Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Sony Playstation 3, 2010)

It's only been a couple of months and 2010 is already shaping up to be one of the best ever for gamers. If your wallet hasn't already been emptied, Electronic Arts and development studio DICE have tossed yet another videogame on the pile that can't be missed. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 ups the intensity and visual prowess of its predecessor, while still delivering one of the most compelling multiplayer games around.

If you were to buy Bad Company 2 solely for the single-player campaign, you might come away a bit disappointed. That's not to say it's particularly bad in any way, but it doesn't feel impressive enough to stand on its own as a great experience. Once again, the multiplayer game is the star of the Battlefield show.


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The single-player campaign follows the story of a rag-tag bunch of soldiers as they traipse around the world on the hunt for a mythical weapon of mass destruction which absolutely must not fall into the hands of the Russians. It's a typical story of unlikely heroes as they attempt to save the world, and it will take you across a great variety of locations that range from frozen mountains to densely packed jungles.

These gorgeous locales are the first thing that will spring out at you as you begin the fight. The vistas and skyboxes look nearly photorealistic in many situations, and DICE did a wonderful job blending the particle effects and game objects in the foreground with the more static backdrops. The result is a sense of depth that few videogame worlds can offer.

Things become more impressive yet when the action kicks in. Returning from the last Bad Company game are nearly fully destructible environments. If an enemy soldier is holed up in a second-story bedroom taking potshots at you, all you have to do is send a rocket at that wall and he'll either wind up dead or fully exposed. The same line of thinking applies to just about anything you see – send enough firepower at it and you can watch it crumble.

Once you're done ogling the smoke trails or mountain ranges in the distance, you'll start to notice that Bad Company 2 has taken a few cues from the Call of Duty franchise. The last Battlefield game was the first to introduce a fully fleshed out storyline and it stumbled a bit in the process. The humor was goofy and over the top, the open mission design was a bit too open, and everything seemed coated in a dense fog. A lot has changed and improved for the sequel.


The backdrops are breathtaking.
The big change comes with a more streamlined and cinematic approach to the action. The dialogue is less overtly inane, though it does offer its fair share of humor, and the level design feels more straightforward. While the last Bad Company game couldn't hold my attention, this one kept me interested and having fun from start to finish.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that this Battlefield game has some great mechanics. The guns react well, and sound fantastic. The vehicles handle smoothly and really do a great job of making you feel like the king of the battlefield. The instant-respawns and med kit injections of the last Bad Company have been replaced by the more standard checkpoints and regenerative health bar and that makes the challenge of war feel more realistic.

Get ready for the most spectacular FPS multiplayer experience ever! Battlefield Bad Company 2 brings the spectacular Battlefield gameplay to the forefront of next-gen consoles and PC - featuring best-in-class vehicular combat set across 8 huge sandbox maps each with a different tactical focus. New vehicles like the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and the UH-60 transport helicopter allow for all-new multiplayer tactics in the warzone, extensive tuning ensures that this will be the most satisfying vehicle combat experience to date. Tactical destruction is taken to new heights with the updated DICE ‘Frostbite’ engine. Players can now take down entire buildings or create their own fire points by blasting holes through cover, thereby delivering a unique experience in every match

Players can also compete in 4-player teams in 2 exclusive squad-only game modes, fighting together to unlock exclusive team awards and achievements. Spawn on your squad to get straight into the action, and use gadgets such as the tracer dart in-conjunction with the RPG to devastating effect. Excellence in the battlefield is rewarded with an extensive range of pins, insignias and stars to unlock along with 50 dedicated ranks to achieve. Variety also extends into the range of customisable kits weapons and vehicles available. With 4 distinct character classes, 46 weapons, 15 gadgets, 13 character specializations and over 15000 kit variations to discover and master players will be able to fine-tune their preferred fighting style to give them the edge in combat.

All of these features combine to deliver spectacular and unpredictable action moments found nowhere else in the genre. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is all-out multiplayer warfare at its absolute finest!

This game, is by far, my personal favorite. I am a harcore gamer and practically addicted to the Call of Duty series. However Cod has been, disappointing, that's why I bought Battlefield. Was it a good choice? How about replacement for Cod! Even after Black Ops I find my self continually going back to Battlefield. The setup in battle field is much better than Cod. Games are much larger, im not sure about team sizes but I believe its 12 or 16 per team. Thats a fairly large number of people, but the maps are not crowded. The maps are very well designed, multiple sniper spots, vantage points, explosive barrels, trees, forests, you name it they have it. One of my favorite aspects, vehicles. In every game there is some game ranging from a four wheeler to a tank, to the apache gun ships. It is pretty intense, especially in my case, I had a lucky shot on the pilot of a Helicopter, the whole thing fell out of the sky and killed the passengers who failed to realized that they no longer had a pilot. With no time to jump and deploy a parachute they crashed into the ground, exploding into a horrendous fireball. The game also has a well balanced spawn system. The map will not let enemies into your spawn on most maps. It tells them that they are leaving the battlefield and if they do not return they are killed after 5 seconds. Spawn camping was terrible on Cod and since that problem has never been fixed I turn to battlefield. The game itself is about the same for graphics, maybe slightly less detailed, but the quality of game play, and sound (surprisingly) Is incredible. The campers that plague Cod are no longer a problem (for long) tho camping is a very easy and effective strategy, it is not shunned or recommended on battlefield. You can camp all day long if you want, as long as you have cover, in most cases, once a camper or sniper is sighted (or spotted by another player, a tool which buts a red triangle above enemies on all teammates screens. Very handy) Other snipers will usually seek out the targets, if the target is hidden in a building, a simple shoulder fired rocket launcher is enough to expose poor guy. If hes not killed, it'll shake him up, probably relocate if he can. Building walls, trees, virtually everything is destructible in the game. Buildings will come crashing down, killing anyone inside, or on the roof, once the structural integrity has been reduced. these piles of wood and metal would seem to be worthless, however you can crawl through some of the small spaces underneath and ambush unsuspecting targets. They can provide better cover than the original standing building.

My overall impression? Battlefield ups the bar for shooters, providing a very in-depth and large scale battle every time. No match is the same, and I hope to see you on the battlefield ;)

Holy crap, best multiplayer online game I've ever played on the PS3. Even though I bought it used and didn't obtain a VIP code the game is still really awesome. Though the game options are limited to 4 kinds (conquest, rush, squad conquest, squad rush) those four game modes never get old. Yes, it does have a nice little short story that picks up from the first one very well but the online multiplayer is where the game really shines. Like most games you need to get used to to the game and if you're coming from the Call of Duty series you can't just jump into it. This game isn't as simple as running and shooting you need to be vigilant of your surroundings and use strategies with other players to obtain your goal. Overall I highly recommend this game to any FPS fan, you will not be disappointed.

The gameplay is easy to learn. The single player mode is interesting and fun to play, but after beating the game on one level, not much changes besides the difficulty. The ability to use different weapons and specializations makes the game a lot more interesting for online play. Compared to Modern Warfare 2, I enjoyed playing Battlefield: BC 2 more.