Destructible scenery is nothing new, many games have used it including the original Bad Company and the Red Faction series, but until now no one has perfected it. What does it bring to a game though, besides looking very nice?
Being able to destroy every wall, building, guard tower, tree, basically everything, makes you play the game completely different to its competition. Is the enemy bombarding you from the upper floor of an apartment building? Then just level the building with a few well placed rockets. Or are they laying down heavy fire over an open area? Don’t slowly charge forward risking life and limb, instead climb into your nearest building and shoot through the wall into the next, slowly creating a tunnel into the enemy stronghold. The sheer carnage at your disposal opens up so many different opportunities, each one great fun to indulge.
Dice have cleverly crafted the level design, and in some ways the story, around this key feature. They take you from a somewhat slow burning WW2 mission, quickly ramping up the action when you get your hands-on time with the Bad Company and specifically their grenade launchers. Almost every weapon comes with some sort of explosive possibility, and when they don’t have one, then keep your eyes peeled for the abundance of bright red barrels creatively planted throughout. If you’re tired of destroying things on foot then jump in a vehicle, of which there are many, and rain down some heavy fire. The vehicles handle well, maybe a little unhinged in parts but it suits the feel of the game, getting to fire the weapons is brilliant fun as they can take down buildings in a few hits.
It is a strange feeling however, destroying all the scenery and buildings when they look so good, but it does look nice when you see all the little bricks and support beams creak and crack as it all crumbles into a heap. The sound backs up the graphics with some deafeningly loud noises, creating a thoroughly believable situation. There is nothing that makes you sprint away in fear more than hearing the whip of a tank shell, followed by the ringing silence as your screen fills with dust and sunlight where there once stood a mighty protective wall.
The settings are wonderful, taking you from snowy mountains to busy streets, through lush rainforests and open deserts; all full of life with beautiful backdrops. The levels may be linear in path but you get this feeling of openness, with multiple routes set in place and even more for you to create. If you do wander too far you will have ten seconds to get back in the area, but if you just take your time and look around then you will see just how big the areas are. The missions themselves are varied and make use of their scenic surroundings. You will find yourself racing quad bikes down a mountain side, creeping through a blizzard seeking fire to stay alive and taking out massive jungle encampments.
Much has to be said about the Bad Company themselves as they are as rich and well developed as their surroundings. The majority of the humour comes from Sweetwater, the intelligent blabbermouth who is often found arguing with Haggard, the slightly manic Texan who has a penchant for blowing things up. Their interactions are genuinely funny, especially their sheathed jabs at MW2, but what the game also has is humanity. This is not forced upon you through “thought-provoking” levels but grows on you as you get to know the characters. Marlowe, the protagonist, has his funny moments but it’s his interactions with the rest of the company that have the greatest impact; no matter what they do and what odds they face the goal is always the same, they simply want to go home.
There was only a few small niggles in the game, the biggest being screen tearing in cut-scenes and randomly spawning enemies, but these were heavily overshadowed by all the positives. The campaign is quite short but offers great replay value as there is collectables to be found, but more importantly it is just good fun to play. I for one will be playing it again just to find out if I can level every town in the game.
Of course you don’t just have to blow stuff up on the single player as Bad Company 2 comes with a very impressive multiplayer. Up to 24 players can battle it out online in a variety of different class-based game modes. There is the standard Battlefield modes of Rush and Conquest, alongside other squad based modes such as deathmatch. Squads are a major inclusion in the game as you can team up with three friends, allowing you to spawn beside your team-mates in the heat of the battle. The maps are massive and filled with a variety of different terrain to suit vehicles and troops alike.
Team play is the most important element in the multiplayer as this is not a game where you can lone wolf it and take on the enemy yourself, you have to rely on those around you to stay alive and win the game. The classes all have different roles, each offering ways to support your squad mates; a medic to heal and revive those around you; assault class can drop ammo packs; recon can spot from distance and drop mortar strikes; engineer can repair tanks and vehicles, keeping them in the game. If you give each class enough time to unlock the basic upgrades and a better weapon then the game will really open up for you.
I think that’s where the draw of the multiplayer comes from – it’s a game that rewards you for playing together and investing time into it. Not many games out there are crafted around this and it definitely fulfils a much-needed space in the first person shooter genre. However, if you just like to mess around and blow things up then you can do that too, because at the heart of this game is a superbly brilliant engine that deserves to be abused at every possible moment. A fantastic game that not only has an exciting single player but also a brilliantly balanced multiplayer.
VideogameUK verdict: 10/10
a niente