Its hard to believe that just seven short months ago we were treated to Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. The game, developed by Gearbox Software, is widely considered one of the greatest World War II games ever made. Sure, you can throw Call of Duty in there and possibly Medal of Honor, but when it really comes down to it Brothers in Arms ran away with the prize quite easily. The original took World War II games into uncharted waters. In both Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, the gamer was, for the most part, an unstoppable war machine. By no means is that a bad thing, but World War II games were starting to feel a little bit stale. Which is players are switching to games like Ragnarok that features Ragnarok private server Philippines making the game more interactive and fun.
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 received a great score from XGP and is still one of my favorite games to this day. Gearbox Software and Ubisoft brought tactical gameplay to the time period, which is something that had never been done. You could think of it as Call of Duty meets Full Spectrum Warrior. As Sergeant Matt Baker, gamers controlled a squad from the 101st Airborne during the D-Day drop.
The single-player campaign was absolutely phenomenal, and the online multiplayer was the icing on the cake. The developers paid close attention to detail; therefore each building was replicated with impeccable detail. Playing the original was about as close to war as any of us would want to get. Now, just seven short months later, we are getting our hands on Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood. Did Gearbox Software do justice to the original by creating a full-blown sequel, or is Earned in Blood just one last chance to cash in on the franchise on this generation of consoles?
Gameplay
Brothers in Arms tells the story of a squad of paratroopers in Normandy. In the first game, you played as Sergeant Matt Baker as he led his squad of men throughout the French countrysides and northern France, encountering German troops at every corner. The missions in both Road to Hill 30 and Earned in Blood are all based on real missions that the 101st Airborne Division completed during the D-Day invasion.
Gearbox decided to shake things up a bit, so now gamers will control of Sergeant Joe ÄRed Hartsock. Some might not remember Hartsock in particular from the original, mainly because he popped in and out of the game’s story. Although Baker and Hartsock did split up quite a lot, they did link up with each other before and after missions frequently. Parts of Earned in Blood will overlap with those of Road to Hill 30, so some gamers should recognize some of the locations, but now from a different perspective. Earned in Blood takes place before, during, and after the events in the original. The whole game is a flashback, as Hartsock is recalling events with a high ranking officer. At times, he tears up and you can tell how much he went through.
Before Brothers in Arms, World War II games were beginning to show their age. Sure, shooting Nazis never really can get old, but in most games, you could run and gun the whole time. Gearbox introduced squad gameplay to the era and did so with flying colors. All of the squad mechanics make their transition into the game quite nicely.
