''Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood'' is a tactical first-person shooter

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Gearbox Software Gearbox Software, L.L.C is an American video game developer, video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitch ...

and published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

for

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and

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. It was ported to the

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in 2008 as a part of the '' Brothers in Arms: Double Time'' compilation. ''Earned in Blood'' continues the '' Brothers In Arms'' saga as newly promoted Sergeant Joe "Red" Hartsock (Hartsock was the

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

of Baker's Fire Team), who was part of the historic Normandy invasion in the previous game. ''Earned in Blood'' includes several new multiplayer missions, weapons, and vehicles, plus a new co-op skirmish mode which was added as a patch for the PC version and downloadable from Xbox Live for the Xbox version of the game. The AI of enemies has also been improved considerably in this game, while level designs are more open-ended than the original.

Story

The story is essentially told as a "reflection" on the events that took place earlier, as Army historian

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

S.L.A. Marshall is interviewing paratroopers 15+ days after

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. The story is divided into three parts. The first part of the game is a recollection of Hartsock's time in Sergeant Matt Baker's squad during the initial D-Day invasion. The second part picks up when he takes command of 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon during the liberation and defense of Carentan, and the eventual link-up between 82nd and

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...

at the town of Baupte. The final part will take place in and around

Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. It is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula near Valognes. Its population was 2,099 in 2018. History The Château de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte ...

. Although the first part takes place under Baker's command, every mission is one not included in ''Road to Hill 30''. The player commands Desola, Allen, and Garnett from 3rd Squad, and some soldiers from 2nd Squad at first. Then the game switches the player to command the entire 2nd Squad after the

Battle of Bloody Gulch The Battle of Bloody Gulch took place around the Manoir de Donville or Hill 30 (U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the Unit ...

(Hill 30). Hartsock's squad consists of the remains of the original 2nd Squad (Cpl. Franklin Paddock, Pvt. Dean "Friar" Winchell, and Pfc. James Marsh) and the remnants of 1st Squad (Cpl. Jacob Campbell, Pvt. Will Paige, and Pvt. Derrick McConnell). In addition, the player will also be in command of Corporal (later promoted to Sergeant) Seamus Doyle of the 82nd Airborne during the initial D-Day invasion in early parts of the game.

Gameplay

The gameplay in ''Earned in Blood'' is similar to ''Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30''. The player usually assumes command of two teams of paratroopers to use the Four Fs - Find, Fix, Flank, and Finish—tactic against the enemy. The game discourages the use of solo run 'n' gun tactics by limiting the player's ability to aim, by decreasing the player's health, and by placing large numbers of enemies behind cover. To successfully complete a mission, the player has to study the layout of the battlefield, fix/suppress the enemy with overwhelming suppressive fire with one team (usually the fire team), and direct another team (usually the assault team) to flank the enemy by sneaking to the side or rear of the enemy to finish them off. In ''Earned in Blood'', the enemy constantly repositions according to the player's action, regardless of danger. This change makes stealth and distraction important considerations when the player is attempting to flank the enemy. At the same time, tactics such as forcing the enemy into kill zones is possible. The enemy AI allows the player to be attacked more frequently. ''Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood'' supports online multiplayer. The Xbox version had online multiplayer through

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

which was shut down on April 15, 2010. ''Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood'' is now playable online using replacement online servers for the Xbox called

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Development

The games uses the same graphics engine as ''Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30'', which is based on the

Unreal Engine 2 Unreal Engine 2 (UE2) is the second version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. Unreal Engine 2 transitioned the engine from software rendering to hardware rendering and brought support for multiple platforms such as video game consoles. T ...

Reception

''Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood'' received "generally favorable" for PC and Xbox, and "mixed or average" for PS2 reviews, according to

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. During the

9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 9th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2005. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Int ...

, ''Earned in Blood'' received a nomination for " Outstanding Achievement in Story and Character Development".

References

External links

* {{Gearbox Software 2005 video games Brothers in Arms (video game series) First-person shooters Gearbox Software games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games Ubisoft games Unreal Engine 2 games Video games developed in the United States Video games set in France Video games using Havok Windows games World War II video games Xbox games