Battlefield: Bad Company
Review
Destruction is the name of the game
by Liquid306
reviewed on X360
Battlefield
Ever since the Battlefield franchise made its debut on the PC back in 2002 with Battlefield: 1942 it has become one of the best military action franchises around. With so much flexibility and variety in its gameplay, it is safe to say that this franchise is now the Swiss army knife of military games. No matter what style of play you choose – from a sneaky sniper lurking in the grass to a helicopter pilot raining down missiles and gun fire – Battlefield has got you covered. With such huge maps and ludicrous player counts, the series really does stand out from the pack.
Battlefield: Bad Company is a console exclusive title in a PC mega hit franchise. The change from PC to console was a conscious decision by DICE, the game’s developer, to cater to that audience with a real single player campaign, destructible environments and a much more intimate online experience. Get prepared to travel through many hostile nations battling anyone who comes between you and your gold. Online is always a huge part in any Battlefield game and this is no different, up to 24 players can take up arms on 8 diverse maps. With all this wrapped up into one neat package, this is the best Battlefield experience you’ll find on consoles.
Just Following Orders
Flying high above the clouds in a US Army chopper, you – Private Preston Marlowe – contemplate the motivations for war: honor, faith, land, oil. No matter what the initial motivation, every soldier must find their own on the battlefield. As you touch down at a secluded Army Base in an undisclosed location in European farmlands, you approach Sarge, the squad leader. After getting the run down on the current situation you are introduced to the rest of the squad: Sweetwater and Haggard. Sweet being the technical and communications specialist and Haggard the guy who just loves to blow stuff up. This is the place where the Army sends all the insubordinate hell raisers who get brushed off as disposable assets: welcome to the Bad Company.
Right off the bat you will notice this game differs from the previous installments in the series: there are actual cut-scenes. This is the first Battlefield game to have a good single player campaign with a story, not you on multiplayer maps fighting wave after wave of bots like all the others. Another first for the series is the new Frostbite Engine developed by DICE. The implementation of this allows for near total destruction to everything around you. I say near because mortar fire may break apart walls and create small craters in the ground but it won’t break floors in buildings or key structural components that keep a building standing. The destruction is more of a cosmetic add on; you’re never going to be able to blow apart a tree or roof onto someone resulting in a kill. Nevertheless the destruction is the best in any game I’ve ever played, rivaled only by the PC resource cow Crysis.
As you progress throughout the story you find out more about your squad and the way they fight complements that. Sweetwater and Sarge, being more on the strategic side, will call out enemy positions and give cover fire. Haggard on the other hand is more of a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy. Whatever you are fighting, the squad with you reacts (for the most part) to what’s happening around them realistically. They take cover when needed and press forward when it’s safe – it all adds a little to the overall experience. I wish I could say the same for the enemy AI… they don’t really utilize the destruction and have deadly accuracy no matter how far away you are. In the cut-scenes you see Haggard and Sweet constantly messing with each other. Practicing golf swings with shotguns, playing rock-paper-scissors or putting bets down on how long you’ll survive. If you haven’t guessed already, this Battlefield takes itself a lot less serious than all the others.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
