Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review (360)

There’s a time and a place for laughter…and it’s not exactly here

“Retirement just got postponed”. These are the words of Sarge, and when you hear them, you know you’re in for a long haul. You and your intrepid band of followers are at it again. But this time, things are much more serious than that of the first Bad Company game. Haggard, Preston, Sweetwater and Sarge are yet again thrown into the muddy end with, metaphorically, nothing more than a bent spoon to get out again. Like in the previous game you play Marlowe Preston, and you’re still fighting for Bad Company, but this time you and your team are recruited into the Special Operations unit to save the world from the impending doom, yet again coming from the Russians. But does Battlefield: Bad Company 2 still delight us like the previous one?

The game starts unexpectedly during WW2 in Operation Aurora. A mission where every man is doomed, with no chance of escape. Yet, you still get to play through the level which acts as a neat tutorial, and more importantly, it sets the story for the rest of the game. Whilst leaving the player somewhat confused to what is happening, the first mission shocks and awes you as you are first introduced into the spectacular world and graphical presentation of Bad Company 2. As the waves rock your rubber dingy and the moon fights its way through the cloudy night, you begin to wonder if you’re playing the right game. As you advance through the level you begin to spot tell tale signs of Bad Company’s successful formula come to life as buildings crumble to the ground and explosions batter your ear drums, temporarily muting your game play.

Bad Company 2 received a major overhaul in terms of both controls and graphics. The controls are fluent and simple to use, again using the right thumb stick to crouch and the right trigger to shoot. A new addition, however, is the grenade button. In the previous game grenades were thrown by swapping to the grenade gadgets, often leading to frustration as the time taken to swap to this becomes a reason for your death. Because of this grenades were used less. In Bad Company 2 grenades are thrown simply by pressing the LB. This makes for quick decisions and tactical advantages in the battlefield. In terms of graphics Bad Company 2 has been tweaked away, although at a distance things will still look as high-quality as the previous game, it’s the up close graphics that will grab your attention. Boots now have mud on them, the snow settles on the ground and every weapon and vehicle looks smooth and incredibly realistic. This is most noticeable in the campaign, where you can take the time to explore your environment without the risk of been shot by enemy snipers.

The latest game lets comedy take the back seat

In Bad Company 2 one of the major problems in the campaign was the stupidity of the A.I. Dice has tried to improve this in the new game, and in most places has succeeded. However, every so often you’ll still be shot in the back by your team mates or will notice them comically run repeatedly into a wall whilst shouting words of encouragements. The enemy A.I are as smart as ever and will try to flank you whenever the opportunity presents itself. The enemy A.I also carry a varied arsenal of weaponry. Although the shotgun seems a popular choice for some of them. In the first Bad Company players often became frustrated because they had to use the same gun at the beginning of each level, and any weapons they found were lost at the end of it. Dice has obviously took these comments and worked away, as now any weapon found is automatically stored in weapon cases spread throughout the lengthy campaign. This allows you mix and match your guns to suit the scenario and also provides more of a reason to collect them throughout the game.

Battlefield: Bad Company is well known for its comedy value, often shown through Haggard and Sweetwater. The latest game lets comedy take the back seat and concentrates more on the story throughout the game. And concentrate they have. The story is deep with a real sense of urgency and involvement throughout, with Haggard still making the odd stupid comments he’s famous for. The campaign is split up by small, and to the point, cut scenes, where unfortunately Haggard and Sweetwater don’t continue their game of Rock, Paper, and Scissors. The length of the campaign depends purely on the difficulty the player has chosen. Playing the game on easy will make it last for roughly 6 hours whilst still having time to collect the numerous collectables around the game. Playing through on normal or hard can improve this too around 8 or more hours. Unfortunately Dice has not involved a co-op system for the campaign as requested by a lot of fans.

The main reason for the shortness of the campaign is the multiplayer. It’s big. Really big. Personally, I think Battlefield Bad Company 2 is made by its multiplayer. There are numerous maps to play on, with numerous types of modes to play them with. The modes spread from Conquest to Rush, to the new Squad death style matches. Each mode has its pros and cons and all are incredibly thought out and deigned. The class system gives you a choice of 4 different classes to choose from; Assault, Engineer, Medic and Recon, each one having its own weapon speciality. New weapons are upgraded by using that class with each normal kill contributing 50 points. Another system that has been improved since the previous game is the squad system. It has been made more accessible and simpler but not to the point where it becomes pointless. You now have the option to find a squad in the start menu and you can then spawn on any member of your squad.

In conclusion, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 takes everything from the previous game and improves on it in every way possible. The lack of Multiplayer co-op and the shortness of the campaign may annoy some players, but fans of the previous game will fall in love with the new improved Bad Company system. Whilst Dice have decided to concentrate more on the multiplayer than the campaign, neither lacks the lust that makes it Bad Company. “Alright, here it is”.