IGN Xbox Editor In Chief Doug Perry and I joined forces for a little split-screen co-op on these missions, which is by far the most enjoyable way to take on the skirmish mode. The first map we played, "Into the farm," offers a mix of urban combat and wide-open combat. You start out in a small village and work around several building to flank the German positions before moving into more open ground. We were eventually killed because BIA is hard.
"Across the marsh" is a much more open map and you'll need to rely on suppressing fire and darting from cover to cover instead of hiding behind building because, well, there aren't many. On the higher difficulty settings you'll notice the German forces will even try to flank you. Of course, when you perform a nice flanking maneuver the Germans will often retreat, usually right into the crosshairs of your fire team. Doug and I had a good time circling the enemy and putting the beat down -- before we were killed of course. BIA is hard.
"Flanked from above" is the new German map where you must defend a town from American paratroopers. Seemingly, the forces never stop and you'll have a difficult time against heavy numbers. Then you will die. BIA is hard.
Still, skirmish is fun and these three free maps add even more content to one of our favorite shooters on the Xbox, and they slightly improve the addicting two-player co-op mode that we have come to know and love. Hopefully these maps will tide you over until Hell's Highway, which, judging by what we saw at E3, will rule.