Structural De-Engineering: 101

by Jamil Bhatti

Fun factor: Fun

Worth to: Rent

When a shooter is released a measly six months after Call of Duty 4, it had better distinguish itself as different, and fast. Bad Company does that, but I’m afraid the average gamer won’t stick around long enough to notice.

Normally, I wouldn’t make such a direct comparison to another shooter, but Bad Company is so similar in look and feel to Call of Duty 4 that such talk is inevitable. The graphics are almost interchangeable in terms of quality and style. The clatter of weapon’s fire and the shock of explosions also feel the same to me (complete with the ear-whine accompanying any shelling that hits too close). That’s not to say they are the same, many differences abound. The tone of Battlefield is more playful and often, hilarious. Vehicles can be used at any time which can dramatically affect the outcome of a battle. And let’s not forget the biggest innovation here: destructible environments.




It’s the maid’s day off

Blowing stuff up is always great, but here, for the first time, this gimmick has paid off in new and exciting ways. Finally, destruction makes a difference in how I play a game. Gone are the days when I could ferret myself away in a dusty attic and snipe the unsuspecting. If you try it, which I did, the enemy will just blow a hole in the wall to expose you. Anytime I came across a gun turret in campaign mode I made sure to stop and mow some trees down. Is that one guy in that house? Well I better call in an airstrike just to make sure! It’s so satisfying to leave a battlefield in complete desolation. Happily, I reduced each village down to its bare skeleton before moving on, which actually turned out to be convenient when locating the weapon pick-ups.

Every weapon in the game comes with a built-in grenade launcher; if it doesn’t, it comes with the hand-held variety. In a normal shooter I would have used them to kill groups of enemies, but here I destroyed their cover instead. Fighting a tank for the first time threw me into a panic. Hiding is not a possibility anymore; I had to high-tail it all over the place in a frantic attempt to find the rocket launcher before it was curtains. This kind of battle frenzy is even more evident in multiplayer. Real humans can pull off stuff the A.I. couldn’t even dream of. I once saw a guy drive a boat up on land into an enemy encampment, jump on the grenade launcher turret, and take that place down! His Rambo tactic didn’t work for long (helicopter gunship) but I was still impressed. Using my imagination, I posthumously awarded him the Medal of Valor.


Just because you are a character, doesn’t mean you have character



The greatness of multiplayer won’t come as a surprise to any Battlefield veteran, but I also found the single player campaign to be full of charm. First of all: it’s very funny. The other three members of “B” company are a real pleasure to hang around with: Haggard (a gruff guy with a penchant for things exploding) won’t stop talking about Truck-O-Saurus, a monster truck which he plans to buy after the war; Sweetwater is a lovable tech-specialist who happens to have a crush on the command dispatcher, whom he has never seen or talked to; and Sarge who is always yelling at Sweetwater to shut-up, even when he isn’t saying anything. Your compatriots will frequently converse, even in the midst of battle. I found myself looking forward to it even more than the actual story. I enjoyed it especially when they complimented me, the new guy, on not getting dead right away: “Way to go new guy!” By the end, I really cared about these people. Sadly, the plot did not receive the same amount of creative attention.

I played through the campaign twice. I still couldn’t tell you why the Russians are the bad guys (Seriously? Russians? They were a great adversary back in the day, but what have they done for us lately?) or what this conflict is even about. I certainly couldn’t muster any emotion whatsoever when the nameless evil villain crawls from the wreckage at the end (I know, I should have issued a spoiler-alert there, but trust me, when it happens, you won’t care either). Some parts of the story which I did care about, like Sweetwater’s one-sided romance, isn’t even mentioned again. Where’s the Truck-O-Saurus coda? And while I’m at it, why can’t I play through the campaign in 4-player co-op? It’s mostly the four of us together anyway, couldn’t they have swapped out some of the A.I. control to real people?


Interchangeable Parts

There’s a bountiful supply of weapons to use in the game, and while they all look different, most of them seem identical to me. In fact, I needed to check the inventory screen to actually compare the performance of certain models, because I couldn’t tell the difference when firing them. I found the Power Drill to be especially cool; it can “fix” any vehicle as long as you have the chance to hop out and do it. At one point in the campaign you come across a Russian i-Pod thing which can be used to call in precision artillery strikes. There was no end to my happiness as I slaughtered the enemy with their own weapon.



Instead of having regenerating health (like every game) or health packs (like every game 10 years ago), Bad Company has a giant syringe with infinite adrenaline which you jack into your heart. It gets a little weird to be constantly “shooting-up” in the middle of combat, but I have to give these people credit for coming up with something new.


This baby doesn’t handle so good in town

For some reason the developers decided to mix up the button layout. While driving, the left bumper and trigger control the gas and brake. I suppose this is to enable you to aim and shoot as you would on foot, but it feels weird. Running is handled by depressing the left analog stick, which I submit, is just plain dumb. When you die you start back at the previous checkpoint (don’t worry, progress is saved). If you were in a vehicle that exploded, it’s now gone. Have fun clamping down with your left thumb to run all the way back to where you were. Frequent breaks were necessary to prevent my left hand from turning into a claw from the unaccustomed strain.

Since this is a first-person game, camera issues should be non-existent (note my optimism). Well, I found one: the camera doesn’t move “up” high enough when driving a tank. I had to imagine what was in front of me as my vehicle was so tubby I couldn’t see around it. The helicopter has the same limitation, as well as a cockpit view that fixes it. It’s nothing to cry about, but shouldn’t someone have noticed this?


Get this party started



Multiplayer is a blast and features 12-on-12 carnage. Sorry to bring up Modern Warfare again, but this is from the same field manual: increased points earn higher ranks, which in turn, unlock more weapons and abilities. I don’t mean to sound derogatory; this is a proven method which works great and is very addictive. My favorite mode, “Gold Rush”, involves taking turns either defending or attacking stashes of gold bullion. It’s very tricky to defend something when the structure around it can be decimated. Lots of chaos and fun will ensue. Tip: Golf carts do not beat tanks.


Summary

In a perfect world this game would get the fan attention it deserves. If there was no such thing as Call of Duty 4, this would be my choice for present-day, first-person shooter. On the outside it looks vanilla, but dig in, there’s some real creativity in here. The destructibility of environments takes this up a substantial notch from other “me-too” first-person war games. If you aren’t overcome by “shooter-fatigue” by now, give this one a chance. I hope there’s a sequel, and I better be able to run over some fools in my monster truck!