Bad Company 2: The Review

Battlefield Bad Company 2 released on March 2, 2010. I have been playing the game almost every day since the release, and this is my review.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is the sequel to Bad Company. The first game of the series never released on the PC, but this didn't stop EA from releasing the sequel to the PC platform.
DICE, the developer for the game, has a great history of buggy games. Pretty much every Battlefield game has been riddled with glitches when they first came out. Bad Company 2 was no exception. My first major complaint was a connection issue problem in multiplayer. I was unable to connect to about 50% of the games I tried to join during the first week of owning the game. I was not alone. It turned out that every gamer running Windows Vista encountered this issue. DICE recommended right clicking on the game icon in Windows Vista and choosing the "run as administrator" option. This ended up being the fix to the connection issue. However, there was one other problem to deal with. I pre-ordered the game, and I was supposed to be given early access to upgradable weapons. These weapons showed up in every online gaming mode, except for Rush mode. This was a glitch that occurred for everyone who pre-ordered the game. I was actually prepared for glitches with this game, because of DICE's history with these glitches. DICE usually cleans up their mess on the second or third game patch.

There are several different multiplayer game modes in Bad Company 2, but the two most popular are Rush and Conquest. Rush mode involves two teams, the attackers and the defenders. The Attackers rush into the battlefield and try to destroy two mobile command stations (M-Com stations). After the attackers destroy the first two, the defenders retreat back to two other M-Com stations. This process repeats, and the attackers win if they are able to destroy the third set of M-Com stations. The defenders, of course, are charged with protecting these stations. Conquest mode is the classic Battlefield multiplayer mode. Two teams have to hold various positions on the map. There is a number countdown for both teams, and it counts down faster for the team with less objectives held. The goal of this mode is to force your enemy’s ticker to reach zero. Overall, I think these game modes are fine. However, I really liked a game mode called "Titan mode," which was available in 2006's Battlefield 2142. That mode involved capturing missile silos. There were 6 to be captured, and held. The two teams also had giant hover ships in the air called Titans(one for each team). The Titans are protected by laser shields. The missile silos fired missiles every 5 minutes at the enemy's Titan, and over time would destroy the enemy's shield. This allowed for another stage of game play where the goal was to rush onto the enemy's Titan, and destroy the reactor core. It was pretty fun in the futuristic Battlefield 2142. However, it would feel very out of place in the modern setting of Bad Company 2.

There are four soldier classes in Bad Company 2: Assault, Medic, Engineer, and Recon. The assault class' special ability is to provide ammo to other soldiers. They are also equipped with grenade launchers. The medic can heal injured teammates, and they can also revive downed players with a defibrillator. The engineer (my favorite soldier class!) can repair vehicles, and they are equipped with RPGs/rockets that can damage enemy vehicles. The Recon class are snipers and have the ability to plant C4 explosives, or call in mortar strikes on the enemy's position. Overall, I like the classes of Bad Company 2. However, DICE seems to be set on reducing the amount of soldier classes. In Battlefield 2 there were Assault, Engineer, Medic, Sniper, Anti-Tank, Support, and Spec-Ops. Battlefield Bad Company 2 seems to combine Assault with Support, Anti-Tank with Engineer, and Sniper with Spec-Ops. I guess in a way this is a good idea. The Engineer class in Battlefield 2 could only repair vehicles, and the Anti-Tank class could only destroy vehicles. Bad Company 2's Engineer class has the ability to do both. Now, these abilities are only specializations. Every soldier class is equipped with guns for dealing with the enemy infantry.

Finally, I would like to talk about the graphics of Bad Company 2. I was blown away. The graphics in the game are amazing. Everything looks realistic, and it is very detailed. For example, trees are actually blowing in the wind. Almost every building can be destroyed in this game. This definitely changes the tactics of the battlefield. In previous games you would have to sneak into a building to take out any snipers hiding in an attic. Bad Company 2 allows you to just destroy that said attic with RPGs or tank fire. This is revolutionary, and Bad Company 2 is the first in its class to have these destructible buildings. A building can even totally collapse if most of the walls are destroyed. This helps out in the Rush mode, where M-Com stations are located inside of buildings. Traditionally you have to go in and destroy the M-Com station. However, sometimes it is almost impossible to break through the enemy's defense. Snipers can help the team out by placing mortar strikes on the enemy building from a safe distance. Eventually, it will collapse and destroy the M-Com station. The graphics/physics of the game are phenomenal.

Overall, I love Bad Company 2. It is sort of a spinoff to traditional Battlefield games. I am really looking forward to Battlefield 3, a sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2. However, Bad Company 2 can definitely perform the job of holding me over until Battlefield 3 releases. I recommend this game to any fan of first person shooters/war games. I play Bad Company 2 on the PC, but it is also available on Xbox 360 and PS3.

(This shall be my final post on Bad Company 2. I was eagerly awaiting it, and it met all my expectations.)