A disturbing historical pattern has formed in war games- one that shies away from portraying the visceral truth of close combat. Now I understand that rating classifications have to be met, but surely a few pixelated pints of blood would be expected in a game based on the grim realities of war. Brothers in Arms (BiA from now on) bucks this trend and attempts to bring not only a sanguinary realism to the table, but also a more human aspect to its depiction of war. The visual gore is not over the top, but it is a refreshing change to be reminded of the grisly consequences of firing white hot supersonic pieces of metal at soft squishy human beings.

Assuming the persona of SGT Matt Baker, BiA immediately throws the player into a particularly hairy part of the final battle on Hill 30 (of the game's sub title). The player's ensuing disorientation and unfamiliarity with controls works extremely well within the context of the first short mission which acts as a prologue of sorts. After this, the game begins with the famous 101st Airborne parachute drop into enemy territory beyond the beaches of the D-Day landings.

Brothers in Arms has without a doubt, the best learning curve of any game I have ever played. It steers away from the compulsory 'Bootcamp' setup seen in many other shooters. BiA instead gives the player the option to watch a tutorial movie that explains the underlying gameplay mechanics or alternatively just jump straight into the action of the main game.

The next few missions after the introduction progress beautifully with increasing complexity and difficulty to flawlessly introduce the player to the games finer details and features. At no stage do you feel like you are being held by the hand, yet at the same time you never feel overwhelmed or get hopelessly stuck in the crucial first 5-10 minutes. Gearbox should be commended for giving gamers a deep experience and play-testing it to the extent that they really nailed the learning curve.

The missions you will find yourself fighting throughout BiA are closely based on the actual battles fought by members of the 101st Airborne Division during the first week of the D-Day invasion. The missions are so closely based in fact, that actual After Action Reports (AAR), maps and photographs taken during the war were used in their creation. Even the characters in BiA are based on real soldiers or amalgamations of soldiers who fought in those same battles. The story of BiA follows the actual events of those crucial days of the war closer than any game before it and the frequency and intensity of the battles is a testament to the skill, stamina and resolve of the soldiers who fought them for real 60 years ago.

Brothers in Arms protagonist is a sergeant, and as such is charged with commanding a squad of soldiers- this is not a lone-wolf vs. the world scenario. During the course of the game you will be given the opportunity to issue orders to a pair of manoeuvre elements consisting of four soldiers apiece. These are usually an Assault team that is armed with fully automatic weapons and grenades, and a Fire team that is armed with more accurate longer-range weapons. This formation is well suited to the textbook tactic of using the Fire team to fix the enemy in place before finishing them off by attacking from a flank with the Assault team. While the most men you'll have under your control is usually 8, at certain stages throughout the game one or both of these four-man teams will be replaced by a tank. Tanks are invulnerable to small arms and provide a mighty punch, but must be protected from enemy armour and anti-tank weapons.

Brothers in Arms is the game that many players really wanted Full Spectrum Warrior to be. It is heavy on tactics, but puts the player right in the middle of the action as a first person shooter instead of an omniscient individual dispatching orders to troops and watching the consequences from high above. Also, BiA doesn't have any of the artificial safety granted by cover as seen in Full Spectrum Warrior. If you, your men or the enemy are crouched behind cover, you better hope you are fully concealed because if you can see it, you can shoot it. Unfortunately, level geometry is uniformly bullet-proof so expect to receive the same ballistic protection from a bail of hay as you would a stone wall.

Brothers in Arms is definitely a more realistic depiction of World War Two infantry combat than some other recent releases, and this is both a good and bad thing. There is no crosshair as default (it can be switched on if you wish) and players are forced to adopt a view looking down the sights of their weapon in order to aim accurately. Movement in this view is painfully slow and as you would expect, your aim is more accurate from a kneeling position. I was somewhat disappointed though that there was no ability to take up a prone firing position. Realism has its place to be sure, but the punishing difficulty and sluggish movement may deter FPS fans.

In another similarity with Full Spectrum Warrior, small icons appear above the heads of enemy units indicating their level of suppression. Red circles indicate the enemy unit is free to move and fire at will, whereas the more grey that fills the circle the more the enemy unit is suppressed. When one of your manoeuvrer elements is ordered to fire on an enemy unit, a symbol will appear above it indicating that it has been targeted. These suppression and fire order symbols may give away the position of enemy soldiers, but they can be turned off at anytime. Likewise, the symbols are unavailable when playing on Realistic difficulty.

A unique feature to Brothers in Arms is the Situational Awareness View. It is designed to simulate the intimate knowledge commanders have of areas they plan to patrol after studying maps and intelligence reports.This view pauses the game (or slows it down in multiplayer) and adopts an adjustable birds-eye view of the battlefield. Players can then assess their situation and look for possible flanking positions or cover from enemy soldiers. Some may come to rely on this quasi-keyhole satellite view, while others may choose to work things out looking down the length of their barrel; it's a personal choice really.

Gearbox claimed early on in Brothers in Arms' development that during the course of the game, players would form a bond with their fellow squad members and learn each of their specific personalities. In practice this isn't the case, and would have been quite a feat for a game of only 12 or so hours in length. Interestingly, the reason for this is explained in an unlockable deleted cut-scene that details the original intent and problems with pacing that resulted. Additionally, there is no penalty for any of your squad mates dying during battle as they are resurrected at the beginning of the next mission. An interesting design decision seeing as the major selling point of the game has been the attempt at bringing you a realistic World War II experience.

The graphics in BiA are great, but not as mind-blowing as you may have been expecting. Some textures are less than fantastic and you will notice 'jaggies' on many edges. Character models lack a distinct shadow and this gives them an appearance of floating just off the surface of the ground. Running animations also suffer from the occasional sliding or gliding effect and don't be surprised to see the odd dead German soldier floating a few metres off the ground. The character models are unique and well rendered, but suffer from some glitchy lip-synching, blank expressions or askew eye lines.

The map design in BiA however, is top notch. Gearworks' designers have slaved over reference material and even taken trips to Normandy in order to provide the most accurate three dimensional representations of French battlegrounds of World War Two ever. The similarities between photographs and sketches taken during the war and the final in-game product are astonishing and once again Gearbox should be commended on their effort, dedication and obvious love of their creation.

The sound design in BiA is astounding. Presented in glorious 5.1 Dolby Surround, every crack, near miss or ricochet off a nearby rock will have you ducking for cover behind your lounge chair. Explosions sound apocalyptic, and if you get too close for comfort, a ringing effect will fill your speakers as the screen blurs to simulate your disorientation. Likewise a similar effect is used if you take a German rifle butt to the head. The positional audio is truly spectacular and you will easily be able to tell what direction enemy fire is coming from or locate your men from their screams. Some players have reported a glitch of a persistent gunfire sound during gameplay, it does exist but I didn't experience it myself.

The music used in BiA is of an equally high standard and has a real Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan sound to it that compliments the game perfectly. However, in another nod to realism, this orchestral accompaniment is restricted to menu and loading screens only and there is no music whatsoever whilst battling through the games missions.

An indication of just how much research Gearbox undertook in the development of BiA is show by the vast amount of bonus development and historical material on the disk. This bonus material is unlocked as you complete each mission on various difficulty settings. This includes historical details on the battles you fight in the game including actual After Action Reports from the real commanders on the ground and pre-production renders and tests. These features are a fantastic addition and help to reinforce the validity and historical accuracy of BiA.

Commanding a computerised squad of soldiers is all well and good, but taking to the fields with family and friends is always a whole lot more fun, so Brothers in Arms naturally includes a multiplayer component. Unlike most first-person shooters, BIA takes a different approach to game modes, forsaking the traditional deathmatch and capture-the-flag variants in favour of a more mission oriented experience. There are 10 missions all up, and both the Allied and German fire and assault teams have their own objectives. Objectives include setting explosives, delivering sensitive documents and preparing ambushes. Unlike Return to Castle Wolfenstein's similar style, BIA missions are single objective only, making for a tighter, but simpler experience.

Your brothers in arms will be a tight-knit bunch, as a maximum of four players are permitted per game via system-link or Xbox Live, and only two in split-screen mode. This may sound rather restrictive, however the multiplayer mode operates on the same principles as the solo campaign, so each player will actually command a four-man squad. Splitscreen is functional, but has the obvious drawback of being able to see exactly where your opponent is going. This actually isn't much different to Xbox Live, which includes the situational awareness view of the singleplayer mode, allowing you to suss out where your opponents are going at any time, provided they're nearby. The AI bots are unerringly accurate online too, and it's not uncommon for your men to drop like flies if you don't stay behind cover. Game performance was solid, but voice was quite laggy and it got to be quite difficult to communicate with your allies, which is a big no-no for a game that relies on co-ordinating attacks.