It’s becoming harder and harder for games to make a name for themselves within the first person shooter genre without being subjected to an inevitable comparison to Infinity Ward’s seminal Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise. DICE, the developers responsible for the firmly established Battlefield series, have anticipated such a comparison, and consequently created a game that could persuade even the most hardcore CoD players try something new.
Enter Battlefield: Bad Company 2, a game that provides a full single player campaign and intense, addictive multiplayer combat. One of the first things to notice when playing BBC2 is the depth of detail within the environment. Previous Battlefield games have boasted about their fully destructible environments, and never before has this system looked as it does within BBC2. Other than a few instances of shadow clipping that I noticed on the Xbox 360 version, the game is perfectly rendered and ought to be experienced in HD to justify its beauty.
The campaign provides a well narrated story which, although a little clichéd, avoids condemnation by not taking itself too seriously. The very start of the game turns back time and players will find themselves fighting their way through Japanese troops on a Pacific island during World War 2. Soon enough a secret weapon is discovered that could have the power to eliminate a country‘s enemies. Back to the present, and Russia has begun slowly invading continents all around the globe. It now becomes Bad Company’s objective to find this weapon before it falls into Russian hands. The game offers plenty of refreshing environments in which to play, and the four members of Bad Company, though far from innovative characters, all compliment one another well.
DICE do not take themselves too seriously in BBC2 and it’s obvious that they are not trying to cater to the same sort hardcore demographic that have latched onto games like Modern Warfare 2, and in light of this, provide gamers with much appreciated doses of humour (a concept completely absent from every CoD game conceived). There are often full of tongue in cheek stabs at Modern Warfare 2. Most memorable of which was when an argument broke out amongst the four members during a cut scene and one yells something along the lines of “Next thing you know, they’ll be sending in a bunch of dorks with heartbeat monitors attached to their guns.” Alluding to the mission in Modern Warfare 2 which requires players to sneak around enemies with the assistance of such a device. The best way to compare the BBC2 and the Modern Warfare single player campaigns, would be to liken it to the contrast seen between Saints Row 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV.
The BBC2 campaign, on normal mode, takes a meagre five to six hours to complete, do not worry though, as inevitably you will spend most of your time on the multiplayer game modes. Though it may seem that at first, having only four game modes and ten variable maps that there will be little variation within the game modes, it is the way that these maps each unfold as you progress through a match and the weapon and gadget unlocks that will pierce their addictive claws in you. Matches can last anywhere between five minutes and half an hour. Of the four game modes, Rush will be the most popular. It involves two teams, one attacking, one defending, fighting to destroy or save a select few ‘M-Com Stations’. If these are successfully destroyed, the teams will be forced across a map where they will begin fighting in a new expanse of terrain.
I can already tell that the BBC2 disc will be stuck in my Xbox 360 for a pretty long time. The presentation of the game is in a league of its own and the multiplayer creates a constantly changing environment that will inevitably keep you pinned on the edge of your sofa.
9/10
