The Unreal Engine is showing its age, which is no surprise to anyone and shouldn't get in the way of appreciating good gameplay. It's just that Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 is the standard against which Brothers in Arms: Double Time will be compared, and that comparison doesn't exactly favor Double Time. Players have to realize this is a compilation of two previously released titles, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood. Both are vintage 2005 games with the usual issues you expect, some choppy and fuzzy stuff, but nothing especially degraded during the port to Wii. What we found odd was the lack of apparent tuning for this new "perfect collection" before it was released for Wii. There must have been some opportunity to tweak the game and make it look a bit less... vintage. Instead, we appear to have something very close, if not identical, to the original issue. If you're sold on playing a tactical FPS in a WWII setting, it probably won't make a huge difference whether there are a few seams and blocky bits in the game's environment. If you came expecting the type of graphics seen recently on Wii in Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, you're going to be disappointed.

What this game has that wasn't found to such a great extent in Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 is mood. There is a great story told here, based on true events, and there are lots of unlockable special features included on the two-disc collection, more extras than you'll find on most DVD "special features!" You can tell the developers went to great lengths to capture the spirit of their locations, and to map things out as accurately as possible. The consultants that accompanied the games' designers also lent a spirit of authenticity to the development process, and the script is fantastic. More than great writing, Brothers in Arms: Double Time has great delivery. Actors speaking parts sound like they're delivering lines in a movie, not the typical stilted videogame voice acting. The story unfolds in both games with a good sense of drama, timing, and plot. None of this is new material, but gamers that just came off Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 will find loads more interest created and maintained here. Brothers in Arms: Double Time knows it isn't about a "One Man Army;" there has to be something else under the hood, a sense of team spirit. The sounds of battle are overwhelming at times, just as you'd imagine. The speaking parts that squad members have are often overplayed (a function of programming, not the actors' delivery) and are sometimes triggered by enemy placement so as to create an annoying loop: "I can't get him! I can't get him! I can't get him!" The weapons have unique sounds and the enemy chatter is another great device for pulling players inside the game. As long as you come into all this understanding that Double Time is a port, you'll be more likely to give it a pass on its technical shortcomings. Besides, you must have already played and beaten Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 already, right? Right?

The replay value of Brothers in Arms: Double Time is driven down through lack of multiplayer or co-op campaigns. This is another area where porting to Wii should have meant introducing more interesting interaction. There are great single-player campaigns in both games, but not enough meat on the bone to keep Double Time on your shelf very long, unless you and yours are major WWII buffs.

For the folks out there lacking an encyclopedic knowledge of WWII, Brothers in Arms: Double Time captures the terrifying but inspirational adventures of an American infantry unit that parachuted into German territory during the Normandy assault. The two games skew some historical facts, but each contains elements that coincide with the record passed down in history. There are even special features included with Double Time showing the historical documents - photos and letters mostly - that were waypoints during each game's design phase. At no time in either game do you feel like you are just running perfunctory missions; everything here moves the story along. There is a penalty for losing men and there are rewards given for preserving your squad at the end of a mission, not least that you continue moving through the level with your same group of men. The attachment to your squad is a real thing, not only from a strategic gameplay standpoint, but also emotionally. On the downside, Brothers in Arms: Double Time doesn't feature a huge amount of variety in missions. Locations may change, and personnel may be augmented from time to time as you join with other soldiers dropped during the same assault, but the major objectives in each mission are almost identical.

Again with the comparison to Medal of Honor, but there are important distinctions to be made. Brothers in Arms: Double Time doesn't allow for the traditional FPS model of slamming through levels with increasingly devastating firepower, eliminating enemies with well-placed head shots and sniping. Not that it isn't possible to do some sniping and fine marksmanship within Brothers in Arms: Double Time, but the model is more biased toward realism. Approaching the enemy always means taking a duck-n-cover approach, until they reload and you open up on them or reposition your team. This is all done through the typical first-person viewpoint, but there are breakaway camera angles that let you take a more strategic approach. Strategy is the key word, because Brothers in Arms: Double Time is every inch the tactical shooter it claims to be. You learn quickly that laying down suppressing fire or having your squad lay down fire while you or another squad member moves to attack the enemy, is the only way to approach troops that are shielded by cover or "dug in." Direct approaches early in the game may meet with success, but the games in Brothers in Arms: Double Time are calculated to simulate a real battlefield, and running headfirst toward a well-defended enemy position on a real battlefield would be considered suicide by most soldiers. The exciting thing about Brothers in Arms: Double Time is how well it implements squad-based combat, a system that has failed miserably many times before. The excitement pales a bit once you get into the umpteenth mission and realize that the mechanics of forcing an enemy to take cover while you flank and destroy is becoming a bit old.

If you're coming to Brothers in Arms: Double Time from a more "arcade" type of FPS, there will be a tremendous learning curve. Adjusting difficulty just changes the A.I., but it can't change the overall design and purpose behind the game. Sighting and firing is very loose here, to simulate the frantic reaction that a soldier on the battlefield will have to incoming fire and movement. Trying to "run and gun" isn't at all realistic, and the reloading required prevents you from going on a rampage and pumping millions of rounds into an enemy emplacement. Machine gun nests and high-ground positions are infuriating, dangerous, and probably very realistic. The protective instincts you have for yourself aren't enough though, because you have several team members and multiple squads to consider. The squad commands and your troops' reactions can sometimes appear very boneheaded. Chalk this up to programming rather than realism, but if you send your troops into the line of fire, you have only yourself to blame. The enemy A.I. is excellent, especially in Earned in Blood, where soldiers will move around the map as you do, making things quite fluid. How you approach and use your troops will have an impact on how the enemies scatter throughout the battlefield. All these features add to the realism, but the realism will sometimes add to your frustration.

The Wii adds a special touch to Brothers in Arms: Double Time, something not available in earlier versions. The motion controls allow you to call to your troops, to rally them from behind cover, and to follow your directions. Pointing at a spot to direct your troops or tossing a grenade with a throwing motion of the Wii-mote will make believers of fans that may be wondering why they would give these games another shot on a new platform. The sighting and movement controls are very smooth using the Wii-mote and Nunchuk, and can be adjusted to fit your preferences. Even controlling two squads is relatively intuitive based on the interface and the simplicity of control. It would have been nice to see a more intuitive control-set for reloading, with motion rather than pressing buttons. As often as reloading is required on some of these weapons, it becomes a hassle to search for a button when you could flick the Wii-mote or Nunchuk and accomplish the same thing. The flicking controls are mapped intuitively to hand-to-hand combat, which isn't something I recommend you do a lot of, unless in desperation...

The squad commands are not complex, but require some time to learn. Two squads eventually are at your command, one to follow you as a fast-moving strike force, and the other to lay down heavy fire or cause an enemy to hold position. The general idea is to box in the enemy or force him to take cover. You can easily direct one squad to lay down suppressing fire while you circle around behind the enemy solo or with your strike team. There are times when you'll be better off having your two squads attacking two enemy squads, but it all goes back to the fact that Brothers in Arms: Double Time doesn't offer a lot of clear shots. There are lots of obstacles and cover, which unfortunately works equally well for everyone. Once you master the command sequence, holding down an enemy squad will become fairly mundane. The added excitement comes from some special missions that involve new armament, defending held positions, or battling through treacherous territory. The squad dynamics are smartly executed, and your squad's A.I. is good enough to take out some enemy positions with no help from you. The key is to look at the battlefield using the tactical view available and plan out your approach to enemy positions rather than leap before you look.

Brothers in Arms: Double Time is a great investment for fans of more realistic games, and especially WWII buffs. There are some issues that could have been improved, such as the dated graphics and lack of multiplayer. There are other issues that are coded into the DNA of Brothers in Arms, which will have a polarizing effect on gamers. If you like a shooter with more escapism, this probably isn't going to be up your alley. If you are open to a more tactical shooter that will require you to spend more time thinking and giving orders than shooting, Brothers in Arms: Double Time is going to be a big hit for you.