Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood is a WWII tactical first-person shooter by Gearbox Software and Ubisoft, released in 2005 for the Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It is the second installment in the Brothers in Arms franchise, and was released months after the first game, Road to Hill 30. Both games would eventually be compiled and ported to the PlayStation Portable and Wii as Brothers in Arms: D-Day in 2006 and Brothers in Arms: Double Time in 2008, respectively.

Plot
15 days after D-Day, 101st Airborne paratrooper Sgt. Joe "Red" Hartsock, gets interviewed by real-life combat historian S.L.A. Marshall to recount his experiences during and after the events of Road to Hill 30, from his drop to the battle of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) Retains a lot of the first game's gameplay while expanding on them.
 * 2) Combat is considerably larger-scale than the first game; for starters, the levels are a lot bigger than those from Road to Hill 30.
 * 3) New weapons such as the American M3 Grease Gun and the German FG42.
 * 4) More multiplayer maps.
 * 5) A new single-player "skirmish" mode that allows players to play as either Baker, Hartsock, or two German NCO's in a series of missions.
 * 6) Storyline is almost, if not, just as good as the first game.
 * 7) Like Road to Hill 30, the PC version has mod support, including "mutators".
 * 8) A nice orchestral soundtrack, which again was barely used ingame except for cutscenes or in loading screens. Notably, the soundtrack's composer, David McGarry, was also Hartsock's English voice actor.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Graphics look exactly like the first game to the point of feeling like a "mission pack" sequel.

Reception
Like the first game, Earned in Blood has mostly positive reception from players and critics, albeit slightly lower; a Metascore of 85/100 for the Xbox port, 84/100 for the PC port, and 71/100 for the PS2 port, when compared to Road to Hill 30 ' s Metascores.