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Ahhhh Another WWII Title

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The sweet smell of another WW II game. I bought this a while back. I hated it. I died too much.

Thats when I saw the brilliance.

This isn't Medal Of Honor ... one man destroys entire Nazi Empire and slays 30 000 Nazi soldiers with a handgun and a knife. No this is you and some guys killing lots of Nazis with TACTICS.

Now most WW II games involve rushing in and killing bad men, MOH im looking at you. It worked, it was fun. Then the smart people at Gearbox made a tactical game.

When I first got this fired up, I was an MOH lover. I rushed around the map in BIA (Brothers in Arms). I died. I tried again, the mass rush and kill. I died. I didn't like this one bit. It was too hard. MOH had warped the logic side of my brain so it was a snarling blood hungry fire loving beast.

But when you get playing the game is remarkably good. Your soldiers are smart most of the time. Other times they are complete pyschos, loving hot lead in their heads.

The gameplay is solid, if a little unresponsive and clunky. Ordering your soldiers around can be a pain in the ass, but it begins to work when you get experience. Enemy AI is really fierce too, one of the best i've seen in a while on PS2. They really are out to kill you, and will use cover to the best of its use.

The graphics are above average. Sometimes they appear a little ... loose. If thats the word. It doesnt look sharp. The soldiers look a little ... smooth. Its hard to describe. It might be the look they set out for but its not sharp.

The overall sound is good. Weapons sound good, nice and heavy. I don't remember much music when I was playing. Adds to the feel of WW II i guess.

Overall its pretty solid, if a little frustrating at points.

Graphics = 8/10
Sound = 8/10
Gameplay = 8/10
Lifespan = 6/10

Overal = 8/10

War the Way It Ought to Be

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is an awesome game. At first I thought the idea of commanding several troops into battle would be too difficult, but the controls are relatively simple. Don't get me wrong, this is not an easy game. There's no way you and your troops will survive if you go in guns blazing. It does take careful planning. My only frustration came from my squad not going EXACTLY where I tell them to go. For instance, I'll direct them to hide behind a barrier and sometimes they'll go in front or the side and get shot up. It's important to try to keep them alive if you want to get through each mission.

Since this is an actual event, it made it even more enjoyable to take part in history.

It has potential...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Brothers In Arms is, as the name suggests, a story similar to that of the series Band of Brothers. You are Sgt. Matt Baker and fight as a trooper in the 101st Airborne alongside a squad of your wartime buddies from D-day until eight days after. Good start for a story, and it does grab you at the beginning. But it let's go rather quickly.
The characters are underdeveloped. You learn a little about your character via short monologues before each mission and a little about your comrades from blurbs in the instruction book, but that's about it. Your squad is supposedly comprised of deep, multi-dimensional people who each have different struggles throughout the ordeal. But those dynamic characters are never explored. They rarely speak, and when they do it is so rushed it loses all meaning. Additionally, you have no need to get attached to them or fear their loss for if they die during a mission they magically rise again for the next mission. You only lose your men between missions, as the story dictates.
The gameplay itself is entertaining if a little repetitive. You must use your squad to outmaneuver the enemy and suppress him. For this game actual military strategy does help, but it's not necessary for victory. The game is repetitive because usually the same tactics work for every encounter. Each encounter has a different setting, number of enemies, etc., but the basic strategy rarely changes. Here is another instance where a little more depth would have added a lot. Your men are not the brightest troopers to land in Normandy and they often die frustratingly quickly. Also, you have very few commands to issue them, making it difficult to tell them exactly what you want them to.
And if you consider historical accuracy an important quality in a game, one more thing will infuriate you about this game. You are sent on some insane missions. For instance, your squad is ordered to clear out the entire industrial sector of Caen. I found myself looking for the rest of thousands of allied troops who were involved in the battle at Caen, not to mention the thousands of German soldiers who defended the city. Granted, it is just a game, but that boiling down such a massive confrontation as Caen to six allies vs. thirty Germans is a little ridiculus.
The game contains few glitches, but some are rather noticeable (like a tank firing backwards through its turret to hit you. Hmmm...).
But, despite my complaints, I did enjoy the game. The story will captivate anyone who enjoys WWII history/fiction. The game play is also entertaining and different from regular 1st person shooters. The sound, lighting, and other technical aspects are beyond comparison. They are worth whatever frustrations the rest of the game provides. So, I would recommend this game for at least a rental, definitely worth buying if you enjoy the more antiquated weaponry and tactics from the WWII-era, especially since the price has been lowered.

make it a rental..

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: March 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Okay so I was pretty stoked to play this game so like a lemming off a cliff I ran and bought it without
RENTING IT FIRST.
Bad idea.
Dumb mistake.
I bought into the hype and now I'm very disappointed. Maybe it's because I'm playing on a PS2, but this game felt somehow un-finished. My biggest gripe is the squad AI: it's a bit on the weak side. When you highlight an area where you wish them to go, they only move somewhat near to it. If it happens to be nowhere near cover, too bad, they end up dying. It's pretty frustrating because you need your team mates to make it through this game.
It seems as though the makers have ignored what other squad based FPS's have already accomplished, which is strange considering it's Ubi soft. I mean, look at how well Ghost Recon plays.
Why couldn't this game have that kind of squad interface?
I think it is very important for people to RENT THIS GAME FIRST.
Sorry, but it just doesn't live up to the hype.

Tired of all the hype and BS.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

You know, I am sick of all the hype about this game by a bunch of weenies that don't seem to know real combat, real weapons or realism of any sort beyond what they see on their TV screens.

This game is not the authentic real life war on-the-battlefield war game that all the geeks are hyping and signing the party line the company puts out.

I bought two of these games after reading the reviews and I have to say that you people don't know what you are talking about.

There is pseudo-realism and that is about it. Sure the maps are close, the look and sounds of the weapons are close and even the dialog is about right, but that is about as far as it goes.

These games fall down severely on the accuracy/authenticity in several key areas.

1.Ludicrous restriction on the tactical options available to the soldiers and the squad leaders. Some of this is bad level design, some of it is probably trying to make up for the limitations of their AI, and some of it is just plain dumb.

2. Ridiculous limitations on interaction with the environments. You cannot open doors or windows. You cannot climb fences. You cannot use the wire cutters that every paratroop carried. You cannot go under a normal barbed wire fence, which thousands of hunters do several times a day in america.

Barrels and crates don't blow up or even move when hit by a tank. You can't even climb over a low wall that some other men just went over.

Perhaps most unforgivable of all, you cannot go into a prone position or crawl. You know, the stuff they teach everyone in BASIC TRAINING!

3. The gunsights are ludicrous. The amount of creep even in a crouching position is ridiculous. If I was that shakey I'd head for the retirement home.

4. Terrible path blocking and object collision detection. Quite a few times when I had a perfect view of a target and as perfect a sight picture as you would ever want I could not hit the target no matter how many rounds I fired. In real life I would have put a round through both ears of my target.

5. Absurd size of the weapons relative to your field of vision when zoomed in. Come on folks this is ridiculously UN-authentic. There is a reason for the open sights on fast action weapons like the Thompson and other SMG weapons.

6. Really stupid scenario designs. There are several instances where you are put face to face with tanks and no tactical options except to run for enemy panzerfausts. Making this worse of course are the level designs that force you to follow a relatively linear and restricted path to said anti-tank weapons. This is completely ridiculous.

7. Poor level designs. Too many places you cannot go or step when you should be able to. Places you cannot jump over or crawl under where you should. Only in EIB do you get to even blow holes in the hedges with the TNT that all paratroops carried as part of their standard pack during that theater of operations, and then only in key places and one whole scenario.

8. Situational awareness mode. Give me a break. This is supposed to substitute for the advance study done by the troops? It's not even as good as a raw topo map dump. You are chained to camera angles around key points and there are no indications of any significant type for changes in elevation and quite often the terrain features are faded out due to the choices made for the camera angle.

9. Another limiting factor is that you cannot issue movement commands to a location you know is there but are not lined up on directly yourself and you had better be on the side away from the enemy when you issue the order. This could have been easily fixed by using some option to issue commands while in situational mode, especially if that were better done.

10. Lastly the much hyped authentic tactics. Authentic, sure, in a very introductory and watered down way, severely limited in permutations, applications and variations due to all the other limitations of the game.

By the way, I am both a veteran and an experienced programmer and I am highly disappointed with this game on both counts.

If this is the latest in realism then it shows what a sorry state the gaming industry really is in. Of course I still haven't seen AI in a commercial game yet that matched up to what I saw undergrad programmers doing in college during the 80s. We deserve better and it's not that hard to do. It's time we stopped allowing these companies to hype this stuff up like it is so great when it's all fluff like pretty pictures and sound.

Oh, one PS. The AI cheats. You can observe how the enemy becomes magically aware of things completely out of the blue, such as someone being behind them, not moving or firing, and behind cover. This is inexcusable.

Blows other WWII Shooters out of the water

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game when it had already been out for a while. I was a little apprehensive because I had heard some great things about Road to Hill 30 but I had also heard from people who absolutely hated it. However when I started to play the BIA I realized thos people are the same jackasses who hero worship games like medal of honor where the exta guns and ammo float in the air and you play the entire game by yourself and uncover secret Nazi aircraft(huh?).I have played all of the MOH games for PS2 and next to Brothers in Arms they look like completely mindless arcade games or something.

Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 is the story a squad of paratroopers of the famous 101st Airborne jumping behind enemy lines on D-day and the following days during June 1944. Its a game that completely focuses on cooperative assault tactics between you and up to two squads that you can really command. These AI characters not only fight but actually talk and react. To eliminate enemys you have to suppress the enemy then flank and kill him. Im not going to lie. At first the commands that you give to your sqaud are hard to understand and execute, but like any other game you just have to keep practicing until it becomes second nature to you.

The graphics are wonderful and puts right back into Normandy 1944. Here comes my biggest compaint though. If you are in a situation with a lot of vehicles or men then the gameplay becomes choppy and slow. But this is not something that occurs very often.

Now to the jackasses who I mentioned earlier. Quit bitchin, about how you cant go throught the game and kill everything by yourself and how hard the game is and how it sucks that the sights move when trying to aim. Do retards really think that MOH is a true representation of warfare? I know that you cant capture the essence of warfare in a video game but BIA comes closer than any other game. I will admit that sometimes the AI squad is retarded but that is not something to endlessly harp on.
I think that the reason that this game is so hated by some is that this game(god forbid)makes you think instead of just defeating the entire Third Reich all on your own.

Overall this game is my favorite WWII shooter on the market and its the only game that i've ever played that lets you call the shots and fight an intelligent and tough enemy. So if you get this game and at first find it hard and confusing dont immediatley pan it but instead keep playing and give the game and yourself a chance.

This Game is Awsome !!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I loved playing this game. I got it for my 14th birthday. Ive passed it on hard and working on authentic. The only bad part about the game is it dosnt get intense enough through the middle levles. But in the first and last level it is extremely intese, with guys dying all around you and blood and gore all over. half the time its so scary you dont know up from down! It makes it very realistic, graphics are awsome, and the gameplay is sweet. You control a WWII soldier named Matt Baker. You are a paratrooper jumping into normandy. But one twist in the story is that there is a mis-drop when your plane gets shot down all but one survives and you are standed and lost behind enemy lines with thirteen men under your control.

Im Glad I finally talked my mom into buying me an 'M' rated game

Put it this way, THE GAME IS WORTH YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!

been waiting for this game forever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 17
Date: February 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is going to be one of the most realistic ww2 games ever i cant even begin to describe to you how good this game will be. You need to see all the trailers and its finnaly coming you must get this game if you love world war 2 first you jump out of the planes in d-day and fight all over normandy and this is no moh where its run and gun. This game takes hella strategy you have to actually supress you enemys and they can use fire tactics just like your own men and you will have to flank enemys. Trust me this game will be great your men are very smart they are based on real paratroopers from ww2. You need to see the trailers for this game and if you love ww2 BUY THIS GAME!!! If you dont like the reviews on it and trailers ur dumb just wait till march and we can finnaly play it and reserve the game now!!!!

The Game Is Okay

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: April 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

When I first saw this game I thought it was really cool. I saw it on tv. I bought it and I played it and I didnt really like it. The two player mode is not so good because you cannot work in cooperation you have to kill eachother. Another thing about the 2player thing is that you cannot have a co-op story mode. The story is really hard, even if you put it on the easy level. Maybe thats my opinion becuase im not such a ww2 game player. The missions are really hard for me. I think it is a waste of money. The graphics are great though. The game also has a lot of cursing and bloody images.

Most realistic shooter to date

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: March 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is truly amazing. It is a step higher then MOH and COD. I was huge fans of both those games but i think BIA is truly better. You actually fear seaing enemy soilders instead of wanting them to come so you can easily kill them, like in MOH and COD. You cant just run out guns blazin in this game either since one burst of MG42 fire and your minced meat. Stragey is a key element but for people who dont like stragy dont let this factor turn you away since i am not a huge fan of stragey Shooters but i love this game. Stragy doesnt play a big enough role in this game to get bothersum. I would reccomend this to anyone who likes MOH or COD. Or just history in generel. This is a great game!!

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