Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2728 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2005-03-18
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description
Based on a true story. Set during the famous airdrop before the invasion at Normandy, Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad of 101st Airborne paratroopers were scattered over the French countryside. As the story unfolds, the player (Baker) must choose between the success of his mission and the lives of his men - his brothers in arms.

Brothers in Arms will immerse players in the historic eight-day invasion of Normandy - with unparalleled imagery, authenticity, sound and gameplay.

Key Features:

Customer Reviews

essential fps for intelligent people
Yes, it's another world war two first person shooter (don't groan yet), but BIA is a serious evolution, I'm tempted to say revolution but I think that's perhaps too strong a word. You play matt baker of the 101st airborne, a squad of American paratroopers. But, you don't just have control of a single man, no, you have TWO entire teams of men to control, using an intuitive one-button context sensitive command system (technically it's 5 buttons but let them boast anyway!) you can lead your two squads, an assault team and a fire team (or sometimes a tank) through Normandy, a 100% completely realistically accurate recreation of Normandy, to kill the Nazis!

The game requires you to command your men while fighting yourself like some kind of fps - real time strategy hybrid, you're required to use realistic ww2 tactics - that is to suppress the enemy with your fire team, flank the enemy and then finish them off with your assault team. It makes every fight an exercise of thought more than the twitch skills that fps players have come to rely on as victory comes from well executed and well planned assaults rather than being able to quickly fire off a number of headshots, and although much slower paced than conventional fps games, it makes very an extremely satisfying and unique experience.

The missions are supposedly based on those that the real 101st airborne undertook while in Normandy, and they range from blowing posts out of a field so gliders can land (while being constantly bombarded by German fire) to guiding a tank through a heavily defended town, to running through a smoked field under German control while praying for your life, and your men's. Every character has a unique and interesting personality and in-engine scenes at the start and end of each mission will give new insight into their thoughts and personality, including a superman vs batman debate! You come to care for your soldiers, and want them to survive not only because you need them to work at maximum efficiency, but also because you simply don't want them to die. The developers (gearbox) tried to add a serious emotional element to the game, and it shows.

To get back to something mentioned earlier, the game is set in an entirely accurately reproduced Normandy, meaning that there is rarely a single linear route to take, and certainly never any corridors, you rarely have too much freedom but you can often choose from several routes, and will have many walls, buildings and even things like dead animals for cover from enemy fire. Initial enemy locations are completely fixed, but everything besides that is all artificial intelligence powered, there's little or no specific scripting going on, meaning that every move the ai makes is reactionary, and since you have so many options on how you play the game and have many routes to take through a map, it means that almost every encounter will be a unique challenge.

Controlling your AI team mates is the central focus of the game, you can order them to move to an area, fire on an enemy, charge an enemy (basically suicide most of the time), you can also order them to follow you, while doing this they intelligently cover all angles and hide when fired upon, and try to engage the enemy, and you can also order them to take cover. Your team mates do a lot of talking, they shout when they get hit, when they encounter an enemy, when they're reloading, and so forth, it creates an extremely realistic ambience - there's no music in the game, all you have is the fwips and pangs and khhh of gunfire, and thunderous booms of explosions and the screams of your men - it makes for an extremely real atmosphere. Some of the firefights are simply amazing, your men are screaming for you to get behind cover, soldiers are dying on both sides, mortar bombs are landing all around you, a tank appears from nowhere crashing through a hedge and bullets are whizzing past your head - it all comes together perfectly, and (sorry for the cliché) it's as close as you'll ever want to get to war.

Every enemy drops a weapon when they die, meaning there's essentially an unlimited amount of ammo on every level, but you can only carry 2 weapons (and 5 grenades), so you have to choose what to take wisely - I generally think it's best to use the weapon of the enemy, as it means a constant top-up of ammo after every kill, but if you're sensible you can finish a level with the supplies you start with.

There's also no healthpacks in the game, at all - you heal at the end of every level (and if you die a few too many times, the game offers you a chance to heal and revive any fallen comrades - as the game says 'war isn't fair, but a game should be' - it's a smart feature that helps a lot if you choose to use it). There's also no crosshair on the hud, which is one of the most refreshing ideas in a long time - to aim accurately you have to shoulder your weapon and aim down the gun's reticle (but you move very slowly like this) or shoot blind from the hip - accuracy or speed, your choice.

Based on unreal technology, the game looks fantastic and runs well on my 2ghz 512mb ram geforce 3 machine at 1600x1200, although for some maps I have to knock the resolution down to 1024x786 to get a solid frame rate, I'm not sure why as they all seem pretty much the same. At about 12 hours long, the game is probably a little too short, but the excellent visuals, sound and game play, including many unique innovations, make for an excellent all round game, and a must-own for any fps fan.

The Authentic WWII Experience
This game's graphics are nowhere as good as several more recent games and lacks a decent multiplayer but it makes up for it all with brilliant realistic gameplay.

Unlike most WWII games where tactics involve running around putting bullets enemy with ease as bullets are nearly harmless this game makes you hide, jump to the next point of cover and hidde again, bullets fly around, explosions rocket you and the shear thought of running uncovered towards the enemy makes you shiver.

Also tactics wise this game makes you stick to the real ones, the four F's if you dont follow to them you will take heavy casualties and probably lose, the squad based command compiments this and you will never run off on your own with out your men.

I read in some reviews some people complained about the weapons, in WWII the weapons were just as inaccurate as this, it encorages you to get close, to flank them and then finish them quick there was only one gun i didnt like and that was the M1A1 which really seemed like it didnt have and kick in it unlike other guns where recoil really makes you have to re ajust you aim.

My favourite gun was defenatly the BAR, the sound the feel the power, although it can't be described as a machine gun it certainly finishes off the enemy and this gun is reason enough to buy the game.

My only critism was that once you finished the game it seemed like there was nothing left to do, no solomatch type game like many FPS this game could hava made a distinctive type of solomatch fighting with good AI, for a person with 56k multiplayer is near impossible so this would have been nice.

With all this said this is a great game, its graphics maybe way behind many games but the gameplay is brilliant and this must be on of the only way to experience WWII in a game unlike Call of Duty 2 where enemys jump from the roof to try and kill you and you can run around with little fear of death.

Most realistic WWII FPS yet
If you are one of those athletic guys who bounce around in COD multiplayer, you won't like this. This is much closer to reality - outlines are blurred by rain, weapons are difficult to use and aim, the enemy is hard to hit (although a bit predictable and static at times) and weapons fired from the hip are inaccurate and unstable. Oh, and the MP44 is the best gun in the game, which is as it should be.
No first aid packs, no cross-hairs, and excellent extras showing the real battlefields you fight over, this is a very realistic experience for those who find COD and MOHAA too cinematic. The squad controls are a bit difficult to use at speed - sometimes you end up sending your entire squad into a crossfire and killing the lot of them.

It's involving, difficult and you have to think a bit more about tactics - excellent direction for the next generation of FPS to take. Buy it and play it