You will play as Boyd Travers a member of 82nd Airborne and later a member of 17th Airborne Division. Boyd will fight on many fronts, from Italy to northern France, Netherlands and Germany. The game starts with Operation Husky (part of the Sicily invasion), and continues with Operation Avalanche (invasion of the Italy's mainland), Operation Overlord in France(in which you will take part in a "behind the enemy lines" mission), Operation Market Garden in Netherlands (in which you have to secure the route to a bridge over the Waal River), Operation Varsity in Germany (in which you take part in the single largest military airdrop in WWII history as member of 17th Airborne Division), and The Flak Tower mission (a fictional mission in which you have to take out a flak tower). Let's not forget the training mission called Operation Torch which takes place in Tunisia.

Parachuting

Being a paratrooper you will start each mission by parachuting from a C-47. In the air you can handle your parachute to land almost everywhere on the map.

This ability allows the player to complete the mission objectives in every order he wants. This means no loading times or pre-planned objectives. Depending on how good you land, you will be ready to fight. If you make a botched landing, Boyd will need a couple of seconds to get equipped. Otherwise he will take the gun in his hands almost instantly. You are no more Rambo because along with you 4 to 6 comrades will land. They will help you complete the nearest objective from their landing position. If you decide you want to go to another objective position, you will encounter other comrades along your way.

Parachuting gives multiple tactical solutions to the gameplay as you can land almost anywhere: on the roof-tops (suitable for sniper approach), in safe spots (2-4 in a mission), in the middle of a gun-fight (if you still want to be Rambo) or behind the enemy lines.

Arcade elements

The health regeneration system is slightly changed. The health bar is now divided into four quarters. If you were hit and you didn't lose a whole quarter, the health will regenerate automatically while you stay in a cover position and rest for a few seconds. Otherwise you have to find and take a health kit in order to replenish the lost quarter. This system gives more chances of survival to a casual player on low difficulty settings. Airborne has a feeling of arcade. Besides this new health regeneration system, the game also shows you the position of every grenade which was thrown at your nearest position. Similar to a compass, the system indicates the direction of the grenade and the distance by changing the intensity of the indicator's color.