REVIEW: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

In the beginning, (of the last generation console's military first person shooters), there was EA. The Spielberg/Hanks dynamic duo that created the iconic Saving Private Ryan nearly re-invented the military shooter (and WWII game genre) in the Medal of Honor series. Throughout latter span of the original Playstation and into the life of the Playstation 2, the Medal of Honor games were pretty much it. One of those latter games, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, s begot Infinity Ward. With that, we were given the Call of Duty franchise.

In 2007, Infinity Ward 'evolved' from the 1940's to the present day in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Already superior to the games EA were putting out in the military shooter genre, Activision and Infinity Ward, blew everything out of the water. EA's counter was the Battlefield series, which was good but just could not measure up, at least not to the games that IW was developing (sorry, Treyarch). The first console version of Battlefield actually was a modern warfare type game that released on the Xbox, and then a graphical upgrade for the Xbox 360. In summer of 2008, EA put out Battlefield: Bad Company; the answer to CoD4 that scored well, and sold well. Now, in 2010, 4 months after the release of Modern Warfare 2, we have Bad Company 2.

Now, considering all this set-up, you're figuring that all this review is going to be comparing Bad Company 2 to the Modern Warfare games, and its getting a little old to make such a comparison because everyone is doing it. You're right; gotta try and measure up to the champ. EA's doing a bit of a one-two combo this year with Bad Company 2 and this October's update of Medal of Honor, set in the current Gulf War environment (especially with further news that DICE, who developed BF:BC2 is handling Medal of Honor's multiplayer component). With Infinity Ward in shambles, and their ugly little sister studio handing the next Call of Duty, EA may actually be in decent shape in this little genre war, or are they?

Well, I will save you the suspense: EA is in more than "decent" shape. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has proven to be a title worthy of not only giving Modern Warfare 2 a run for their money, but in some areas, even surpassing it.

I'm going to make the discussion about the Single Player Campaign brief: you won't spend a lot of time with it, and you'll find the overarching storyline to be very familiar. I will note that one thing that is entertaining about the Single Player campaign is that it is pretty humorous. You are one of four people in your fire team, each with distinct personalities with a 'A-Team'-misfit type persona. There are even some shots at their Infinity Ward counterparts. Those things did actually add a little something for me to the Single Player experience, which otherwise is short and forgettable. That's really not a knock, but let's face it; you, I and EA both know that the replayability in this game wasn't lying with Sarge and the Gang.

Bad Company 2 shines in multiplayer. I had been underwhelmed in the past with Battlefield 2 and, to some extent, Battlefield 1943. And oddly, the presentation isn't overall that much different from those games: you can control vehicles, run in squads, and level up to attain new weapons. What keeps me coming back are the minor tweaks that have been made; things like balancing within each class. Snipers can be exposed when people get the drop on them, but can call in mortar strikes from distance and set traps with C4. Engineers have silenced SMG's that lack for range and power, but are critical in taking out enemy vehicles (I cannot recommend anti-tank mines more for land vehicles) in addition to repairing your own. Medics carry large machine guns and can revive fallen friends.

You don't necessarily have to kill guys to gain XP (necessary for unlocking better, more powerful weapons). Go around reviving people and giving them health packs with your medic. Replenish ammunition with your Assault class character. Use spotting mines to help your assault teammates know where the enemy is. TEAMWORK within your squad will help you improve your overall game in Bad Company 2.I struggled mightily in the beginning with the default class weapons. Once I was able to unlock class upgrades (such as red-dot, 12x scopes and better weapons) was I able to actually achieve relative success in the game.

I consider Bad Company 2 more "warfare sim" to Call of Duty's "warfare arcade". You will need to account for gravity when you snipe. You won't be able to sit half a map away, put your enemy's skill in the cross-hairs and score a kill. Try that, and the bullet will land about 20 feet in front of him. Meanwhile, he will see where that bullet just came from, get the drop on you by putting the cross-hair about a millimeter or two above your head and turn the lights out on your dumb ass. If you try and "Halo jump" and shoot at the same time, your accuracy suffers, as it will when you run while shoot. You try and go lone wolf? You're going to get flanked and knifed in the back of the head, and your dogtags will be on your enemy's wall forever.

In Bad Company 2, you can go 30-0 and lose a game. Kills aren't the be-all end-all of the (multiplayer) game. The best game mode is "Rush" where one side defends M-Com stations, and one side attacks. You will need to employ team strategy or you're going to get slaughtered. Your squad is going to have to utilize multiple classes in order to combat your enemy. Use the "back" button to spot your enemies. Have a buddy help you destroy a building.

Of course, the multiplayer mechanics aren't perfect. As of now, the M-60 is way too powerful. You can essentially snipe with it half a map away with that thing because there isn't a lot of kickback, and the bullets just shred you when they should be spraying all over the yard at distance. Knifing can be pretty iffy. Multiple time, I get the drop on someone while they are moving, go to plunge the knife in the back of their skull, get the animation, hear the sound effect, but don't get the kill. Instead, dude turns and knifes me.

There is also is no feature for going prone. One can argue this is a good thing since it helps limit "camping" but you can't stop campers, so you should be able to go prone. Really not that hard. Just enable the B-Button (which does nothing) to be the crouch/prone button. See? That was simple.

And while I'm on that subject, the clicking right thumbstick to crouch is freaking annoying. This game suffers the same problem as Halo 3 in that respect. I zoom in to aim, and when I go to fire, I end up crouching because I'm moving the right thumbstick to target. I don't know why it happens, and I don't know why I'm not able to program the controller have another button do any given command.

With all that, we have come to the inevitable side-by-side comparison part of the review. Why is it even needed? Well, let's see: Everyone bought Modern Warfare 2. EA knows that, but they aren't going to sit and be the Diet Rite to Activision's Coca Cola. EA's has spoofed Modern Warfare's commercials, and put out a game that, overall, is almost on par with Modern Warfare. I say "almost", because I'm honestly not quite ready to say "better". Like I mentioned before, Bad Company 2 is more "warfare sim" and Modern Warfare 2 is more "warfare arcade". Modern Warfare 2 looks better. You can get full lobby support. It plays faster. More people are playing it. But it's also a glitch-fest, and one person can dominate a game. Fortunately, in some ways, Modern Warfare 2 forced EA to step up their game, and EA responded. Go ahead and read some of the things I posted last month. Talk to anyone you know playing Bad Company 2, now. They are sticking around because, right now, Bad Company 2 is the better multiplayer experience. There, I said it; and now, its up to what's left of Infinity Ward to change my mind.

TL;DR-  Right now, it's what you should be playing.