Battlefield: Bad Company 2

(untitled review)

Battlefield is a name that's pretty familiar to most, if not all PC gamers. The consoles got two Modern Combat titles, which were slated by most people for some reason even though I thought it was great. Then there was Bad Company, and no-one was really sure what was going on. It had a real SP mode, some MP games even though the classic conquest game-type was to be added via DLC. Needless to say it didn't win many people over.

BC2 on the other hand is really fun, knows its target, and what it wants. You play as Preston Marlowe, the newest member of B-Company, a group of soldiers who specialise in blowing stuff up, and narrowly surviving each encounter. To lighten the mood the landscapes are great to look at, finally a game with guns that isn't entirely made out of the colours of The Dirt Spectrum. And there's also light banter between the men. This isn't meant to be Saving Private Ryan, if anything it's the opposite. The plot is as old as time itself, and you can see the twists and ending from a mile away, but it's all good. There's nothing here that will blow you away, but it's done so well that you don't care.

You can destroy stuff in this game. Sniper in a small window? Well take your grenade launcher and blow a hole through the wall! Wanna collapse a roof on top of some Ruskies? You can do that too! Yes, you can destroy cover, blow things to smithereens, and even though this is all really fun and exciting as the enemies use the tac-tic as well, I still don't think they quite have it mastered yet. You can blow holes into walls but against the AI it's not really essential so much as a steady hand on a Sniper. The destruction only excels during MP which I'll cover briefly. The graphics are pretty impressive overall, especially once you factor in the destruction.

There are plenty of guns to play with in this game. Gun nuts will not be let down and it's fun to experiment with different load outs. as you pick up more guns they get added to an armoury which you can access through crates that you find along the way and there'll always be one when you need it most. I warmed to sniping during the later parts of the game as it was useful in taking out the LMG turrets. But who said a well placed grenade couldn't do the same?

The sound in this game is amazing. From the sound of your guns, the echoes in tunnels, the voice acting, the atmosphere. It's something you'll just have to experience, bit hard to put into words here. But trust me, you won't be disappointed. There are also a couple of inside jokes to be enjoyed.

I haven't played much of the MP as of yet but I did enjoy the beta that was released a month or so ago. It's fun to mess around with all the classes, earn new weapons and gadgets. Teamwork is useful but not essential. I have completed many objectives by myself. In a way it just all sorts itself out as the game goes along. People that are playing this know that doing the objectives gets more points than killing in the long run. There is also a Hardcore mode where players die in a couple of shots. It's harder and it's in that mode where teams would be essential to progress. There are three game types. Rush, which is an A and D focussed game, the attackers must destroy two objectives in each area before they run out of tickets which are represented by players' lives, if the Attacking team are held off then the game ends. Then there's the classic Conquest where teams must capture points on the map. The newest addition is a squad based DM which pits a number of two player teams against each other.

Although the game isn't going to break any records, it's still a fun game to experience but if you are only going to play the campaign then you should just rent it. The MP is what will keep this game going.