Review: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

When it was first announced that a sequel was going to be made for the Bad Company series, I immediately thought of all the talent at Dice that I felt was wasted. The fact that they had taken a previously PC dominated franchise and turned it into the consolified, toned down game that appealed to the lowest common denominator that Bad Company was, I had lost any hope that I would relive the appeal from Battlefield 2. When I had seen what Bad Company 2 looked like, and heard the explanation of what multiplayer would be like, I was intrigued. When I got to actually play the multiplayer and experience Rush mode for the first time, I was impressed. Upon finally touching the finished product, playing hours and hours of multiplayer and sitting down and playing the single-player, I realized that Dice had become a developer that wants to try new things, and to take those new things and build on them. While some have said Battlefield is always more of the same, I can't help but agree in that you can never have too much Battlefield.

In the single player, Bad Company 2 brings us back to the original Bad Company. You play as Marlowe, and you're running around with Haggard, Sweetwater, and Sarge all over the hottest parts of every war zone in the world. I was completely turned off by the single player in Bad Company, and when Bad Company 2 first started, aside from the prologue, I felt the exact same way. A lot of things in the single player completely ruin the experience for you. Enemies have Oblivion Syndrome, and I don't mean that they shout out hokey one-liners every time you're caught. Enemies have X-ray vision and it's especially prominent in tanks. Considering everyone has been granted the ability to destroy walls in Bad Company 2, this is especially alarming. Instead of being able to run behind a house or something to avoid being shot at, an enemy tank will continue firing through wall after wall until the one you're standing behind is gone and you're standing there with your pants down. This is considerably frustrating and will force you to find indestructible cover to hide behind. Another head-splitting issue is your AI teammates and the lack of a co-op option. Yes, Haggard and Sweets are supposed to be comic relief, but they also have guns and are apparently invulnerable to damage, so do something! Instead, most of the time they'll sit in the way or block your exit while repeating the same few lines over and over again. This is especially frustrating when teamed up with the recoil that occurs every time you're hit, making it nearly impossible to pull off a shot while under fire. Of course, flailing wildly while being shot actually makes sense. Overall what the single player lacked in the first game was actually remedied in the second game, but with a new set of problems. While the plot is fixed and a lot of the new features are really cool, some other things fell along the wayside, including AI.

Multiplayer, however, is a completely different beast. Most reviews are handled before actual release, or on release day due to information embargoes. I'm sorry but I'm not sure how you can actually rate the multiplayer of a game without actually playing with the community that supports it. Honestly, after reading a few Bad Company 2 reviews I'm under the impression most of the reviewers haven't even played multiplayer, or if they did it wasn't on a live server. Battlefield's roots are in multiplayer, and this revival of that experience is not only refreshing but welcome. Bad Company 2 is Battlefield Lite, but still manages to pull off the incredible feeling that you're participating in one of the larger scale battles currently being waged on the internet. It's important to note that Bad Company 2 has a ranked server limit of 32 slots, no airplanes, and is limited to only four classes. However, each of these classes are very in-depth, have plenty of progression about them, and while the battles are scaled back and without airplanes, the amount of vehicles in each map combined with destructible cover makes each multiplayer experience feel just right. There are four modes: Squad Deathmatch, Squad Rush, Rush, and Conquest. Conquest is classic Battlefield, with 3 points that have to be captured and an ever falling ticket count that reminds everyone that trying to stay alive is almost more important than getting a kill.  Rush mode runs a more linear path that actually speeds up the game a little bit.  What I truly admire about Rush mode is that it takes Battlefield to the next level.  While Conquest mode allows you to relive Battlefield in it's most primal form, Rush takes that and gives it an objective. Squads have been reduced to four people, and Squad Deathmatch/Rush are pretty self-explanatory.

EA Online has had some problems maintaining their servers since release. There have been incredible problems with the in-game server browser, and I really do wish developers would take the time to just read up on Steamworks to see all that Valve and Steam can provide them. Bad Company 2's server browser is clunky, takes entirely too long to retrieve any data from the master server list, and most of the time your friends list doesn't work at all. This is of course teamed up with the lack of an option to input an I.P. address to directly connect to a server.  There are also horrible server disconnects/game crashes and a complete lack of auto-balance functionality. While these terrible problems that should never have been overlooked would normally break a game, Bad Company 2 is just too good to toss away. Progression is done correctly, allowing you to gain points to unlock new weapons and armor for your class, while medals and pins are done so well that you find yourself playing more and more often just to get the next pin or the next rank. My hope is that Dice/EA Online are able to fix these issues soon, otherwise as time passes people will give up on it. I certainly don't want that to happen, because we have a gem that's shown itself in the soon to become over saturated modern warfare first-person genre.

Bad Company 2 is an excellent addition to the series. It delivers better than its predecessor and shows you that Dice means business when they come to creating a full suite of games. While I feel the single player is more cinematic and more enthralling than Bad Company, Dice still has a ways to go when it comes to developing characters and presenting a story, as well as making the single player feel engaging. Dice also has some things to learn when it comes to servicing a multi-platform multiplayer base. While I can certainly understand that you may be excited to introduce quite possibly the best multiplayer experience in shooters to a generation of gamers who feel that Halo is the best game ever, it's important not to forget where you started. A working server browser teamed with the ability to connect to a server directly via I.P. is something even B-grade titles get right - let's not forget that next time, shall we? Still, despite all of its problems, Bad Company 2 still manages to not only be a worthwhile game but is able to stand out in the series as the one that will bring back Battlefield to the way it once was.

MSRP: $49.99

CASRP: $49.99

CouchAthletics.com doesn't rate games with stars or percentages; we tell you what the game is worth to us.  We paid for the game just like you will, or won't.  We're telling you what we paid, and how much we feel the game is worth.