Somehow Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood has taken a step back in terms of visuals. The graphics here are rough around the edges in every sense of the term. Literally, the jaggies run rampant and you’ll hardly ever encounter a smooth object. Figuratively, the implementation of the graphics is equally flawed; characters jerk back and forth between conversational and combat stances. The lighting has also dropped in quality. Gone are the subtle glints off of objects and the creative use of visual scope. The scene is now one way or the other; bathed in omnipresent light or smothered in darkness.

The sound still does a good job of sucking you into the action. Dialogue from your squad-mates not only helps make the game more convincing, but it is also a tactical help, as they report what is going on in their area. The music is reminiscent of “Band of Brothers” and “Saving Private Ryan;” very dramatic, yet uplifting at the same time.

The real problems with the graphics and sound are the many bugs that players will more often than not encounter in the game. Some graphical glitches, like bodies flying off into the air after you shoot them, as well as looping sound issues won’t affect the gameplay, but will definitely be a thorn in the side of many players.

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood is not a Medal of Honor or Call of Duty clone. You won’t be storming beaches or taking back cities. Brothers in Arms takes you to the rural countryside of Northern France and pits you against the Germans in a battle of infantry tactics. Instead of the grand scale levels of the aforementioned games, you face the enemy in fields and small towns, broken farms, and meandering streams. The fighting is up close and personal, but you won’t do it alone.

The story in Brothers in Arms continues from the last game and puts you in the role of "Red", one of the troopers previously under your control in the last game. The story is told retrospectively, meaning that cut-scenes involve "Red" talking about what happened, and then diving into that action. While the concept of this type of storytelling is a good one, the premise is being beaten to death. WWII is a historically important aspect of human nature and should be exposed to everyone. However, the capitalistic "sequel vultures" have sunk their talons into this series, and the Brothers in Arms franchise has been spoiled and left for dead.

The premise of Brothers in Arms is this: you lead two teams of Army Rangers to flank and suppress German troops. One team is geared to suppress, the other to assault. As the sergeant, you must issue orders to both teams in the most tactically sound way in order to attain victory on any given map.

The problem is that this is exactly the same premise as the previous Brothers in Arms game, with nothing new added. As you progress through the linear storyline, you invariably find squad after squad of German soldiers hunkered down behind walls, hay bales, or other defensive structures. To get past, you tell one team to shoot while you lead the other around the flank for the kill.

Perhaps I was too ambitious in my previous review of the first game in this series, asking for nothing but the opportunity to order these two teams around a battlefield. As the first game didn’t offer enough of that one feature, this game offers too much of it. The act of commanding these teams to perform the same objective over and over again quickly turns into a grind of the worst sort.

The AI hasn’t been updated either. Though still mostly solid, the same annoying instances pop up again and again. 95% of the time, the AI responds the way you intend it to. There are only a few issues with it, mostly when you are ordering tanks around and it does the unexpected like sit in the same spot when you continuously give an attack order. You’ll quickly realize if an order didn’t get through and the situation is easily remedied, but it is still a minor ache to deal with. The enemy also reacts like dazed children. They will watch you circle them and then be surprised when you turn up behind them.

Issuing orders to your squads in Brothers in Arms: Earned in Bloodis intuitive and easily learned. The challenge in each mission is surveying the battlefield and coming up with a sound plan to destroy the enemy. Rushing into the firefight will invariably get you killed. The challenge is figuring out the "puzzle" of the battlefield, deciding who to use where, and when to strike. Thankfully, there are only a very few frustrating parts, namely when you have to fight tanks with bazookas. That is a difficult and tiring task, and it is much more fun to try to run around behind them and drop a grenade down their hatch anyway.

Moving yourself around the French countryside in Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood is a simple task. You’ve got your basic FPS movement setup, and you can carry up to two different weapons from an assortment of almost 20. The important aspect of control here is how you manage your squads. There are only three orders you need to worry about: move, shoot, and assault. Moving your squads is done by aiming a cursor on the ground where you want them to go. The AI is surprisingly good at getting into cover once your troops reach their destination, and it doesn’t need to be told to defend itself. However, if you want to concentrate fire on a target, you simply select the squad you want, aim at the enemy you want them to shoot at, and hit a button. You will know that they are suppressed by the circle above their heads. Red means that they are not suppressed, and this diminishes to gray the more they are fired upon. Once the circle is gray, the enemy will be less likely to pop their heads up and shoot, giving you the liberty to move out in the open.

Assault is handled in much the same way. This system is similar to that of Full Spectrum Warrior, where you order one team to suppress and another to run up the flank and assault. The team throws grenades and gets into hand-to-hand with the enemy on its own after you issue this order, and if the unit they are charging is suppressed, there is little the enemy can do to save itself.

Sacrificing reality for gameplay, you are given an overview map of the battlefield showing where the enemies are that you have spotted and where your troops are in relation to them. This is a great way to plan out your attack, but it is hindered by bad camera angles that can be obscured by dense foliage. Despite this, you will be constantly checking the overhead view to plan out your next moves.

Some of the only new content has been added in this department. Your teammates can now be ordered into areas that you cannot possibly reach. They can jump over fences and such to reach better ground, but any effort on your part to join them is futile. Early in game this is confusing, and late in game it is annoying. Your inability to jump over obstacles the same way your squad mates do is inconsistent, unrealistic, and most importantly, not fun.

Brothers in Arms is heading down the same dark path that Medal of Honor took. The series, after only two titles, is becoming complacent in its success. The resulting product is a disgrace to good games everywhere. There is no innovation inherent in Brothers in Arms’s gameplay. The blatant whoring of the WWII scene is being dragged to its bloody end, and the continuation of its use is despicable. Brothers in Arms is a sign that the cash cow of games based upon the Second World War needs to be given a quick and imminent death.