It's a series of five missions you have to complete without dying. Though I've yet to complete it, the new Tour of Duty mode sounds like a great bet for hardcore fans. Setting up the defenses against an unending wave of enemies is a nice change of pace. Since the main game almost always puts you in the role of the attacker, it's nice to jump into a game mode that lets the enemy come to you. Each enemy you kill gives you a little time bonus each enemy your squadmates kill gives you an even larger bonus. In this mode, you'll have to race against the clock to kill all the enemies on the map. The Timed Assault missions are good for players who like to play against the clock. These objective-based missions play out like missions from the campaign, but you can set a number of variables that will make them easier or harder. There are plenty of new missions this time around (including a few from the previous game). Using the game's new Skirmish mode, players can create solo missions or play cooperatively or competitively online. Road to Hill 30 shipped with spare multiplayer offerings, so we were quite happy to see that Earned in Blood included a range of single and multiplayer game types. Thankfully, the ultra-convenient command system from the previous game hasn't changed at all - although I do still wish that your own squad members could man the MG42s. This makes fixing them in place and taking them from the side or rear an even greater priority. Even better, the enemy will often have fall back positions if your advance forces them to retreat. The levels are open enough and offer enough cover that you and your enemies will have plenty of opportunities for maneuver here. Seeing them race across a field to attack a flank that you left exposed is a hell of a lesson for budding NCOs. You'll need to refine your tactics quite a bit to combat this more fluid enemy. The AI is much more aggressive now, particularly on the higher difficultly levels, and you'll find them trying to move around to your flanks. You won't have that kind of free time in Earned in Blood. This meant that players could effectively stop behind cover and spend a few minutes contemplating their next move. Though they responded to your own movements from time to time, they never really seized the initiative and tried to outmaneuver you. One of the problems with the original game was that the enemies were fairly static. The most satisfying moments come when the story takes you off into new territory and presents you with situations and environments that you didn't get to see the first time around. There are a few moments of déjà vu here and there, and it's nice to see some of the connections to previous missions. The new game covers much of the same territory as the original, but you'll be seeing it all from Hartsock's perspective. This time around, you'll be taking charge of Joe "Red" Hartsock, the "other" sergeant from the original game. What this game accomplishes in terms of its historical authenticity and innovative tactical combat system is genuinely unlike any other video game you've ever played.īut let's talk about what's new. Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Full Spectrum Warrior and others each contain small components of Brothers in Arms, but none put them together in quite the same way. Still, the best argument against passing over Earned in Blood is that, discounting the original game, there really aren't any other games like it. The "been there, done that" quotient is pretty high in this game. Since the dust has barely settled form the first game's launch, some gamers may be inclined to pass on the new game. There are some new game modes, a new campaign and some impressive AI and texture improvements of course, but the content and gameplay still feel more like an update of the original Brothers in Arms than a full sequel. While Earned in Blood is a stand-alone game with a fifty dollar price tag, the changes it makes to the core game are more in line with what we'd expect from an expansion pack. Now I use the term "sequel" kind of loosely here. Now, barely over a year later, the team is back with a sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood. A thrilling story and intense attention to detail made the game all the more engaging. Instead of relying on the cinematic action hero approach, players of Brothers in Arms had to effectively lead their squadmates around the battlefield, using suppression fire and flanking moves to outmaneuver an enemy every bit as deadly as the player was. Attacking a nearby tank with grenades was utterly pointless. Trying to rush an enemy machine gun nest meant certain death. Brothers in Arms punished those who relied on run-and-gun tactics. Earlier this year, Gearbox challenged that model with the release of a sophisticated tactical shooter, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30.
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