Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

When it comes to FPSs, I want them realistic. I am a long time fan of the Tom Clancy’s close quarter (Rainbow Six) and open range (Ghost Recon) series. In fact, the only “arcadey” FPSs I have ever enjoyed were Quake and Unreal Tournament (I am still a fan of the prior to this day). What makes those two games stand out? These are games where skill really prosper. Recently, FPSs and shooters in general are really popular. This had led to them becoming increasingly appealing to the casual market. What do I mean by this? There are lots of shooters on the market where the “Rambo” approach is not only a viable option, but is even encouraged. The weapons will bear the names of real weapons, but work nothing like they do in real life. Gun recoil is imaginary. In fact, guns apparently have no weight at all.

Enter Battlefield: Bad Company 2. For me, this game came out of left field. I say this because I never gave Battlefield: Bad Company a shot. My reasoning for this is that the last Battlefield I attempted to play on consoles was horrible. I am a fan of Battlefield 2 on the PC (game is still great to play if you ask me), and I wanted the console version to be on par with it. At last year’s E3, I ran into Dice’s Gordon Van Dyke showing off Battlefield 1943, the Xbox Live and PSN game. I got a free copy and decided to give it a shot. I was hooked. This gave game gave me hope. I then was convinced by staff members, Torrence and and Ice, to give the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo a shot. That was all it took. Here we are now, the game has been released, and I have logged some 30 hours online already into the game. As you can tell, I am pleased with the game. The interesting question is why? What makes this Battlefield the best Battlefield to ever grace consoles? What makes this Battlefield a game on the same level as, dare I say it, the heralded Battlefield 2?

The single player campaign is great. I say this because this is the first time in a long time that I have game a FPSs with a team dynamic written into the campaign and actually felt like a team member. Enemies do not just try to kill you and ignore your squad mates. Your squad mates are extremely capable. There have been times where they literally saved me from death via flank or hidden tango. I find it essential that DICE did this since they put a huge emphasis on the squad dynamic.

In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the focus is on more than simply the situation at hand. The characters with the player are very integral. They provide more than just cosmetic look of combat. They give off a A-Team feeling (I have been mentioning B.A. Baracus a lot lately, I guess it was due to this game). You will get comedic relief and different feelings on the mission on hand. Hell, their motivations for being on the squad differ and voice their different opinions throughout the game. I was pissed when squad leader “Sarge” got his retirement pushed back yet again.

You play as Marlow from the first Bad Company game and actually feel like a member of a squad. I actually am enjoying playing this, versus some other games where it is a chore and a bore. It would seem that DICE decided to take a substance over shine approach to the plot. It is well thought out and paced. If people actually pay attention there is a lot to take from it. Without giving any spoilers, the very first level links Battlefield 1943 into this game.

I will say this, this game would have been perfect for cooperative play in the campaign. I do not understand why it was not included in any way or form. This is a major flaw to me. The squad dynamic, DICE did such a great job of creating would have flourished with the assistance of co-op. Also, the A.I. controlled squad mates can just eat bullets. It would have been interesting if you had to have one of them be the medic. He dropped med packs and revived down teammates. If he died, then the mission would be over. Instead, they can just take bullets endless. In Dice’s defense, I have seen far worse in “other” FPSs. I also noticed that the enemy A.I. would be shooting at my squad mates only to turn their attention to me the moment I stepped out of cover. I actually used that to my advantage a few times while pinned down. Also, enemies with shotguns are extremely lethal. I say that because they seem to have ridiculous range and accuracy with them.

Where Battlefield: Bad Company 2 really glows in its multiplayer. Let me get this out of the way now. Battlefield: Bad Company 2′s multiplayer is better than any other uber popular FPS out now. You need to play this game. This is the first time in a long that that I greatly enjoyed a non-simulation FPS. Battlefield is not like FPSs I usually enjoy. People can take numerous bullets at times. In fact, I think the damage system and hit detection need a once over by DICE. Where it excels is the way you play. Everything is about points. Points raise player’s rank in specific classes and over all. This leads to better equipment, new weapons, and more.

In Battlefield:Bad Company 2, getting kills is not the primary focus for most members of a squad. Support roles have a high place and reward vast amounts of points. This is due to the class system in the game. Players get to pick one of four classes: Recon, Medic, Assault, and Engineer. Ideally, each squad of four people will have a member of each class. Out of the available game types, only one has a deathmatch like feeling to it (squad deathmatch). Even in that mode, support players can make a killing in points. When looking at a players stats, you have to look at more than just their kill/death ratio. I have played many matches where I had a horrendous kill/death ratio and yet had an abundance of points.

Players can select from four game modes: Rush, Squad Rush, Conquest and Squad Deathmatch. Rush is a type of offense, defense bomb game. The attackers try to plant bombs at two points, while the defenders can hold teams off and defuse. Once the first two sites are destroyed, the defenders are forced to fall back and try again at two new sites. Repeat this process until there are no points left and the round is over and won for the attackers. If the defenders manage to kill the attackers enough, the round will end there as well. Squad Rush has the same dynamics as normal Rush except it is one squad of up to four against another squad of up to four and there is only one site to attack/defend at a time. Conquest is standard Battlefield fare and feels more like Battlefield 2 on PC than any other attempt at the mode on consoles. Three or more flags are spread across a map. Control the flags and your team lives a little longer. Without flags, you’ll run out of respawns and the round will be over. Squad Deathmatch is a sixteen person affair. It consists of four squads each with up to four players. The four squads battle each other until fifty kills is achieved. This is spiced up with a single land vehicle, usually a tank or armored assault vehicle, that teams can chose to fight over and use to gain what would seem to be an advantage. Teams will either fight for the vehicle, or concentrate on avoiding it and killing people who do go for it. Other than a chaotic spawn system that will put in front of enemies if you choose random spawn, This mode is fun. My favorite mode still has to be Conquest.

All games modes can also be played in “hardcore” mode. This mode is supposed to make the game more realistic over all. You get little screen indications and are supposed to kill or be killed with fewer bullets. From my experiences with hardcore mode, it is odd. The bullet damage is still amped up enough. The indications being removed is the only huge difference. I wish there was a way to play in the normal mode with increased bullet damage. I never understand why it is so hard for games to take the size of the bullets certain guns fire into affect for their damage. Two to three shots center mass with a .556 caliber bullet should be instant death. I can not tell you how many times I would shoot someone only to die and see they had sub-fifteen percent health. I get really annoyed when I see they have sub-ten percent. I have witnessed people living at one percent and even zero percent. How does that even work?

While I think the vehicles over all are well implemented, there are issues. The Apache helicopter is unrivaled. Anti-Air guns suck in this game. Also, I don’t get why guns do pretty much no damage to vehicles, especially helicopters. You can have your entire sqaud armed with light machine guns and shooting at the same helicopter. I guarantee they will out live you. The splash damage of explosives in this game seems to be non-existent as well. I assume they did that to balance grenade launchers and vehicle shells, but I don’t get why it was necessary. In all honesty, I think the weapons period need to be more lethal. Perhaps they did this to help push Battlefield: Bad Company 2′s ideology of less independence and more teamwork. This is a game where you will not see some guy camping in some remote location sniping and doing nothing else. If one does that, his team will suffer. I have witnessed teams with one to three good people lose because the other eleven to nine people were bad or playing the wrong way. The ranking system rewards players for teamplay and focusing on objectives. This even includes proficiency in the vehicles. DICE did a great job balancing rewarding players who put time into the game and not crippling new players with the level curve. My only complaint with the ranking system is that it makes no sense to make people in the medic class have to earn the med packs and shock paddles. They are medics. Without those two abilities, they are just soldiers with light machine guns. This is also the case for engineers who have to unlock the repair tool. Why do that? Perhaps these are minor gripes.

The sound in this game is fantastic. It actually stands out. You can hear everything. It all sound authentic. Environments tend to affect sound. This is really displayed online, where character say things that actually help players cunning enough to listen. See a vehicle? Look at it long enough and your player will voice it out to the rest of your team. Need ammo or a med pack? Look at an assault player or medic and press back/select to request it. The graphics are great. I say this not just because stupid and unnecessary pixel counting or what the hell is or is not HD. All of that is semantics and means nothing. I am talking about the vastness of the environments. The levels are huge and have great effects. Playing in the desert, the wind will pick up sand. This will actually hinder visibility for a moment. You can demolish buildings, or at the very least, damage them extensively. It looks great when done. I really do not get how people can downplay this feature. Only last year’s Red Faction: Guerrilla had a better building destruction model. This is something more games need to incorporate this to a degree in their games. This game does a great job of looking like an actual battlefield. The map selection is great as well. You will fight in a jungle, desert, ice mountain, and even night time without the assist of night-vision goggles.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a great game. That is all I really need to say. It took some convincing for me to even give Battlefield a shot on consoles again. As you can see, I am convinced. If you want a FPS that you can play with friends online and is deeper than the average FPS dribble out now, give this game a try. I would have gotten his review done sooner if I had not been distracted by my desire to play the game itself. With the promise of future DLC and the assumption that gamers will only get better at the game once they full adjust to the gameplay mechanics, dynamics, and ideology, this will be a game that ages very well and hopefully has an impact on other shooters period. I could continue to this review, but I am long overdue for some gaming myself.

(5/5)