johng Blog

When I first watched clips of Brothers in Arms I noticed orders were being issued to your squad mates using a blue disc that you hovered over the ground to indicate where they should move to or, more importantly, who they should fire at. This didn’t strike me as intuitive but Gearbox have done a fine job implementing it and I soon found myself commanding multiple fire teams (and later tanks) without even thinking about it. This adds a whole new depth to combat and strategy that its closest competitors Medal of Honor and Call of Duty lack. In fact the way enemy units are suppressed and outflanked is more akin to Full Spectrum Warrior released last year on Xbox, but that was pure strategy, there was no direct control when moving and shooting your way through combat zones like BIA manages.

Not only does BIA pull together those two game types but it does it with a level of polish and realism normally reserved movies and certain TV shows. To say that this bears some resemblance to the Band of Brothers TV series would be a massive understatement. From the banter and emotion between your comrades to the orchestral score the game reeks of the Spielberg show, thats not a bad thing, its a huge plus and I highly recommend seeking out the DVDs before starting this up as it gives a lot of life to the title.

One word of caution, if your used to the run and gun, almost arcade in comparison antics of MOH and COD then get used to death. The added strategy element means that if you get out flanked by the enemy your team get pretty much wiped out, on more than one occasion I have had to finish missions single handedly because of mistakes earlier on in a mission. Oh and don’t forget there is no quick saving here, its all done by conveniently positioned checkpoints ala Halo. I did find COD far too easy and I finished it in a weekend, whereas after this weekend I am still playing BIA. It hasn’t put me off but made me want to play more and get back at those Nazis.

Reading the manual it seems Gearbox have some more BIA branded titles in the pipeline as it refers to this game being part of the “Brothers in Arms Series”. Do we need another WW2 series of games? If this one is anything to go by then keep them coming. Must go, got to outflank a German patrol in Northern France. Viva la revolution!