Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood™

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3.8/5

( 39 Reviews )

3.8

39 Reviews

English & 4 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: March 31, 2019

mattador101

Verified owner

Games: 10 Reviews: 3

Good game, but too difficult at times

Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood (EIB) is a continuation of BIA Road to Hill 30 (which I gave a 4-star rating). In many ways EIB is just as great or better. However there are a few setbacks along the way. The AI was sharpened up a bit to an extent (more on that later), the graphics are a smidge better, some new weapons are introduced, and the missions are more extensive/open. The two games were released less than a year apart in the mid 2000s, so perhaps at the time EIB wasn't worth the money. I bought all 3 BIAs off GOG for roughly $10 so that's a plus. Roughly halfway through the game I was very impressed. The game was truly a continuation of the original BIA with a few upgrades. To me that was great; why fix something that ain't broke? Then it started to get VERY difficult. Parades of Germans, tanks, and MGs started flooding missions. This was a major test for your squads to fight as one. It unfortunately failed as this is where the AI began to dip. During these battles the AI, specifically on my squads, were downright clueless at times. I lost too many men due to highly questionable tactics. Many times they simply did not properly hide behind cover. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I felt like I was spending all my time moving guys around to try to avoid getting blasted by shells while simultaneously trying to kill all the Germans essentially by myself. One of the last missions took me many, many tries to get through one checkpoint. There are also a few missions where you control a squad and a tank. During one of these missions I constantly lost the tank to the point where I basically hid him until me and the other squad got through the Germans and their heavy artillery. This lone-wolf tactic goes against the premise of the game. I should also note I played on the same difficulty level as I did in the first. If I could I'd give EIB a 3.5-star rating instead of 3-stars. Despite the AI at times the game is solid with some upgrades to Road to Hill 30.

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Posted on: February 19, 2019

Socratatus

Games: 272 Reviews: 72

"PLACE YOUR FIRE OVER THERE!"

But got it again for GOG! Excellent and very realistic tactical 1st person wargame that actually attempts to recreate the viciousness and quick thought under pressure that was required by US soldiers taking on smart Germans in WW2. You have a bunch of guys of varying roles which you need to place in good positions when attacking or defending, often while under heavy fire. If you ever watched band of Brothers and wanted a small idea of what it must be like under that, get this game. Few other 1st person war games have matched it and the AI is very good as well. "PLACE YOUR FIRE OVER THERE!"

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Posted on: January 19, 2019

commandernikz

Games: 242 Reviews: 23

Hell's Highway 1.5

Earned in Blood continues the story of HH and retells some of the events from the character of Red. EiB is basically the 1.5 of the series; more weapons, better AI, better balance but similar maps, locations and mechanics. If you enjoy the original, EiB is a fine title, otherwise, play the first game!

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Posted on: April 25, 2020

fastkiller99

Verified owner

Games: 245 Reviews: 2

Classic

EiB is far from perfect. But the intensity of the close combat fights has rarely been done like this. The weapons are a bit too inaccurate, although it was supposed to simulate how the soldiers were tired in the horrible conditions they were living ; this can be frustrating at times because you have to be close to the enemy to be effective. And, as stated by others, your friendly camarades are sometimes too dumb to use effective tactics and flank the enemy (which is the core tactic of the game). I've completed this game years ago (as the previous one, which was really good too), and I agree, the game was quiet frustrating at times and, as a leader of the squad, I had to protect them more than using them, and that was frustrating, going as a lone wolf. But do not let that detracts you from all the good this game brings on the table. I just got it on gog to play with the WarZone mod, which makes the game much more intense (more enemies and allies, and more accurate weapons), and to play with a friend in coop. I've played a few minutes in the first mission, this is the same intensity again. I've recently tried Post Scriptum, it's impressive, but it can't match the intensity, in close combat situation, of Brothers in Arms EiB. Red Orchestra is another option. When it came out, the game was another tactical shooter with friendly AI, among some great ones (SWAT 4, Rainbow Six Ravenshield, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Codemasters OFP...) . Nowadays, there aren't many options (Arma3 and...?). So if you want the full close combat experience in WW2 context, with a tactical aspect by leading a team, Brothers in Arms and Eearned in Blood are the way to go (don't know about 3rd one, it seems quiet a disappointment, reading the reviews). Red orchestra is another option, but in in different way (bigger maps, no story). And EiB has the coop feature. Servers are down but, as it uses LAN, you can get it work, to play with a friend, with something like Hamachi.

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Posted on: April 9, 2022

gianfranconerdi

Verified owner

Games: 581 Reviews: 23

Good tactical fps but frustrating

Another good implementation of the Four Fs concept first shown in Road to Hill 30. The game is somewhat more polished (it must have looked really good in 2005 on PC...it certainly did on the Xbox) and at the same time more frustrating too, even with God Mode activated: you'll encounter tanks and mortar squads more often, the former being even more annoying because it takes around 4 (four!) rockets to destroy one, and the tank will not stop moving around and shooting at you until you manage to take it out, and that unfortunately requires you to find a fixed location where a crate with a restocking number of Panzerfausts can be found. The frustration could have been easily avoided by either allowing to take more Panzerfausts with you (you can only take 1, and the animation for taking it out of the crate is too slow) or by allowing quicksaves (the game is only saved at checkpoints), or both. As it is, the whole process is just way too tedious. Mortar squads and 88s basically knock you out if you have God Mode activated, and the animation takes a while to complete as well. With mortars, you never know when or if a shell is gonna land near you, especially if you're out of cover. Without God Mode, it's basically insta-death when it does! But I guess this is what happens in real life, so maybe that frustration is actually a positive thing (war isn't fun and the game wants you to know it). The enemies are smarter, too, but the frustrating thing is they usually only take 2-3 bullets to go down, with no damage system whatsoever, which would have been nice. I was tempted to give the game 4 stars out of 4, but given its authentic feel and tactics, I think I'm gonna give 5, a solid 81 out of 100. Now, if you want a more "arcade" approach, you should definitely try BIA Hell's Highway, I remember needing no cheats to play that one. A game with a similar tactical approach is Full Spectrum Warrior, which I definitely recommend to anyone who liked EiB.

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