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Tired of all the hype and BS.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 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.

Decent game, but not for children.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 19
Date: March 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

As a fan of different first person shooter and strategy type games and that OF WWII dramas such as 'Band of Brothers' and other excellent reviews from gaming websites, it appeared that the game 'Brothers In Arms' was a no-brainer must have.

While it does indeed satisfy intense gaming styles and the cold, gritty feeling of war as opposed to other games, 'Brothers In Arms' has some great ideas but also a fair share of shortcomings.

From the get-go, this game is clearly styled after the mini-series 'Band of Brothers', for it mimics many of the cut scenes, look, sound, and even introductions to episodes even down to the introspective narration of your games alter ego, Matt Baker. Definitely the designers of Gearbox Games were huge fans of the series, and this translates fairly well.

The game is definitely a good combination of intense combat and strategy. Gung-ho button mashing and assaulting the enemy in any given mission map assures instant death. While you can do missions at your own pace, the ability to 'pause' the game for what the designers term as 'situational awareness'' can help, but not always. This feature will allow you to get an overhead view of the 'seen' battlefield to make some tactical decisions which is definitely helpful to keep you and your artificially controlled squad mates alive.

There is also a fair amount of mixed missions and objectives (albeit only 10), so it's not the same get from point A to point B and kill as many Germans as possible. You may have to blow up a strategic point, or clear a field, or infiltrate enemy barracks, to hooking up with stranded or lost squad mates.

There are 4 difficulty levels, and completing each mission unlocks 'extra content' based on the mission difficulty. While some of the un-lockable content is interesting, cheat codes and extra weapons are only obtained on harder levels. Easy settings unlocks historical content which while interesting adds no substantive value to gameplay and is easily forgotten.

There is a fair measure of explicit cursing. Like real life war, your squad mates tend to have profane mouths and in any given mission you'll wanna make sure children are not present.

The graphics are good, but not excellent. There is some synching issues with spoken words and facial expressions and mouth movements of the AI characters. Sometimes they move a bit stiff and seem un-natural.

Sound is great, especially in surround sound. The only musical scores you hear are in mission loads and completions, otherwise it bullets flying and shouting's.

Game control does take sometime getting used to. Even though you can remap the X-Box control settings, the default ones seem more complex than I am accustomed to on similar games. Some frustrating moments for me occurred when it seem intuitive hand control is not what 'it should be'. Also camera control in 'situational awareness' mode can also be confusing and not as smooth as it should be. This has proven to be slightly more difficult to master than I would expect as well.

I think the most frustrating thing is that the environments are not 100% interactive. Why are there doors on homes or farm gates that can never be opened? Why can I climb on the back of a tank, but can't crawl over or jump over a 3 foot wall? Why can I use a building or tree for cover and jump in a fox hole, but can't walk through a small hedge. Environment inconsistencies like this make the gamer puzzled. I see many ways to get to an objective, just to realize when I try something, I can't crawl, or squeeze in a gap between buildings that is much wider than my body. And why can't I loot fallen Germans for their grenades, but I can pick up their rifle?

But don't let these negative comments detract you. It is indeed intense. It does have realism in certain areas and you do feel as a part of a team and quickly care about your AI controlled squad mates...they do have personalities and quickly are become likeable. Your learn to care if they get hurt.

Call it a 3.5

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 15
Date: March 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I very much looked forward to this game...to the point of almost having withdrall symptoms. Finally, the day came and it was released, all was right with the world. Then I started to play it and my estimation went down a little. First of all the good stuff; graphics are decent, sound is good, the controls are very similar to Halo so its easy to pick up, tank and squad controls are easy to figure out, a huge amount of attention was paid to the detail of the maps and units involved to be as close to the real thing as possible, the idea is inspired...to base a game on a real life series of battles, and no bugs or problems in use. Now for the not so great; the command structure is a little too simple...not what I was hoping for, AI is decent, but still suffers from boughts of stupidity, non destructable environments, too much of a Rambo type game vs a squad game...I now have my hopes pinned on First to Fight, I really didn't like most of the voice acting and some of the dialouge, and cutscenes are fine...but make a way to quickly get through all of them. I can honestly say that I liked Full Spectrum Warrior better and you don't even get to shoot in that one. All in all, a decent game, but could have been better. It is well worth $25.00 or less so wait for that to happen, grab it up and enjoy.

this game sucks

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 15
Date: April 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

single player is fantastic but when i seen it i was hoping it would be like conflict vietnam where you can have a 2 player campaign. plus the missions were easy and if they only had a 2 player campaign it would be fun

Brothers in my arms

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 15
Date: March 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Brothers in my arms are falling asleep waiting for the bad and boring dialog to end before I can get the mission started. I like this game a lot..however I am only being objective in my review, I don't praise something without bringing some attention to a products flaws or misgivings.

This is a decent FPS, the attention to detail would be even better if you could go prone and not just crouch.

The game is based off a historical account of an airborne unit during the D-Day invasion. This game is based on the 8 days that the unit had engagements moving through france. If you play the game however it will take less than 8 days to finish the whole single player campaign. (short single player game)

The Gore factor wasn't that much..not much real nastiness and the dialog of the in game characters that are on your squad is amusing somewhat, but has a rather subtle anti-war message about it, and doesn't seem to reflect the true attitudes of the Greatest Generation had to offer.

The game also borrows heavily from Band of Brothers which is ok. Game play is lots of fun, and its the first FPS to have truly interesting terrain. I still don't understand the situational awareness feature. It allows you to get a top down persepective. I found its kinda neat, but pointless unless I am doing something wrong.

I often feel that I am doing everything solo in the game, because the squad level component falls short. I started to feel that I must be the only one killing the enemy..Sgt Baker ARMY OF ONE.

The commands and suppression are very nice features, but if you lose a guy he pops back in the next day adventure. Wounding is realistic, but not in this game.. until the next day and your presto healed. Sorry If you get nicked with a bullet you will be limping around if not for a month or a year.

I am only commenting on this because the game is so well done as far as accuracy in graphics and history elements but falls short on realism in this department. I guess something had to give to make it playable and enjoyable.

And on one last note, why don't the Germans ever surrender??..nobody always fights to the death? also it would be nice to be able to capture documents for bonus points. The medal system seems to be out of nowhere. I have 6 bronze stars??
been shot dozens of times and not one purple heart?

If you want a slapstick FPS with nice graphics and I haven't even seen multi-player area yet I hope this game beats doom3 in that arena, what a time waster that was.

If you are a WW2 fanatic you might be dissapointed after a few real time days trying to reach Hill 30. Don't worry you will get most of your men back to their disfunctional homes back in the USA, (ALL THE NPCS SEEM TO BE SOMEWHAT MALADJUSTED..THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GENERATION OF WW2, NOT CURRENT!!) since when you play this game you are the one doing all the killing and accomplishing the missions.

I think the game designers don't understand the military, or military principles. (YOU ARE THE NCO IN THE GAME) The NCO never goes out into the muddy field to lay satchel charges..heck when I was active duty an NCO wouldn't even empty a trash bin if someone of lesser rank was standing around. The NCO is the the one that leads and inspires/intimidates his men to follow orders. (this example coming from one of the situations you will face in the game).

Hope this review was informative.

Nerve Racking

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: March 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I couldnt wait untill this game came out I had read all the reviews and the trailers had me on the edge of my seat.The minute it hit the shelf i took it home filled with anxious anticapation for what this game had in store for me.
First off let me say that the loading times in between levels and restarts is way to long and the cutscenes and comments before missions tend to get really boring.I started play and within 5 minutes was allready frustrated you cant hit crap in this game you can fire a 1,000 rounds and not hit what you have your sights pinned on.then your so caught up in trying to set up your team you end up getting wasted giving out orders.I played full spectrum warrior and thought it really sucked main reason you couldnt fire and was just giving out orders so i figured the mix of being able to shoot and give out team orders would work great.And Im all for strategic games insted of just putting in a code and rushing the enemy but this game took it to far.They needed to make it a little easier to shoot the enemy I know that if I was in a war and had the enemy in my sights at 50 yards and all i had to shoot at was the top of his head he would be a dead soldier,but not in Brothers I n Arms you practically have to be within inches to kill them.Im glad they where as acurate as they were with the story of this game but being acurate with a true story and making a fun game to play are two different things.Medal of Honor Frontlines from my point of view was a heck of alot better game than BIA.
I tried to get into this game but just couldnt,you have to have a ton of patients to play this game and it might help to pad your controller because this game makes you want to throw it at something.I love all the war games that are based on real military action and stratagies but this one isnt for me and probaly not for alot of people.I suggest that you rent this game before you pay 50 bucks for it.Its a great game but if i would of played it before buying it i wouldnt of bought it.If you like setting up soldiers to do tasks for you and extreme strategic postioning and spending all you time worrying about where all your guys are and like dying then this game will suit you fine.I think that alot of people that play this game will love it and say its the best they ever played,but I also think that just as many that play it will not like it say its to hard and to frustrating.Like I said rent it first see if you like it then make your decision.

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is my review to the game Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30.
Graphics- The graphics on this game are very good, not the best ever but a good and solid. The enviroments aren't as good as they should be, but the charecter models are awe insipiring.

Sound- The sound is suprisingly good. Gun shots are loud and tanks roar. It also features an great collection of classical music. Thats about it.

Gameplay- The game is a hybrid of real time strategy and first person shooter. Other games that try a hybrid like this are horriable, but this pulls it off great. You can control several teams of 3 each (including some tanks). It is also the ture amount of soldiers in a squad (8 people). You have to follow 4 Fs. Find him, fix him, flank him, and finish him. The game will explain it all.

Multiplayer- The games mulitiplayer is great, each person gets a 3 man team (including self). The Germans defend, Allies attack. The gameplay is the same.

What is wrong with this game- The M1 garand has 8 shots, and you can't reload it mid clip, in this game you can relod it.
Also I found it hard to aim, but that was probably intentional so you use your teammates.
This game is overal great. It isn't as fun or as authentic as Call of Duty, but sure beats Medal of Honor, and its only $20.00. I give this game a 4 1/2 out of 5.

A Solid Shooter.A Completed Game Review.Normal&Hard settings

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Brothers in Arms is a First Person Shooter based on a true story.This game has authentic locations and weapons based on real life WW2 combat areas in Normandy right down to the square yard,even the house details are nearly exact.You could visit these places in real life and see the same area you see in the game and even the wall you used for cover.You are a Squad Leader that eventualy gains control of 2 teams.One is a Fire team for Suppression fire,and the other team is an Assault team for closer up front enemy fire.Your job is to command these 2 teams effectivly.First by using your Fire team to suppress the enemy and then using your Assault team to Flank the enemy .Basicly you Find Em,(suppress)Fix Them,Flank Them ,Fire on them.Your Enemies also use simular Fire and maneuver tactics and they will shift there defenses based on your movements,but they will never leave there fixed Machine Gun positions.To move your men.. you use whats called one button-context sensitive command system ,by pressing Left Trigger and moving hilight over desired area and letting go of left trigger.Its easy to do once you get the hang of the command system.You also use the d-pad for commands such as "on me" and to change fire teams.Also you can use white button to quickly change fire teams and issue order.It may take a few levels before you get it down. If you use your fire team to first suppress the enemy then use your assault team to flank and fire.You will mostly be successful.Its true that sometimes your squad will not do as well as you want them to and they would not be able to hit enemies sometimes ,I was able to pick enemies off easily but my squad werent the best targeters,but for the most part they do a good job,sometimes they even find better firing positions,this is definatly one of the better command shooter maneuver games out there with relativly smart A.I. .On Normal and Hard mode your squad is never able to hit enemies while in cover but I was able to pick off enemies when they peeked up from cover.If I had to rate me compared to my squad as riflemen,My squad would get a 4 and I would get an 8 out of 10. Sometimes I would hilight an area behind a wall for my squad to use as cover and one of them would line up on the opposite side of the wall facing wrong direction as enemy would spawn in, I had to re-issue the command to get them behind wall.A nice feature is that if all of your squad gets taken out,you can still finish the level solo.The graphics are nice ,nothing spectacular but they do a nice job and the faces of your squad mates are nicely detailed .The frames skipped sometimes ,probably because of all the stuff goin on in the screen.There is a feature in this game called Situational Awareness View ,basicly this an overhead view of you ,your men,enemies,and the surrounding area.You get this view by pressing the back button to pause game then you get a chance to scout the terrain for possible flanking areas for your fire and maneuver tactics.In the real WW2 they used maps before they entered an area , so this game also gives you advantage of knowing the surrounding area by using your situational awareness feature.There was some times when I wish my player was able jump over a fence to get a better flank position,(in the real world we can climb over 3ft fences )and I wish you also climb over small walls,But this game does give you,for the most part,alot of ways to Flank your enemy.This is definatly a well designed and fun game ,I noticed your men get smarter on the harder settings and there's more enemies and even an added tank that wasnt in the level on the Normal setting.I played the game on Normal setting and beat it in Two days.Im guessing maybe it was 11hrs total gametime to finish.After you beat the game on Normal setting ,two cheats open up in the menu section ,'Unlimited Ammo' and 'Old Movie Mode' old movie is basicly black & white mode.You have easy,normal,hard, & realistic settings.The realistic setting is only available after beating the game on hard difficulty.Once you beat the game on Realistic setting a cheat opens up called 'Super Squad'.The game saves automaticly once you get to a certain point in the level,so there's no saving on the fly .It does seem to save in the right points,so no harm there.You have the ability to have the crosshairs turned on or off.The fixed machine gunners are tuff to beat but with the right suppressive/flank maveuver they can be dealt with.The Squad A.I. is good in this game,it really depends on how good you are at picking the right suppresion and fire areas for your squad.Remember the 4 F's ..Find,Fix,Flank,Fire.Always try to use the Fire team to suppress enemies.And There is almost always a Flank opportunity for your Assault Team.The tactics used in this game are based on real life WW2 fire and maneuver tactics and WW2 veterans were on hand for help in designing game to make it authentic as possible.There were some things I wish they couldve added ,like the ability for your men to operate fixed Machine gun positions,only your man can operate them.Also I wish You could drive the Tanks but the tank drivers do fight well ,but it depends on how well you command them.Sometimes there was some serious Lag in the framerates .But with all that said..this game is fun with nicely done cinematics,graphics, sound effects,and good solid shooter gameplay.The enemies are tough but not too tough.But there are 4 different difficulty settings. There's also alot of bonus info after completing levels on certain difficulties,such as WW2 photos of tanks,personel,maps,documents,alot of real WW2 information.This is a good game ,a more hands on tactical shooter.Its definatly a FPS all the way around. Now that Ive completed game on Hard setting its not that different than Normal setting hopefully Realistic setting will be a challenge.I think its a little too easy on Normal & Hard settings.But Definatly worth playing.HINT:If you want this game to be harder turn off the overhead circles above the enemy ,they are the red/grey circles that indicate enemies positions and the status of there suppression.You can turn them off in the options menu.Without the red circles on,the enemies are tougher to spot.Also finish game on Hard difficulty to open up the hardest setting, Realistic mode. Good Luck.Thanks To All Who Serve In The Armed Services.

very realistic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I was looking forward to this game for quite awhile. Usually I resist the urge to buy a brand new game but with this one... not so much. I have played it for a few hours (on easy) and it is quite different than most games out there. First off, there are no crosshairs. To shoot the enemy you must stop and actually aim. What a concept. Like Full Spectrum Warrior you have control of members of your squad, but so far I have found it more difficult to control than FSW.
What I love about the game is the historical reality. After each mission you can unlock a new background of the game (which is apparently based on real people as well as real events). I finished a mission called "xyz" and the story I unlocked was the actual after action report of the assault on xyz with pictures of the soldiers involved. I must admit it gave me goosebumps (and made me slightly ashamed) to be playing someone's life with my beer and chips alongside me.
I think this game would be a worthy addition to anyone's collection of games. It is the most realistic war game I have ever played.

Authentic and Real-Best WWII Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game was released officially on March 1, 2005 after months of delay and anticipation. What makes this game so unique is that you actually command a real squad of soldiers who actually parachuted into France before the D-Day invasion. The terrain is realistic; the guns sound and shoot authentically. When you run out of rounds in your M1, you can here the loader spring with a nice "ting" noise. The games basic premise is that you suppress the enemy and flank them for a clean shot. Unlike Full Spectrum Warrior, this game allows you to conduct this strategy in an open-ended environment.

Some downsides are going to be the graphics, at points in the game, your squad will float over the ground, and as in all video games, the designers have not figured out how not to make guns go through walls. Another downside is in the way you move and direct your squad. In an intense firefight you can direct your troops to find cover behind a wall, but instead, they go in front of the wall. If they survive, they are smart enough to seek cover on their own. Another bummer is that in cut scenes you are stuck in one position and are unable to interact with the surrounding environment, luckily you can skip the crap and get back into action.

Otherwise, this game absolutely rocks. It is fun and is directed and produced in such a way that keeps you involved and excited about reaching hill 30. I wish they had made Full Spectrum Warrior, another flank and fire game, as fun as this.

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