Love it or hate it, Brothers in Arms is the best WWII game. Ever. Period.
The premise of this game revolves around "Find, Fix, Flank and Finish", which sounds kind of silly, but was essentially what field combat was all about during WWII (and even today) whether you like it or not. It's a do-or-die scenario. There will be no reckless charging, because you will die. Even on easy mode, you will die. On authentic mode, poke your head out from cover and you will die. If you can't get this around your head, you don't have much of a chance at enjoying this game.
Brothers in Arms is as much of a strategy game as it is a shooter, and both elements have been fleshed out nicely. The strategic elements are very basic, but provide just enough depth to allow you to do almost all of the things that you would want your teammates to do. A little more depth wouldn't hurt, though. I would've liked to see some more choice in the move command. For example, right now, you're only allowed to send troops to where your eye can see, which makes it difficult to get your assault team to properly flank an enemy, say, from the left. Even if they did take your intended route, they'd probably get killed on the way because of other enemy encounters along their new path because they would be too busy running to your new issued location. If the developers incorporated the move command into the situational awareness view, the strategic elements of the game would've been much deeper. Also, some programmable friendly AI is always welcomed. Right now, you're only able to tell your teammates to "take cover" or "fall in". I would've like to see some more commands like "secure that area", meaning something more along the lines of freelancing, or "use the tank as cover", etc. It could be argued that this would be too cheap because frankly, it would be. The enemy AI is very static in most cases, and rarely do they switch positions unless you're right up to their faces. It's nice that they fixed this in Earned in Blood, but it's certainly not present in this game.
The shooting elements are just as solid as the strategic elements in Brothers in Arms, if not more. Your guns handle presumably just like their real-life counterparts, and even if they don't, they sure look and sound convincingly enough. The aiming mode is really cool and very nicely integrated with the rest of the gameplay. The presence of a physics engine is also very welcomed, and helps the game feel more realistic. Another thing that makes this game more realistic is the sound. Everything simply sounds awesome, from the voice-acting to the ambient sound to the unique sounds of your guns. Ultimately these factors all add to the awesome authenticity felt in the game.
A major downside to this game is that the level design is a bit too linear for its own good. More observant gamers will quickly memorize the layout of each map, which is mainly comprised of a main route and one or two alternate ones that the game forces you to go to in order to flank and kill the enemy. You might be excused on easy mode, but on anything higher than normal, you're screwed if you don't take these routes. To sum it up, the game's level design makes you feel too confined, and because of it, makes the game feel more like a game and less like the WWII sim that it's supposed to be. Even so, this game is authentic as ever.
Also, another complaint is the relatively long loading times. This is extremely noticeable during some of the earlier tutorial missions, where you'll be playing for maybe 3 or so minutes before looking at a loading screen for about a minute only to play for another 5 minutes or so before looking at another loading screen. Level retrys also result in loading screens aplenty.
Oh and did I mention that this game is authentic? Each level begins with narratives that may again be too slowly-paced for trigger-happy shooter fans, but gets the story across and well. The game's opening is as cinematic as ever, and all the neat special effects like dirt kicking up and motion blurs as you're struck by a mortar all add to this. As mentioned earlier, the strategic elements and the sounds used in this game also add to the authenticity. Lastly, don't forget that this game was based on a true story, meaning that all of the levels are real locations and the people in the game are also real. How's that for authentic?
In the end, Brothers in Arms is a game that's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of WWII games or any strategic shooters. If not, you might find this game a bit too slow-paced. All in all, though, this game is brutally authentic, in a very, very good way.