Product ReviewsBrothers in Arms: Earned in Blood (Microsoft Xbox, 2005)

Brothers In Arms For Xbox

When Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 was released earlier this year, it was lauded for its nearly seamless integration between first-person-shooter control and squad command mechanics. While clearly not as twitchy as most shooters, Brothers in Arms focused on the tactical aspect of small-squad infantry combat in World War II and packaged it with a cinema-quality presentation reminiscent of HBO's Band of Brothers. Fewer than seven months later, Gearbox has churned out a sequel. And as you'd expect from a sequel turned around so quickly, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood offers a rather similar experience to its excellent predecessor, with improved enemy artificial intelligence and additional multiplayer options. The novelty has worn off just a bit, though.

If you loved the first game, Earned in Blood offers a lot more of the same great gameplay.
For those who aren't familiar with the first game, Earned in Blood puts you in the shoes of an American corporal in World War II named Joe "Red" Hartsock. Hartsock was one of the thousands of US Airborne troopers who dropped in behind enemy lines the night before the Normandy landing in France. The story and the campaign are based on the real-life stories of Hartsock and his mates as they fought across the French countryside in those critical first two weeks after the invasion. For those of you who did play Road to Hill 30, Hartsock's name might ring a bell. That's because he was a character in the first game. The storyline in Earned in Blood overlaps that of Road to Hill 30, so you'll get to see Hartsock's point of view, as well as his experiences during the same time frame. As you'd imagine, much of the game is played from a flashback perspective as Hartsock is debriefed on his experiences by a superior officer. The in-engine cutscenes used to advance the story before and after missions are as heartfelt and impactful as they were in the first game, with the voice actor depicting Hartsock doing a fantastic job of conveying the emotion you'd expect from a war-weary soldier.

The interface of Earned in Blood is pretty much the same as it was in Road to Hill 30. You play as Hartsock from a first-person perspective and have the ability to walk, kneel, fire, aim down the iron sight of your gun, and throw grenades. You'll also have up to two different fireteams, or one fireteam and a tank, at your command. You can direct each team to follow you, move to an area, open fire on enemies, or charge enemies in an all-out assault. In general, your teammates are intelligent about contextually evaluating their surroundings and finding the proper cover in a given situation. If you direct them near a low wall or log, for example, they'll take up cover behind it. Move them to the side of a building with windows and they'll sidle up between the openings and peer through the windows so they don't leave themselves vulnerable. Once in a while they'll do something stupid, like take themselves out of cover or set up in a bad place. Usually this happens if you plant yourself in the spot you told them to move to.

Though improvements have been made to the AI, and you've got additional multiplayer modes available, it's somewhat difficult to call Earned in Blood a true sequel. In the end, it delivers a pretty similar experience to the first game, even going so far as to tell an overlapping story. Of course, if you enjoyed Road to Hill 30, then Earned in Blood is definitely worth picking up!Read full review...

Amazing 1st person shooter

This is a great first person shooter game that's backdrop is set after the drop in Normandy during WW2. I've never played a squad-based game before, so I was extremely happy with the fact that I could command my squad to flank an enemy gunman while I layered bullets upon bullets on his location. However, there are a couple flaws when sending your squad to a certain location. The first problem is that if they engage in combat while going to my desired location, they most likely end up getting slaughtered since they stay out in the open. You have to command them to duck for cover or pull back if the firefight is too heavy for them. Also, when they're hiding behind a wall, the AI tanks seem to know that, and end up blasting them to smithareens leaving me alone to fight the tanks and krauts. Another flaw that's really no big deal is the lag that takes place if the firefight gets too extreme. Everyone ends up shooting in slow motion and it gets kind of annoying if you're trying to kill an AI enemy. Besides, these small flaws, the gameplay is excellent. I loved the storylines, I loved the graphics, but above all else, I loved my squad. The aiming could be a bit better, but I guess the gamemakers didn't want to make it easy for you to just snipe an AI from 100 yards away. You have to really get up close and personal if you want to get the kill for yourself. The game could have been longer, but it makes up for it if you replay it again in the Hard setting.Read full review...

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood

Awesome Game! You won't last long if you blunder in shooting like most shooter games. You must use military tactics and your head, your choice of weapons can have serious impact on your success. Improper use of squads will make for a short game. Overall an exellent game with only one down side, the awards system is based completly on the difficulty level and not on your playing ability. If not for that one flaw this would be a 5/5 !Read full review...

Earned in blood

This game is based on a true story of a Unit that fought in WWII Normandy. You battle Nazi troops in Germany thruout the game using Military tatics and stragities. I think the best option the game has is that you can control both squads at the same time having them take on diffrent areas. You control wether they suppress attack take cover or what ever you want them to do while you have the other do something else. There is blood and gore, intense violence and strong language so it may not be sutible for your young children. This first person shooter is one of a kind and great for gamers who love a great challenge.Read full review...

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.

HI. This is superegio, and this is my review of Brothers in Arms (BIA).

I had previously played Earned In Blood as a rental and knew what I was getting when I placed my bid. X Box has good games: graphics and game play is awesome for BIA. I like the BIA saga because it is based on a real story and a real war. It may seem unlikely that anyone might learn anything positive from a game that hinges upon a brutal and bloody war--the gore and violence in the game can offer a glimpse of what happened in WWII--but the truth is that you can also learn some History and have an idea of how tragic wars can be.

I also have the first installment of this story. BIA: Road to Hill 30, which also bought on Ebay. The first game left me wanting for more WWII action and BIA: Earned in Blood did just that. The game does a great job at revealing some key plot events from the first game. The two game stories are very closely interwoven and the characters truly feel like real people. Overall, I recommend this game for people who do not mind playing shooters with the simple yet deadly weapons of WWII, like the American Browning Automatic Rifle, BAR, and Tommy assault rifle and the German F42 and the STG 44 assault rifles, just to name a few.

If you play Earned In Blood you are in for a lot of fun and surprises and may be a lesson or two in WWII History.

Play on!Read full review...

brothers in arms - earned in blood

I like the shooter games. The game has some parts of history of war world II.
I really don't have any thing bad to say about the game. Some of the campaigns
can be a little bit harder to get through. I wanted to buy it because I have the other Brothers in arms game and like that game and though I it would be nice to have the other Brothers in arms game. It also was at a good price.Read full review...

Challenging Game and Great to Play

Brothers to Arms:Earned in Blood is a great game that challenges you as a gamer. This new Brothers to Arms is online and can play with one or two players. The game is also rated M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence and Strong Language. Unlike the first one, the german soilders will try to flank you, assult you and they will move from cover to cover to get a better shot at you. The game also has a new co-op skirmish mode. But, the game is like a copy of the original with some new guns, smart germans and the skirmish mode, but, you play as Hartsock not Baker. But, the game is one of the best WWII games I have ever played.Read full review...

Great game, great service, great value!!!

This is a great game, I got great service at great value... what else could I possibly ask for?!
Graphics are good and the gameplay is very compelling.... Love it!!!

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: dustytradingtm

Overall Very Good

The game arrived exactly as advertised. Played a couple of hours solo and couch co-op to test it out and everything works just fine on my original xbox. Overall very happy with the purchase.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: beatsbytesonline

Another Great World War 2 shooter

Brothers In Arms Earned In Blood is another great WW2 game.

Pros: Great graphics, good controls, smarter AI in campaign, Coop mode, Take ammo from teamates, new teamates, new weapons.

Cons: The first part of the story is from the first BIA. Dumb AI in the coop mode.Read full review...