Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is all about wanton destruction. If an enemy hides behind a wall or takes refuge inside a house, simply blow it to pieces with a grenade or RPG. Doing this not only kills or exposes the gun toting bozo, but also produces a wonderful display of dislodged stone, steel and wood, as well as a thunderous explosion that'll rock not only the screen, but your home, depending on whether or not you have a subwoofer. It's a gorgeous first person shooter filled with high intensity moments in both the single player campaign and the feature-packed multiplayer component, where teams of grunts lay waste to each other and the well-designed maps with numerous real world weapons and vehicles.
Single player once again casts you as Preston Marlowe, member of B-Company, a four-person squad of misfits assigned to complete the toughest missions. With Russia in pursuit of a weapon of mass destruction, you set off on a perilous journey through varied environments full of evildoers, from snowy bases to thick jungles flush with plant life.
This mode works because of the gorgeous visuals, plethora of weapons and a nice mix of both on foot and vehicle segments, with decent cut scenes in between to advance the narrative. One mission asks you to perch atop a cliff and snipe guards in time with thunder claps, while another thrusts you into an attack chopper and commands you to shred incoming guards with a mini-gun. Later, you'll need to protect a valuable satellite from advancing enemies, then hop into a tank and pulverize Russians with its cannon.
Combat is both intense and exhilarating. Nothing beats unloading a few grenades at a house and watching the ammo tear chunks from it while dead bodies sail through the air. We also had a blast running over fences, sandbags and telephone poles while inside the tank. There's just an wonderful sense of freedom that adds much-needed strategy to each mission. Just keep in mind that the computer is well aware of the destruction and will respond in kind. Several times, we took refuge in a house, only to watch in horror as someone in a tank made surprise home improvements, killing poor Preston Marlowe in the process.
At the same time, single player has some glaring issues. While it's a fun ride, you'll probably finish it in less than six hours, which appears to be the sweet spot for these types of games. We also feel that the story lacks the requisite oomph to keep us hooked, despite the unexpected intro. Chalk that up to some questionable voice acting and the overall lack of drama within the cut scenes. Electronic Arts and DICE ditched the smarmy humor from the first Bad Company for a more serious tone, but failed to energize the game with the same pizzazz we often see in Hollywood's summer blockbusters. Scenes plod along as a result.
In addition, teammates will at times come to our rescue and then fail to provide a much needed assist. The aforementioned "protect the satellite" mission is the perfect example, where it seemed like the other three soldiers focused the majority of their attention on ground forces, when the guys on rooftops with RPGs were the primary threat. With the ball clearly in our hands, it took a few tries to move past that mission.
Don't get us wrong. Bad Company 2's single player campaign is worth experiencing, especially for the destruction. It just feels utterly disposable, the type of movie you'll watch once, enjoy and never see again.
Multiplayer, on the other hand, is clearly the game's biggest feature, as numerous players slaughter each other in brutal fashion. Similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, gamers can sneak up behind someone and take him or her out with a slower moving but oh so satisfying knife kill, but the ability to annihilate various set pieces within the environments separates Bad Company 2 from other online games. Being able to spot a sniper and choose to return fire or blow up his or her camping spot dramatically affects gameplay by forcing people to pick and choose their spots; there's good and bad cover.
Of course, Battlefield has always been about coordinating attacks with your team, a tradition that continues with this game. Series developer, DICE, encourages players to work together and utilize vehicles as a means of attack and transport. You also have the ability to choose a class (select from Medic, Recon, Assault, Engineer) and build that out with unlocked weapons, items and perks achieved by earning experience points while in combat; there are well over 15,000 different kit variations.
Similar to competing games, constructing your personal warrior makes you a unique and valuable asset to the team, thus providing a great sense of accomplishment while playing (and hopefully dominating) the various modes, from Rush (destroy the other side's crates) and Conquest (raise and lower flags).
Meanwhile, the game looks and sounds incredible. Several times, we waited for the action to die down to take in the environments and marvel at the anarchy we'd caused. Fields blanketed in snow, weapon details, explosions, the resulting rubble and character models combine to form one of the year's most impressive games. Now factor in the quality audio (the crackling of gunfire, floor-board shaking explosions), and you have a dizzying mix of cool stuff guaranteed to send your brain into sensory overload.
That said, and just in case you didn't figure it out already, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an immensely entertaining shooter that demands your attention. Single player doesn't measure up to multiplayer (a potential deal breaker for the loners of the world), but taken as a whole, this is a gun firing, tank crushing good time. Just remember, if it breaks, you can destroy it.
Final Score: 9 (out of 10)
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