Battlefield: Bad Company 2

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Friday, March 12, 2010

Matt's been trying to get me to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for quite some time now, but with Heavy Rain, Fallout 3 (Game of the Year Edition - all the DLC), and Metroid Trilogy on my plate, I'm not sure I can fit it in. But this review makes me wanna.

Reviewer
Matt
Categories
Games

Reviewed by Matt Clement

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: specializing in online warfare since 1942. Well sorta. Going all the way back to Battlefield 1942, many have enjoyed the gritty style of the Battlefield franchise. A couple years ago when the first Bad Company game was released it caught my eye but didn't really hold my attention. I played a bit of the campaign and toyed around online but in the end I felt It wasn't anything to write home about. Myself being something of a FPS aficionado, I felt it was my duty to check this one out. My duty to play this game didn't really come in the form of a Call, but more so in the form of an addiction I got from playing the online multiplayer beta (which in my opinion is a must have for any upcoming FPS nowadays). While the first entry didn't impress me, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a completely different ballgame. Developers DICE stepped up their standard and created, in my opinion, one of the best war games to date.

Better than Modern Warfare 2, you ask? Honestly yes. Don't get me wrong, MW2 was a great game but as far as the online multiplayer goes, it has more glitches than the Matrix 1, 2, and 3 combined. Before I begin to rant about how great Bad Company 2 is online, let me start by talking about the campaign.

You control Bad Company and this time around things seem to go from bad to worse. The campaign begins in Alaska, where soviet forces are thought to be creating a secret weapon capable of mass destruction. As the story progresses, it is your mission to find intel and prevent a devastating attack. The same rugged group of guys is back from the first game but this time around, with a little more poise. The humor is still there, and while it may not be as apparent and obvious as the first game it seems to be a tad more under control. Standing still for a couple of seconds only to hear your squad referencing something from pop culture or even poking fun at competing games such as MW2 certainly put a big grin on my face as I chugged along through battle. The pace of the game seemed to flow pretty well stretching across the 13 levels and by the time I got to the end of the game the scale was definitely on the level of epic. The environments were spectacular as well, ranging from snow top mountains to thick jungles full of enemy militia, they kept my jaw hanging and my heartbeat up.

Unique to the Battlefield campaign is the way you acquire weapons and equipment. Throughout each mission there are guns to be found that can be later accessed at random supply points found throughout each level. Being able to take cover near a supply point and choose what combination of primary and secondary weapon to fight with almost felt like something out of multiplayer. Being able to select your "class" throughout the campaign was quite refreshing, unlike other games where you are forced to use a particular weapon set up and equipment. Although this may not be a huge deal to some people, I feel that it gave the campaign experience a little bit more, something to keep it personal to the player. I found myself sticking to shotty snipes most of the campaign and laying waste to enemy troops couldn't have been more satisfying.

With all that being said, the campaign could still use a little work; it's not perfect by any stretch. On harder difficulties it can get a bit frustrating when you die, because you will find that sometimes you have to start back at the beginning of the level. Although like any experience with first person shooters this minor flaw may not even reveal itself. One other thing I did not like about the campaign could almost be said of all shooters, and this is that forced vehicle missions with unfamiliar controls can be a bit annoying. That's not to say that I did not enjoy driving around huge tanks completely leveling buildings (which is new to Bad company 2 I might add) or commanding a turret while flying high above the mountain tops, it all just feels a bit less familiar. While these minor nuisances do hinder the total experience of the campaign slightly, in the whole scheme of things they are soley a minor blemish on a fantastic experience. While the campaign should not be the main reason for purchasing this game, it certainly is not to be missed or overlooked.

With MW2 chock full of glitches and bugs it was only customary for me to take interest in other online shooters. Gears of War will always hold the number one spot for online shooters in my book, but with no new content since '07 things can get a little rehashed. So when it came time to check out Battlefield's online multiplayer I was certainly excited. From the start you can choose between four different classes: Assault, Engineer, Medic, and my personal favorite, Recon. As you play, get kills, capture objectives, defend and destroy points, what have you, you gain experience. All this experience goes towards unlocking more attachments and equipment for whichever particular class you are using. Each individual class offers something that the others do not. For example, as you unlock more stuff for the medic class, you gain the ability to revive fallen squad mates and distribute health accordingly. With the Engineer class you can repair weakened vehicles and even score an achievement for headshot-ing someone with your repair tool. The assault class allows you to replenish ammo and the recon class lets you use mortar strikes and even C4 for taking down enemy tanks or just setting up sneaky little traps.

As you could probably guess, this is definitely a team game. The more your squad works together the better you will do. This may turn some gamers off, as I admit getting stuck on a crappy team that is not going after the objective can be quite frustrating. But don't you fret, there is still a squad deathmatch game-type that in which I frequently played the role of a lone wolf. Although when my team was working together I had the most fun playing this game. There is much strategy to be taken into account and having a balanced team usually will lead you to the top of the scoreboard. At a certain point everything will just click. Your squad medics will be running around dealing out health, you will have friendlies advancing in trucks, commanding tanks, flying helicopters, driving Jet-skis and ATV's all while explosions are blasting out your ears. Snipers will be on the hillside, and infantry men will be running all around the map. It is quite the experience when you are on a team who is working together, communicating and developing strategies to take your opponent down. After playing for countless hours it is very easy to see that DICE has truly created the ultimate FPS experience all while defining online warfare.

While this is still only just a review I would like to say that it is also an homage to a fantastic game and one that will be in my disc tray for quite some time to come. Not only does it offer up a great single player campaign but also some of the best online multiplayer since the early Gears of War and Modern Warfare days. If you are tired of all the hoopla concerning MW2, or even if you're not, but are just looking for a great online shooter, look no further because Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is here and man is it awesome.

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