Worst of the series.

[Darth Dan]

I can't say I enjoyed this title. At all. Especially as a fan of the first one. I think their decision to change some of the core gameplay mechanics was a big mistake. For example:

- Gearbox' decision to get rid of the health bar and instead use some bizarre red screen of death was irritating. It essentially meant that it wasn't enemy fire that was hitting you. Gone was the ambience of seeing dirt fly across the screen as bullets peppered the ground around you, or having shots whizz by your head. Instead everything turns maroon, as though Baker was suffering from some sort of burst blood vessels in his eyes. What it really was, was a death timer. It meant that you were timed to get into cover before the game killed you. Poor design choice gearbox.

- The cover system. I don't understand why every game has to have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Gears of War cover system. It would be fine if the game had remained in 1st person, but the switch to 3rd person was jarring, and it meant you had to use those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ inaccurate cross hairs the whole time instead of your iron sights. I HATED that. Also, the game became less about easily maneuvering Baker across the battlefield and giving orders to your troops on the fly, and more about frantically finding cover before the "death timer" started. Gone were the days when you could sit safely behind your guys and just observe without having to be in 'cover' mode, a-la Gears of War.

- The cutscenes. Once again, Gearbox choice to show the story in third person the whole time (to make it more like a movie I guess) seriously killed the atmosphere that had been in the first game. What it meant that instead of being in Baker's shoes the whole time, literally seeing everything from his eyes, you were forced to be disembodied from the action, and had to follow all the other annoying characters like Frankie. So the game wasn't about Baker's story as a squad leader anymore. I felt like I spent more time watching the damn cutscenes in this game than I did playing the story. If you're going to put cutscenes in a game, put them at the beginning and the end of a level. Not interspersed throughout so it breaks the flow of the action.

- The solo missions. Baker going off lone wolf was totally un-Brothers-in-arms-like, and jibed with the core gameplay.

- The story. Wow, what a soap opera this game was. Once I saw Frankie literally running into a burning building with the girl, I knew the writes had dropped the ball. Seriously, what a fking idiot! If he had just turned around, both their deaths could have been avoided. The worst part is that most of the battles were fictionalized for the sake of melodrama. Road to Hill 30 was based on actual battle reports during D Day that you could read about in game. In this case, I seriously doubt any Sergeant would run through a burning building, jump out a window, and fight through an abandoned hospital to find an AWOL squadmember. Total BS.

- The gore shots, totally over the top and indulgent. I find it disrespectful to the memory of the people that died in this war. Brothers in Arms is supposed to be a recreation of the war, not a glorification of violence.

- The tank levels. Smh, this is not Cod.

- Inability to go prone. Would have been helpful. Especially as this is the 3rd in the series.

- Baker's little speech at the end; "It's just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gun". WHOAH, corny. And makes zero sense, because the whole 'gun being a cursed talisman passed along the squad' was abandoned in Hill 30 in the predevelopment stage. So why would they bring that crap back up again?

[sleepydragon]

ye this game has a lot of console elements in it makes you wonder how much it was intended for pc gamers the first 2 were proper pc games, things like the regenerating red screen screams cod bollocks that pc gamers would prefer to stay away from this game is good i liked it but its not a true pc game like the other 2 were.

[Herreken]

I recently replayed Road to Hill 30 and beat Earned in Blood for the first time. Hell's Highway looks very good but I hate how enemies can still fire at you (yes they seem to target Baker 90% of the time) with pin-point accuracy even when they're supressed. WTF?

I'm also not a fan of the cover system. I like it in other games but it's unneccesary in Brothers in a Brothers in Arms game. If you pop out of cover for a shot, you're immediately shot at by every enemy on the screen. In the other games, you could safely shoot at enemies while you're behind cover. Sad to say but regenerating health is a must-have for these new gameplay elements they added.

The weapon sounds are really weak too. They had a much better sound & feel in the older games. The rifles feel & sound like pop guns. It's lame that you can carry a rifle, machine gun, & a pistol all at once. You can even carry an MG and it'll disappear when you select your other weapons.

[Web watcher]

One word, Consoles. this game got consolized to the max lol the PS2 versions of the first 2 were still as hardcore as the PC versions so what was the reason to dumb this down and build it for consoles first? money or stupid gamers?

[Herreken]

Originally posted by akstalker:

One word, Consoles. this game got consolized to the max lol the PS2 versions of the first 2 were still as hardcore as the PC versions so what was the reason to dumb this down and build it for consoles first? money or stupid gamers?

I guess the whole cover shooter/regnerating health thing wasn't as big back then. I've nothing against those gameplay mechanics but I wish they would've just left Hell's Highway alone and kept it like the older games.

[Herreken]

I started playing this game again after all these months. I forgot how useless supressing enemies is. They still know when Baker (the guy you control) is taking aim at them, then they pop out of cover and shoot with laser guided precision.

[tsfullerton]

Criticizing the red threat effect is a moot point. It can be turned off in gameplay options and you'll still have plenty of feedback that your under fire. Similarly, digging-in to cover is a personal choice. With caution and good use of your men it's not a requirement for the most part. Likewise, the action-cam, slow mo kills can be turned off in the gameplay menu. The gore and rag-doll can be set to low and even the language dialed down. With the game played through once most of the cutscenes can be skipped using the spacebar and enter key. The other ones can be avoided by returning to main menu/chapter and selecting the specific objective. My favorite line..."Got a ruler, my money's on Roselli".

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Are we counting the mobile BiA games and the one on the DS?

[BanzaiKitty]

EIB was the best of the series.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Originally posted by Darth Dan:

I can't say I enjoyed this title. At all. Especially as a fan of the first one. I think their decision to change some of the core gameplay mechanics was a big mistake. For example:

- Gearbox' decision to get rid of the health bar and instead use some bizarre red screen of death was irritating. It essentially meant that it wasn't enemy fire that was hitting you. Gone was the ambience of seeing dirt fly across the screen as bullets peppered the ground around you, or having shots whizz by your head. Instead everything turns maroon, as though Baker was suffering from some sort of burst blood vessels in his eyes. What it really was, was a death timer. It meant that you were timed to get into cover before the game killed you. Poor design choice gearbox.

- The cover system. I don't understand why every game has to have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Gears of War cover system. It would be fine if the game had remained in 1st person, but the switch to 3rd person was jarring, and it meant you had to use those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ inaccurate cross hairs the whole time instead of your iron sights. I HATED that. Also, the game became less about easily maneuvering Baker across the battlefield and giving orders to your troops on the fly, and more about frantically finding cover before the "death timer" started. Gone were the days when you could sit safely behind your guys and just observe without having to be in 'cover' mode, a-la Gears of War.

- The cutscenes. Once again, Gearbox choice to show the story in third person the whole time (to make it more like a movie I guess) seriously killed the atmosphere that had been in the first game. What it meant that instead of being in Baker's shoes the whole time, literally seeing everything from his eyes, you were forced to be disembodied from the action, and had to follow all the other annoying characters like Frankie. So the game wasn't about Baker's story as a squad leader anymore. I felt like I spent more time watching the damn cutscenes in this game than I did playing the story. If you're going to put cutscenes in a game, put them at the beginning and the end of a level. Not interspersed throughout so it breaks the flow of the action.

- The solo missions. Baker going off lone wolf was totally un-Brothers-in-arms-like, and jibed with the core gameplay.

- The story. Wow, what a soap opera this game was. Once I saw Frankie literally running into a burning building with the girl, I knew the writes had dropped the ball. Seriously, what a ♥♥♥♥♥ idiot! If he had just turned around, both their deaths could have been avoided. The worst part is that most of the battles were fictionalized for the sake of melodrama. Road to Hill 30 was based on actual battle reports during D Day that you could read about in game. In this case, I seriously doubt any Sergeant would run through a burning building, jump out a window, and fight through an abandoned hospital to find an AWOL squadmember. Total BS.

- The gore shots, totally over the top and indulgent. I find it disrespectful to the memory of the people that died in this war. Brothers in Arms is supposed to be a recreation of the war, not a glorification of violence.

- The tank levels. Smh, this is not Cod.

- Inability to go prone. Would have been helpful. Especially as this is the 3rd in the series.

- Baker's little speech at the end; "It's just a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gun". WHOAH, corny. And makes zero sense, because the whole 'gun being a cursed talisman passed along the squad' was abandoned in Hill 30 in the predevelopment stage. So why would they bring that crap back up again?

Hey, uh... do we count the portable games? y'know... Brothers in Arms: DS, Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, BIA3?

[Noxbi 🌈]

I absolutely adore the cover system in this game and Rainbow Six Vegas.

Can you name more FPS games with similar mechanics please? I would appreciate it so much.


Edit: the solo missions were present in Road to Hill 30, it's just more frequent here.

[MasterionX]

Originally posted by Noxbi 🌈:

I absolutely adore the cover system in this game and Rainbow Six Vegas.

Can you name more FPS games with similar mechanics please? I would appreciate it so much.

Eidos' Deus Ex games.

[Noxbi 🌈]

So together with BiAHH and R6 it's only like 5 games but it's "every game" that is like this. wow, just wow.

Edit: Oh, and again, half of cutscenes in Road to Hill 30 were 3rd person and like 90% of cutscenes in Earned in Blood is Red talking. Man, this entire thread is based on non existent problems.

[Deathstruck]

Eh, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the worst. The entire series is pretty solid.

Only thing I don't like are the somewhat clunky controls and forced gun inaccuracy.
I get that they're trying to force you to use your teams for flanking and all, but at certain point it's just silly when Baker can't stop holding his gun like a neurotic with a cerebral palsy for less than 5 seconds.

Not to mention they throw these stupid parts at you, where Baker decides to go solo for some reason. In combination with the terrible gunplay... yeah

[The Sid Man]

Originally posted by Noxbi 🌈:

I absolutely adore the cover system in this game and Rainbow Six Vegas.

Can you name more FPS games with similar mechanics please? I would appreciate it so much.


Edit: the solo missions were present in Road to Hill 30, it's just more frequent here.

Agreed, loved the cover system in this game.

[[LYF]Levi o Lusitano]

Originally posted by The Sid Man:

Originally posted by Noxbi 🌈:

I absolutely adore the cover system in this game and Rainbow Six Vegas.

Can you name more FPS games with similar mechanics please? I would appreciate it so much.


Edit: the solo missions were present in Road to Hill 30, it's just more frequent here.

Agreed, loved the cover system in this game.

For me i can even "buy" the cover system but this game has several downgrades that no one can deny when comparing to the 2 original games:

Cons:

-No Melee(if i cross a corner and run into a german mg team or rifles i l have to hipfire my way trough or aim and shoot at 1 or 2m away when it would be faster to melee -_-)


-Germans not throwing grenades nonewhatsoever(literally they wont throw grenades no matter the situation,neither smoke or potato mashers...pathetic

If one allied grenade falls in an enemy position they will stay still unstead of running -_-


-Dumbest AI of all games( The AI will not attempt to flank you or assault your position other than the already scripted attacks and they will often stand in the open and get shot to hell in seconds...


-Teamates not dying(Unlike the previous BIA if your teamates get "killed" they will magically come to life at the next checkpoint without penalties,giving you no attachement or sense of self preservation and most importantly realism with your squad....major BS and downgrade from the original games)

-Tanks are play toys for children(Gone are the days where you had to carefully manouver and plan your assault on a tank with your squad whilst trying to stay alive.....in HH i have several times charged a tank head on by myself after killing the enemy infantry and they would just follow a predetermined path most of the time not engaging me at all.

Direct shots from a panzer IV not having any effect on me etc etc.


How to destroy a panzer IV HH edition: get behind it and place a charge-Done.....


The solo missions dont make sense for the most part considering the nature of the game,they are way more present than necessary.

In the first 2 games the few solo missions were the first one(following Mac) and the last one on the last part(BIARTH30)

The story is acceptable but it has major flaws namely the fact of Frankie and the Dutch Girl Dying..the whole scene and the follow up was pure cringe and stupid and above all unecessary...however in the bigger picture its the official continuation of the story so theres not much we can do..

Slow Motion killcams(gets a random headshot or grenade kill- game stops and shows slow motion gore and dismemberment....what it this bs,COD killcams or wtf....it breaks the action


Pros over the previous games:

-Graphics are excelent in all areas;

-Enviroment Destruction is a greatly added feature and a most welcome one;



Overall its an average game when considering the previous games.On its own would be a good game but as part of a series its a downgrade.