Another great game from Gearbox. Improves on the original in almost every way.

User Rating: 9.3 | Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood XBOX
By Legolas_Katarn | Review Date:
Story: For those who aren't familiar with the first game, Road to Hill 30 put you in the Shoes of Matt Baker, a newly promoted sergeant in the 101st Airborne. With him you parachuted into Normandy and fought your way to the German occupied town of Carentan, finally the game ended with a battle at Hill 30. At the end of the game corporal Joe "Red" Hartsock, one of the soldiers you control, is promoted to sergeant. Earned in Blood begins 15 days after D-Day and either days after the last game ended. Red sits down and talks about all he has been through in the last 15 days. It begins the same as the last game but with Hartsock jumping out of the plane. Immediately after setting foot on the ground he runs into trouble in the form of a German soldier preparing to shoot him while he is stuck in a tree. He is saved by a soldier named Doyle from the 82nd. From there you learn what Hartsock did before he reunited with Baker and you play side missions that Hartsock was sent out on where he lead soldiers from Road to HIll 30. You quickly get back up to the part where Hartsock is promoted and you get your own squads to control. Earned in Blood fills in some things that you might have not understood in Road to Hill 30.

Gameplay: Brothers in Arms tries to succeed at being as realistic as possible. And it succeeds in almost every possible way. In the default settings there is no reticule at all on your screen. So you may decide to shoot from your side without knowing where your shot will go or you could the reticule on your gun where you will slow down and walk while you aim. To survive in this game you must use both your Fire Team and your Assault Team. You start of the game alone but you quickly find your soldiers and are able to give them orders. Both squads have three people in them, two soldiers and the squad leader. When you give a command Hartsock will tell them what he wants them to do then the team leader will tell the men under his command.

The controls to give your squads orders are very easy to learn. Tapping the white button chooses which squad you will control. Holding the white button down will give that squad the order to follow you. Holding the left trigger and placing the cursor over an enemy unit will tell that squad to fire at them, holding the left trigger and then pushing the right trigger when the cursor is over an enemy squad will make that squad assault the enemy where they will charge them or throw grenades. The Fire Team is better at laying down suppressive fire to pin enemy squads down. The Assault Team is better at charging and killing the enemy. Earned in Blood is all about using authentic Fire and Maneuver tactics just like Road to Hill 30 was. Where you pin down your enemy with one squad. While your other squad flanks and kills them.

Earned in Blood: Also adds some new weapons and tanks to the series.

Multiplayer: The game can be played online with 2-4 people. Playing online is a lot like playing Single Player except you only control one squad the fire team or the assault team while the other player on your team controls the other. If you only want to do a one on one or one on two the team with one person will command both squads. There is no deathmatch or capture the flag modes in this game only objective based games. Every map in Brothers in Arms has an objective that has to be completed by either the Americans or the Germans while the other army tries to stop them. These objectives range from blowing up bridges and anti-aircraft guns, getting documents to a certain area, or to sneaking around alone as a sniper trying to kill your enemies. Earned in Blood adds 10 new MP maps and keeps the 10 old ones, it also runs a lot smoother.

Co-op: Earned in Blood has a new co-op mode that you can play on the same Xbox, system link, and over Xbox Live. You can play five different levels with the Americans and five different ones as the Germans. You can make these levels missions, defense, or timed assault where you are timed but you gain more time as you and your squadmates kill enemies. There is also a Tour of Duty mode where you play through the five missions in order and have to complete objectives.

Graphics: Earned in Blood looks just slightly better than the last one.

Sound: This game improves on the sound and fixes a bug that was in the last one. All the gun sounds and ambience has been greatly improved upon also. Squadmates sound very tense and scared, and the choking and cries of the Germans and your own soldiers is still very much intact. The explosions still sound realistic as well and the music is just as good as ever.

Value: Worth every penny with new single player levels, 10 new MP maps for a total of 20, the addition of co-op, and a multiplayer that runs much better than the last one did.

Tilt: While I do think this game is better than the first, I liked the story a little more in the first and this one just seems to similar. Keep in mind though that the last one only came out just seven months ago.

Difficulty: With four different difficulty modes and the ability to choose how well your enemies fight in co-op the game never feels too easy or too hard.

Learning Curve: Controls are easy but it might take a little while to get used to the tactics and commanding your squads.

Earned in Blood improves upon Road to Hill 30 in almost every way.

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