Bringing Brothers in Arms to the DS took away its soul, but not the fact that it is a technical showpiece.
User Rating: 8 | Brothers In Arms DS DS
Okay, first and foremost, Brothers in Arms DS is a Brothers in Arms game in name only. Making it portable for portability's sake means that it has none of the squad tactics of the console game, and no story or memorable characters either. The gameplay ends up feeling more like a Call of Duty game in that you rarely ever have to find cover to heal yourself up on the default setting and can just blaze through enemies. This is understandable given the limitations of the DS, but it would have been could if they brought in some of the characters from the console games to make it feel more like Brothers in Arms. The best aspect by far is its graphics. The character models are very detailed for the DS, and the levels have a nice size to them. The audio however, is a different story. The biggest letdown here is the lack of music during the levels, which is noticable when there are quiet moments. The guns sound passable, and there's some ok voice acting, but there simply isnt enough of it. The campaign is of a relatively short length, about 3-6 hours, and there is some incentive to playing it over again on higher diffuculties because you unlock some new weapons, which are desperately needed. On your first playthrough on the Normal setting, you only have 3 weapons at your desposal besides vehicles. Once you beat the campaign once, you unlock 2 other weapons, given incentives for multiple playthroughs. There's also a 4 player local Wi-Fi mode, but it requires everyone to have a cartridge, making you wish for an online mode. Brothers in Arms is a great choice for a portable shooter, but if you're looking for a portable Brothers in Arms experience, this isn't it.
