss a pop up screen showing a man in trouble and lose him. The controls were well thought out and if you played the first one they are almost the same, with a few additions.

Xbox Live

New this time is the co-op mode and the skirmish modes and all play well online. The lobby is basic; you can create a room, pick the type of game, adjust the rules and play it several different ways. Defensive or offensive missions are available and the game plays very smooth online which is amazing based on the graphics. Some effects are taken out of the online mode but still the game is not bogged down and there are no lag issues unless you or the host has a bad connection. Overall, the new modes and options add allot of value to the online mode and there is even a content download section.

There are plans to make available new maps and other things, but nothing has been announced as of the time of this review was written. While the lobby is very simplistic, it works well and is easy to get into or create a game and get to your friends list. You also have the ability to appear offline since even on the single player mode you’re connected to Xbox Live. There are 4 different types of online modes and the ultimate challenge Tour of Duty where you try and complete five missions, American or German, with only one life. Overall a solid online gaming experience.

Graphics / Presentation

The amount of added details to the characters and weapons is really outstanding and the models look great. Gearbox even went and bought real WWII gear and uniforms for the motion capturing and rendering of the graphics. The slow motion and blur effects are well done but not overused and there are a lot of enemies on the screen at the same time. On occasion you may notice a slight slow down in the game but nothing to complain about. Graphically the game is outstanding. Even the horses look and react like real horses. The amount of authentic weapons is impressive and they look very real and react similarly impressive, an added treat for fans of realistic games. The flashbacks are nicely done and really add something to the overall game.

Brother in Arms: Earned in Blood Xbox Screenshot

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Audio

Hands down this game has some of the best voice-over acting I have heard in any game. The young man who plays Joe is remarkable and really makes you feel like he is the actual person and not the character in the game. All the added voices from calls for help to a few insults add to the gameplay and all are well done and just the right amount. The score is great and suits the action well. This one has so many things I could mention but let’s just say the game is perfectly done in the audio area.

Replay Value

While you do have choices of how and where to set up, the game does have you on a linear path to a point. Replaying the game at a higher level setting will increase the action and possibly the frustration. Although at the lower settings, you have the option of restarting and healing or reloading fully then starting at the last save point. There is a lot to unlock including private notes from the real Joe Hartsock to the cinematic movies and trailers, so there is a reason to replay it and score higher and get more medals. The online modes feature a ranking system and with new DL content soon available it really has plenty of replay value.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 9.2/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

This one is not an easy game and will take some time to get used to the controls and game style. It is a well made game that offers a different view of WWII. The voice acting is outstanding and the missions were well thought out. Any fan of the war games will enjoy Brother in Arms: Earned in Blood and it shows that with some extra details and a little tweaking a war game can look and play great.

XBox Solution