Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 98 Ratings

  • Summary: Created by Texas-based Gearbox Software, Brothers in Arms is the most realistic and authentic WWII shooter ever. While other WWII games have sugarcoated the war experience, Brothers in Arms is based on a true story and will immerse gamers into the gritty, uncensored and emotionally-charged side of war. The game puts you in the shoes of Sgt. Matt Baker, a D-Day paratrooper squad leader, and asks you to lead the squad as you balance their lives with the success of the mission. The true stories and historical events you experience on your perilous journey take you through real battlefields meticulously recreated from aerial reconnaissance images, US Army Signal Corps photos and eye-witness accounts of war-torn Normandy. Players of allskill levels can battle their way through this intense experience because of Brothers in Arms innovative and accessible command and control system. [Ubisoft] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 32
  2. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. It's not just its uncompromising realism or its emotive theme, it's the whole package -- great looks, fantastic sound, and a gameplay and plot structure that promotes bonding with the men under your command. Wrap that up with a slick control method and, for once, some tactical depth, and you're left with a very special recipe.
  2. What impresses me the most about BIA more so than any other shooter about WW2 is that BIA treats WW2 much more in the same vane of "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers."
  3. Unfortunately, with the limited MP games and buggy code, this game could still use some fine tuning.
  4. Plenty of games have flourished around the slaughter, scale and destruction of war, but few have managed to realise a soldier’s role and worth - disposable, vulnerable, pivotal - as well as this. [Apr 2005, p.100]

See all 32 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 45
  2. Negative: 12 out of 45
  1. LuisR.
    10
    This is a greatest WW2 game. The A.I. is so much better than other WW2 games. The grapics are okay they have a Band of Brothers kind of feel to them. The sound is outstanding. There is never a quite moment in the game and feels like you are in a thick fire fight. Soliders yell and bullets fly over your head with dirt land on your screen, when a near by explosion ocurrs. The game runs great on my PC and i have a 1.3 GHz, with 512 Rdram, a ATI Radeon 9800 128 MB video crad and it runs great. Load times arn't even an issue they are not long at all. Some hard core Call of Duty players might be turned of by the game because they are a super solider. Give it a chance because if you compared the 2 games you feel a little scared of this one, the reason being that you die fast in Brothers in Arms. So you might get fustrated for a while. Play the game, it's fun and different. Expand
  2. JoshP.S.
    8
    A fairly solid tactical historical shooter. The only major faults are with the contextual commands- occasionally causing you to order your squad to attack when you want them to move, and to mount guns when you want to reload- and the friendly AI occasionally not firing when they have clear shots and not always using cover intelligently, but for the most part they make themselves useful. It also isn't the best looking game given its age, looking obviously like an Xbox port. All that said, it's still an engrossing FPS that's a welcome diversion from arcade-style WWII shooters like the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor games. Worth a go if slower, more cerebral rather than twitchy FPS are your thing. Expand
  3. DickM.
    6
    Disappointing. Very scripted. All action is based on flanking trick. Outdated graphics. Sound is too quiet and no EAX support.
  4. This game is one of the worst ww2 games I ever seen. The graphics is not good (see another games from 2005 for eg. COD2 to comparison) but it's not bad. The story is not bad, but a little boring. The fighting is not so good in the game. Usually, you have to shoot 5-10 bullets into your enemy's body to kill him. It's ridiculous. Your teammate's AI is poor. They running like chickens in the garden. When someone is killed in your fireteam it's a big problem you think. But it's not! He will be there in the next mission. How? What is it? Brothers in Arms: Return to Castle Wolfenstein? Another bad point is the fighting against armour. Your Stuart can easily destroy a Stug III. But the Stug can't even hit your tank. Yes, a 37 mm tank gun can easily penetrate a 50 mm armour, but when the Stug's 75 mm tank gun fires and hits the Stuart, it's 50 mm armour is still up. Is this realism for you? I don't think so. And the "flanking". The game says in the start to flank your enemy every time you can. But how can I flank the enemy when the maps are not enough wide for it. There is not enough space to flank (except one or two times). If you want realism, good AI, good story, good gameplay or good graphics, then don't try it! Otherwise it's your game. Expand

See all 45 User Reviews