When Company just got Bad… In a Battlefield…
Battlefield: Bad Company was different. Not just its explosive destructible environment or because it was set in modern times. It was different in a way that it had such a refreshing story. A group of regular soldiers stumble upon some gold in a few creates in the middle of a war zone and realise there’s more to this war than politics. They band together and decide “Sod the war let’s try to get rich”, just like in the movie Kelly’s Heroes.
So the story’s not really anything new, but it’s much better than the usual over done ‘Stop the End of the World’ kind of screenplay.
It was one of the single players best features that it didn’t really take it self too serious and was just full of comedy. Which in my opinion is the best way the Battlefield series should be.
Shame the same can’t be said about Bad Company’s sequel.
This time around they seemed to of taken a step back for single player. The pure lack of story around the squad is what I found most annoying.
The way the story was written was no way near the same amount of detail as the first game. Bad Company’s story had a voice over of the character you portrayed who would talk during cut scenes about his feelings about joining a new squad as a replacement. It introduced you to the squad that by the end they became your band of brothers. They were written in a way which made them seem to bond with one another which added such comradery to the squad. Just the little things like Haggard & Sweetwater would complain about events happening as they unfolded as you progressed. They would both have little rock, paper, scissor battles and Haggard would go on about when he becomes rich he’d buy a Truckasaurus Rex.
Not once in the sequel is any of this mentioned. It’s as if who ever wrote the story & script never even bothered playing the first one. Sure they have a few chuckles when giving digs at Modern Warfare 2, but it’s not on par with the production values of the first. You have to finish a battle, stand still for up to twenty seconds before your squad catches up and say anything.
Even the latest trailer seems to have more in common with Bad Company than the sequel.
During the campaign you never really feel connected to a squad. Most of the time they would not seem to be there with you or actually be two steps behind. Same can be said about the enemy AI. They would aimlessly run around the environment and just aim straight at you and fire, they didn’t seem to run for cover and just became a bullet sponge to fire at.
It seems like Battlefield is going back to its old ways of adding single player far later in the development phase. That’s not to say the multiplayer isn’t awesome, but I still love my dose of single player. Not just to pass the time and to boost achievements.
The cut scenes seem to have been an added after thought too. Many scenes seem unfinished or just unpolished. For example, many facial animations would clip through the body armour or just not look right when holding an item. Even the musical score seems added on as filler. Many scenes would have a dramatic moment and at the last second add the audio cue missing the moment entirely.
The pacing of levels would seem messed up too. You would start the level with a cut scene, then walk a few feet would then start another cut scene. It’s not just once or twice, its more or less after every cut scene and became quite tiresome.
Lack of co-op in this era is still quite frustrating. Especially that most if not all but one level of the campaign has at least another friendly.
But that’s getting too picky now.
Or is it?
I’m sure it’s not in many ways because it’s more or less the industry standard now. I think it would have added that little bit more to it. The same could have been said about Borderlands, adding co-op added more life to the game.
The multiplayer however is a totally different story.
It adds much more on top of what was already a decent online shooter. It seems much more refined and adds more depth than most shooters which is refreshing. After the usual Battlefield launch teething issues with servers (or lack of), its safe to say Bad Company 2’s multiplayer is what Dice have been working none stop around the clock to get right. Everything from the maps, vehicles & weapons, to the slow & steady pacing amount of unlock items you receive when ranking up. It’s all the little extras and refinements which makes it a much more enjoyable battlefield.
The way things are unlocked are not as fast and as common as they are on Modern Warfare. At times you would unlock too much stuff at once and not have any idea what to do with them, but on Bad Company 2 you get just the right amount of unlocks to get used to as you advance up the ranks. The multiplayer maps are well balanced too and with Frostbite Destruction 2.0 no sniper is safe for long in a building that is now fully collapse-able. It’s such a great thrill when you can’t get anywhere near the objective because the place is flooded with enemies. You just get in a tank and just blow up the building crushing all those inside!
The thing that I always come away with after playing is how much the audio really adds to the game. It’s by far one of the best I’ve heard since Half-Life 2. It seems to have such depth. It’s not just the closer the weapon, the louder it sounds. It’s the whole amount of bass from an assault rifles thunder-cracker from the other side of the map is just such shock & awesome! It adds a sort of echoing effect and ricochets all around adding much more sense of scale to the maps. With a 5.1 set-up all the channels are working overtime to allow you to hear the snap, crackle & pop as bullets fly past your head. It’s truly is fantastic!
You can also hear players shouting orders & reconnaissance when they spot enemies. Even hearing the enemy’s last yelp in the distance as you hit them with a sniper rifle. It’s all portrayed perfectly.
To sum things up Bad Company 2 is a great in-depth multiplayer experience which is a must have for any shooter fans or previous battlefield veterans alike. Just don’t expect the 6 hour or so single player campaign to make you keep going back for more, its defiantly a multiplayer orientated game.
So overall Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a fantastic addition to the franchise and narrows the gap between consoles and Pc because it’s nearly, if not as fantastic as Battlefield 2 was back in the day. It’s defiantly one of the best multiplayer games of this generation and will hopefully only be a glimpse of what Battlefield 3 has to offer.
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