Battlefield: Bad Company 2

The Battlefield franchise is one of my personal favourites, dating back to the first game in the series – Battlefield 1942, which debuted on the PC back in 2002. I’ve played every release since, with the exception of BF2142, since I’m no longer into PC gaming. Naturally, I snagged Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on day-one, and have been playing it steady for the past couple weeks. The campaign has long since been completed, and the multiplayer end of the game has a firm grasp on my testicles.

Wait, What Just Happened?

The campaign starts out a little weird, with a prologue mission which takes place during WWII and sets up the story. The Bad Company dudes are brought into the picture shortly after, with no mention of previous events. Having played the first game, it felt a little disjointed, as I was expecting more of a tie-in or a continuation from the first game in the Bad Company series. None the less, bullets start flying and in no time, and B-Company find themselves knee-deep in trouble, as usual.

Worth While Campaign, but Not Great

Overall, I felt the campaign felt a bit flat across the board. The dialogue wasn’t quite as witty as the first game, your squad members tend to stand around making wise-cracks more than anything else, and the story wasn’t overly engaging. On top of that, some cheap tactics from the developers had me replaying parts necessarily. I call them “gotcha” moments – where the player is moving along as intended, when some unavoidable event happens resulting in death. There’s no way to know what is about to happen, you have to lose a life in order to find out how to avoid it. There are quire a few of these moments in the campaign, and each and every one of them pissed me off.

That sounds like a whole lot of negativity, but I enjoyed the single player campaign well enough. It just wasn’t as good as the previous game, and didn’t live up to my expectations. There were plenty of things I loved about it, though. The visuals and sound effects are incredible! Destruction has been stepped up a few notches, with buildings fully collapsing into a pile of rubble if you hit them hard enough. Lots of variation in the missions, with inclusion of plenty of vehicles and lots of fun weapons at your disposal. There always seems to be plenty of time to use your weapons, too. There’s nothing worse than finally getting your hands on a weapon you’ve been after for hours, only to find minimal ammo left and no refills in sight. BF:BC2 doesn’t suffer from that, in the least.

Where The Battlefield Belongs – Online

Where BF:BC2 really shines, is in the multiplayer component. I would have actually liked to have seen this game stripped of the single-player end, and sold at a discounted price. The multiplayer end is that strong! If you’ve played a BF game online, you know it’s much more than a typical shooter. Every map is massive, full of weapon emplacements and vehicles, and non-stop action.

Bad Company’s Gold Rush mode has been stripped of the gold, but showcased as the game’s primary online mode. It’s as fun as ever, and still much preferred to simply running around shooting dudes for hours on end. It’s nice to have a constant objective, and one that can change within a moment’s notice, too. People seem to work together almost all the time, and the dead simple squad system really helps to enforce teamwork.

The original BF Conquest mode is also packed in, and maps are adjusted to suit the many flag locations. There’s also a new mode, which pits 4 4-man squads against each other in 2 different modes.

Revamped and Improved Unlocks and Rewards

The ranking, unlocks, and rewards system has been completely overhauled this time around, yet it remains very simple to manage. Each class has its own tier of weapons and gadgets that unlock as you earn XP using them. Then there are a series of weapons and gadgets that can be used in any class, which are unlocked simply by playing. Vehicles also have a set of perks that can be applied to improve your offense or defense while using them. XP bonuses are given when you earn badges and medals for achieving certain goals – like 7 kills with the assault rifle in a round, a certain number of squad or team assists in a round, winning the round, and so on. While the ladder looks intimidating at first, you earn XP pretty quickly and I find that I’m unlocking new gear every couple of rounds.

Battlefield Moments

There was a series of trailers released prior to the game’s launch titled “Battlefield Moments”, and for good reason. Every round has at least one memorable moment. Even when playing a losing round, or after dying repeatedly, there always seems to be a turning point where you feel like you’re the hero…

• The guy that just shot down a Black Hawk with an RGP and got a triple kill.
• Or, the guy that dropped behind enemy lines and stabbed 4 dudes in the back before being detected.
• Or, the guy that turned a corner and was met face-to-face by an enemy tank, only to quickly arm the grenade attachment on his assault rifle just in time to fire one off and take it out.
• Or, the guy that drove a jet-ski at full speed onto land, hit a ridge and flew directly into a squad of enemies, killing all 3 of them at once.

These things happen, often. And they’re absolutely fucking glorious when they do!

I (Fucking) Love this Game!

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is lacking in the single-player end, but makes up for it online. I enjoy BF:BC2 multiplayer immensely. And for a guy that doesn’t spend much time playing games online, that’s saying a lot.