Review of Brothers in Arms - Earned in Blood on PS2

My husband enjoys videogames when he has the time. One recent game he played was 'Brothers In Arms' on Playstation 2. He has only played through the game once, so he doesn't know all of the extras this game offers. This is his review of the game.

Basic Plot

Character: US Army Paratrooper Sgt. Joe "Red" Heartsock, new leader of Second Squad.

The game starts with your character talking to his superior officer. You are talking about your past battles and you play through each battle as he is remembering them.

The action begins during WWII, on D-Day, as you are dropped in near Utah Beach via parachute, in German occupied France. Your mission is to secure key objectives throughout Normandy.

As the battles rages on, you are promoted to sergeant when the current sergeant is killed. You continue on through the game leading your troops through each battle. This game is based on a true story.

Ease of Play

The game controls were pretty easy to get used to. It is very realistic as far as reloading the guns. You see your character loading the gun in real time, which is a nice touch.

Graphics and Sound

The sound on this game has realistic gunfire and background sounds and the voices are easy to understand. While looking at the enemy you may see a red dot. This is a suppression meter. You can hold him back from firing by shooting at him, and there is a meter that shows you when he may be able to shoot at you again.

Best

When you press the 'select' button on your controller, you get an aerial view of all of your objectives and your enemies. This is one of the best options on this game. I haven't seen it a lot in the other war games that I have played.

If you die four times in one mission, you get the option to completely heal yourself (and your entire squad) before you reload your checkpoint. This saves you from being near death at a new checkpoint. If you are near death at the checkpoint, you are pretty much screwed, and will have to start the game all over again.

Worst

The game is extra tricky because you get no health packs to pick up along the way like in most games. If you get killed during a scene you have to start at your last checkpoint, no exceptions (that I have found).

Your character cannot go into the prone position; you can only kneel down or stand up.

There are command functions for commanding your troops. This was harder to use. The troops would, at times, go farther than your order and end up getting killed.

Extras

After you beat the game, you get the option of infinite ammunition on the normal setting. The normal setting will also give you the 'old movie look' for the game. This makes the game appear as an old movie would, as apposed to the normal graphic colors.

Recommendation

This was a good game to play, but if you really like this genre of game, 'Call of Duty 2: Big Red One' is a better bet. The game wasn't very challenging on the 'normal' setting. You will have fun playing 'Brothers In Arms', but I can't recommend it is as the best war game available.