Yes sir, still better than the Call of Duty or a Medal of Honor
Sorry, it's just after playing BiA, I've become spoilt. Hundreds of times playing Call of Duty 2 after finishing Hill 30 or Earned in Blood, I always keep thinking in numerous places: "Boy, it would be great if at least one of these ten guys who 'help' me fight gave me some suppressive fire while I flank the enemy." But no, you're supposed to tackle the those MG42s head on. The simple but effective squad controls in Hill 30 are a blessing in WW2 games. Now that everything is less arcade-y, you aren't going to have the epic battles you see in CoD. There are no health-packs, and there isn't a regenerative health feature. There aren't going to be fifty-plus enemies you need to mow down by the end of each level. Everything is much smaller, but still rewarding nonetheless. There was one place I remember when we received a tank to assist. The stuart was pinning a couple of soldiers down, and it was up to me and my assault team to take them out before we could move up the road. After getting on their flank, across the road, I opened up with my rifle. The Germans saw me, and quickly stood up to fire back and retreat to a safer place, but my tank further down the road fired a shell at their now exposed bodies, blowing the hell out of them. I thought it was pretty damn cool at the time.
As far as its graphics go, a lot of people complained that it's pretty ugly. Call of Duty and pretty graphics go hand in hand, but I didn't think the same about Brothers in Arms. Personally, I liked Hill 30's look. It felt grittier and more depressing than the colourful style of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Sort of how Spielberg made Private Ryan look older and dated, like a WW2 documentary. But the lip-syncing is pretty bad. Like it was mentioned, a ventriloquist and a dummy. Really noticeable is how the Thompson's strap doesn't sway like a real strap should. In fact, it doesn't move at all. The animation is generally good, especially when your men find cover and return fire. But running looks a little clunky and unrealistic. Moving on to sound, I thought Brothers in Arms was a little weaker in that department. That said, every weapon (I believe) was recorded, so that was the exact sound you hear from the studio. Although that might appeal to the history buffs, for casual gamers the weapons might sound a little weak compared to other games. In this case, I think Gearbox should've added a little something extra instead of realistic. This is just me, though. And the voice acting is extremely well done. Some lines seem to be a little cut up in places, like you can tell they were separate lines now mashed together. It's acceptable, but doesn't feel natural. For instance, when Mac (platoon Sergeant "Mac") meets up with you after the drop into Normandy, he looks at a map and says, "Let's see if we can figure out where the hell we are." After a couple of seconds, "I can't figure out where the hell we are!"
I could just be really picky. As for music, it's only existent during the title screens and loading screens. It's very sombre, like William's SPR score, and in parts like Kamen's first two BoB suites... grand, but not as "lifting". In this game, it doesn't need a score to make it any more dramatic. Road to Hill 30 is a must play if you enjoy shooters or like WW2. I always liked Medal of Honor just to shoot guys, but Road to Hill 30 actually started me on the WW2 genre, movies, books, games... A lot of the events are true, and so are a number of characters. So pick up a copy of the game and see what I believe is the best WW2 game series.