A rocket-powered sequel

by Justin Johnston

Fun factor: Fun

Worth to: Buy/Rent

A great addition to anyone’s multiplayer collection but the single player is no slouch either, offering high octane action wrapped in dark comedy.

Like a motor car powered by rockets Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is bigger, better, faster and more explosive than its previous incarnation. The Battlefield series has always been known for its online multiplayer and with the Bad Company series Swedish developer Dice brought a single player campaign into the mix with some success.

Bad Company was very much a Black comedy and Bad Company 2 is no different. While the core of the story is of war and strife the mood is lightened by the wonderful story, great voice acting and undeniably charming members of B-company. Little things like the incidental conversations your squad mates have with each other during lulls in battle and even during the high octane action make all the difference, but there are also several key scenes in which the squad will be more somber and reflective, preventing the characters from becoming parodies on cultural stereotypes.



If you have played the first in the series you may be left wondering how the stories are linked as it’s never explained in the game. The first level you play serves both as a tutorial and an introduction to the game’s storyline taking place during World War 2. You play one of a group of US commandos sent in to extract a Japanese scientist. The mission doesn’t go as planned however and that’s when the story picks up with the B-company members serving on the Sarge’s last tour of duty on a simple support mission inside Russian territory. Needless to say things quickly become more convoluted and you and the rest of the Bad Company will find yourselves in many a tight spot before the end of the campaign.

Team up and make some holes

The single player portion of the game can be completed in around 7-8 hours and during that time you will find yourself in many diverse environments, from the aforementioned snowy Russia to the lush jungles of Bolivia and even a trip out into the desert. Though it is relatively short the game does offers a little replay value in the form of collectible weapons and destructible M-Com stations.

Destruction doesn’t stop there, however, with Dice’s Destruction 2.0 engine under the covers almost everything in the game can be destroyed. While an explosive charge can be used to demolish an entire building gunfire is also able to chip away at the environment. This adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay as both you and the enemy soldiers will constantly have to be on the move too keep yourself behind cover as the environment changes. This destruction system also affords you a new way to navigate the battlefield, for example when your team is pinned down in heavy fire you can blow a hole in a nearby building effectively creating a new path that allows you to flank your attackers.

Of course, like any battlefield title, online the game is at its finest pitting 24 players against each other in either teams of 12 or squads of 4. The game has a collection of great game modes from the objective-based attack and defend rush games that take place on huge maps right down to the squad Death Match, which pitches 4 teams of 4 against each other on smaller maps.



The game features 4 brilliantly balanced classes and a reward system that unlocks different kit options the more you play. Though the reward system does take a little more perseverance than other games in the genre it provides great incentive to continue playing and as the scoring system is set up so that playing as part of the team will help you build your score faster.

I came for single, but I stayed for multi

The maps for the online modes are the highlight however, it’s apparent that great time was spent in balancing them just right as none of the maps are so unfair that it is impossible for one side to win. For every advantageous spot one team has there is a counter spot available to their adversaries.

As of day one, however, there have been a few problems with the servers, and connectivity to the matches has been affected so I would definitely recommend you check around the forums before you buy the game if you plan to play online and are on the fence about picking this up.

The game’s graphics are beautiful online and off. Weapons are rendered realistically and characters, buildings and vehicles all look great. The lighting and particle effects are impressive, from the night time maps with muzzle flash from gunfire lighting the trees, to the desert map which is open and vast with rolling sand storms limiting your view, each has been done to perfection helping to build immersive environments to play in.

The sound in the game is as good as it gets. From the haunting classical score of the first mission to the high tempo drums as the action heats up, effects-wise the gunfire, explosions and enemy chatter all blend together nicely. When an explosive round detonates near your position the sound warps and becomes muffled for a short time before returning to normal. The environment has an impact on sound too. For instance, in the more open levels noise will reverberate from everywhere, where as in the dense forest the sounds are more muted.



The game isn’t without its problems though. In the story mode some of the set pieces feel a little underwhelming, especially one of the later ones in the desert which looks like it was rushed into the game. Enemy soldiers have a habit of standing in the open and waiting to get shot while at other times they will attempt to flank your position and keep you pinned down with heavy fire. The inconsistency can really pull you out of the game especially if you have retried the same difficult area several times only to finally make it because the enemy stopped trying. Graphics-wise the game has a few blurry textures and odd things can happen when the environment starts getting destroyed, like a car that explodes and then dances around, though these are rare occurrences.

Summary

If you’re looking for a shooter that has depth, great offline play and competitive squad-based online shooting action then Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is definitely the game for you. If you want to play as a lone wolf the game certainly doesn’t punish you for that but you may have a more difficult time and you might want to consider a rental first.