 | | The opening C-47 drop is the best I've yet seen in a WWII game |
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Brothers in Arms isn't a bad game by any means. I just think the World War II first person shooter has been so chiselled, perfected and just downright inundated that you really need to blow my socks off if you're truly gonna impress these days. After all, you're going up against some pretty damn stiff competition.
To be honest, I don't think Brothers in Arms really brings enough to the table to better the many before it. It adds a more tactical element to the familiar charging style of the FPS genre, but that's about it, and in fact in many other areas it actually regresses, rather than reinvents.
First Person Strategy
The levels for instance, are cramped and tight for the majority of the game. The engine captures some massive environments, but in every single instance you're cornered off from exploring the more expansive fields and tree lines by invisible walls and conveniently placed fences. So while the views may look grand and open, your actual playing area is disappointingly claustrophobic.
 | | Background scenery is gorgeous, but invisible force fields continually block it off |
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Put aside all memories of Allied Assault's Omaha landing or Call of Duty's Stalingrad assault, we're strictly back to corridor mode here.
90% of the encounters in BiA involve a German encampment covering a main road, with some sort of side route available for you to outflank them with. You setup your men to suppress the enemy while you sneak off to the side and give 'em a good walloping, and it all works pretty well and good for the first few missions.
Unfortunately it soon becomes clear that this is essentially what you'll be doing for the entire game, and it's in that moment that you realise the game is nigh on identical to Full Spectrum Warrior in that regard - a game that, truth be told, I was bored stiff with by the time the tutorial ended.
Real Time Shooter
Brothers in Arms is a far superior game mind you, simply because you actually control a soldier this time. You're Sgt. Matt Baker, a US paratrooper roaming the Normandy hedgerows in and around D-Day, blasting Germans and blowing up AA cannons - pretty much business as usual.
Sadly, the gun handling isn't fantastic, a far cry from the likes of Counter-Strike and the previously mentioned Allied Assault. In Brothers in Arms, I never truly trust my bullets to go where I tell them to.
 | | Orders are carried out via a simple click 'n' drag interface that handles perfectly |
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Essentially there's just too much randomness to the weapons and not enough skill involved; you may line up the perfect headshot down your (largely useless) iron sights, but thanks to the cover system, which grants enemies superhuman shielding if they perch behind a bush, you'll still miss if the game wants you to. Alternatively you may spray blindly and hit every single target in sight. As a result, there's no real satisfaction to taking out bad guys.
The command system is fun, I will say that. It's a great feeling to lead troops and tanks into battle, setting them up to suppress and charge on enemy positions. The troops themselves are smart and do a damn solid job of finding cover and suitable routes without any handholding from the player, and this area of the game is without fault in my opinion. Conversely, AI on the enemy troops is sadly horrific, with them simply staying put for the majority of the time while they wait to be outflanked by you.
"Fucking Take Me!"
 | | The situational awareness view freezes time while you suss out tactics on the fly |
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I was very surprised to see that the game pulls no punches with its content and is actually rather edgy and violent in places. It's no Soldier of Fortune II, but I still saw lost limbs, spurts of blood and best of all mountains of expletives. Charging into the fray and hearing your team-mates yell, "FUCK!" when they get hit adds an extra degree of realism not really seen in these games before.
It doesn't stop with the language either; this could happily be referred to as the most authentic WWII title currently out there. Not only are the weapons, uniforms and soldiers all modelled to perfection, but the actual missions themselves have been faithfully recreated from real-life events and locations. Having been to this area of France myself on WWII site-seeing trips, I will say they certainly nailed the look and feel of the place without question.
Still, authenticity doesn't always equal fun, and for me many of the previous WWII titles beat this hands down when it comes to good old fashioned playability, even if they were somewhat Rambo-esque in their realism.
Quite a Sight
 | | The iron sights are so sensitive and inaccurate they become barely usable |
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The graphics are nice if not groundbreaking. The night-time levels look a little dull and dreary, but the look comes to life during the day-time thanks to impressive light blooming effects. Physics also add some wonderful realism to the visuals, providing some of the greatest death animations I've ever seen in a shooter. I also love how every single squad member looks different to the last, giving them a bit more character over your regular cut 'n' paste FPS toons.
Sadly it'll need a top of the range graphics card if you plan on cranking the settings all the way up, and on consoles it suffers from horrendous frame-rate lapses that make it a distant shadow of its PC cousin. Worst of all however, the load-times on all systems are simply abysmal, and particularly shocking on the PC of all places. Disabling v-sync oddly improves this, but I must admit I regularly exited the game on death simply 'cos I couldn't face another two minute reload.
 | | BiA uses the Unreal engine with kick arse Karma physics |
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The music is your good old Spielberg-esque stylings, and sits nicely within the menus and intros. When in the actual game, you'll hear little other than gunshots and shouting, all of which sound suitably meaty and impressive. Voice acting is for the most part very good, but all that swearing sounds a bit forced and unnatural, as if the actors are making a point to stress their newfound ability to swear their tits off.
I dunno, the game tries its very best to be well written, sharp and touching, but kinda fails in the end. The brotherhood aspect is told through voice-overs for the most part, with little actual interaction with the characters yourself, and it never really pays off in my book. I didn't care that much for my fellow men, and would happily send them in to their death if it provided me with a tactical advantage in the midst of battle. Not a good sign with a title called "Brothers in Arms".
War is Hell
 | | The squad system works impressively well, but is it enough to save the game? |
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While I find the single player experience playable if not perfect, it does suffer from shortness issues. In addition to an original if slightly bizarre online mode that houses absolutely no clan potential whatsoever, Brothers in Arms isn't gonna last forever.
So make your choice; splash out on yet
another WWII first person shooter, one that adds a wonderful squad dynamic, but otherwise lacks in many areas and offers a somewhat limited lifespan, or save your pennies for something a little more worthy of both your time and money.
Personally I'd go with Republic Commando.
