Back in the 2000s, there was a serious race among military shooters. In which Medalka was initially in the lead. Then Kolda entered the race. Then no one could have thought that MoH, having 3 successful parts, would lose to Code. Which, by the way, was much more casual and simpler in terms of plot.
But starting from 2005, Code 2 showed unrealistic graphics and, coupled with a simple but interesting plot, at the ready with Captain Price knocking down doors, moved MoH forever. Then there was a spineless attempt in 2007 with Aerborn, which was not bad in 2010 and buried the series in 2012. Then we all know that Battle joined the game. But few people remember what happened between 2003 and 2005.
Randy Pitchford, who in the future pleased us with the 1st and 2nd Borda, and subsequently upset us with the Pre-Sequel and Aliens Colonial Marines. Once encroached on the laurels of MoH and Code. And he did this with the help of our today’s heroine - Brothers in Arms.
Whereas the Code followed the path of simplifying the game, towards cinematography and graphics. In its heyday, the MoH forced people to show fake documents to the Germans. Then Brothers in Arms went towards tactics and a deep study of historical facts, right down to recreating military operations meter by meter.
Immediately the game shows us footage of our fellow party member firing a pistol at a tank, it’s clear from everything that he is shell-shocked. Although shell shock is a rather mediocre word, the American “ShellShock” fits the character much better.
Thus, the game makes us understand that we have serious cabbage soup here, “Saving Private Ryan”, all the work.
Later on, the game (on high difficulty) makes us understand that no one will let us run around and knock down stacks of Germans. We are taught tactics, to outflank enemies, to fire suppression. Later, as we progress, we will be given both a detachment of attack aircraft and tanks. We will have to combine all this wisely. Because the machine gun nest kills us in 2 seconds and sometimes you have to load 10 times before you find the right approach to passing.
What is typical is that all the heroes we meet are well written.
At the beginning and at the end of the mission we are given very good dialogue, which brings the characters to life quite well. The lines were a little left out during the missions, there were criminally few of them. Moreover, the developers show us that they know how to write dialogue.
The whole game shows us the story of the commander of a small detachment, Baker, who was actually thrown into the hell of war, at its very height. The game is quite serious, because they kill our beloved party members with enviable frequency.
The plot is typically heroic and brave, it would set one’s teeth on edge if the game didn’t have historical footnotes that confirm all the actions of the heroes (not without romanticism) and the written NPCs.
The music in the game is very brave, not Zimmer, but it fulfills its role.
That's not very good. The shooting is oblique for the sake of tactics, the controls are not the most convenient. Moreover, cover falls entirely on the intelligence of the AI; more than once you will have to lose part of your squad due to poorly chosen cover.
And this is very depressing, since here every soldier counts, plus the game with a crippled squad becomes many times more difficult.
Conclusion.
Brothers in Arms was certainly a success. Yes, graphically, a year later, it loses to SOD2, and the shooting is much worse. But unlike KoD and MoHa, it plays by completely different rules. Here the heroes are written much better and the crooked shooting is compensated by tactics. Plus, it has much more historical accuracy than all its competitors combined.
Unfortunately, as time shows, users almost always choose good graphics and simple gameplay for the sake of depth and sophistication.
Although, to be fair, Brothers in Arms could have worked on the lines more and not made the shooting so bad.
Although I am sure that the game received a small but devoted group of fans. Moreover, in the 15 years since its release, it has never received a replacement.