Anyone who is familiar with the Battlefield series will have a basic understanding of what to expect before playing these games, anyone who hasn’t played a battlefield game and likes shooters should quite honestly be very disappointed and can only know that at some point there will be a battle taking place on a field. So most of us shouldn’t surprised that the tactically faced multiplayer and open warfare is the underline idea to this latest sequel by DICE, but that in no way implies that every Battlefield game is the same. Every Battlefield game throws in something new and something worthy of another purchase, whether that is new weapons, tanks, modes or a new gameplay feature, I think the total annihilation of everything you see is the most worthwhile. What is also different this time round though is the inclusion of a proper thought out campaign, that poor excuse for single player in the previous Battlefields (including Modern Combat) won’t be seeing the light of day in this game, here there are characters, FMV sequences and a loosely strung together story, which is a whole lot of an improvement from fighting mindless AI. The single player shows you where the name ‘Bad Company’ originates from, and that’s the name of your squad, although technically B-company due to your actions with this squad you will eventually become known as Bad Company. You’ll be playing one of four squad members, the new guy ‘Preston’. He is the ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ of the team, the slightly bemused misfit of the army trying to make sense of an uncanny situation, you then have ‘Sgt. Redford’; the stern leader of the squad, good at putting the team into shape, ‘Sweetwater’ the under confident, but all knowing geek member, and last but not least, Haggard, the slightly unusual but easily likable explosives expert. This is the squad you’ll be sticking with throughout the game and the ones you’ll be growing to know, the story itself homes in on the objectives given by the army and eventually the squad’s love for gold.

Gameplay:

First things first, splitting the campaign from the multiplayer. Its best to know that the campaign is not a worthwhile purchase on its own and it should be really seen as an introduction to the game’s core aspect, the multiplayer. Although I said there was an large improvement in the game’s multiplayer I really just meant it was now worth a play through, as before it was worth ten minutes for practice. The campaign now serves two purposes, one is for getting the practice, getting used to the new feature of destruction, and two is for watching some great interactional footage between the particularly interesting characters. The story and the objectives given to you in the game, they’re very typical, mediocre and eventually repetitive. It is easy to notice the general sequence of events; you’ll be given an introduction sequence or mission brief , then you’ll take part in the mission that has you counting the number of excuses to blow everything up, DICE were proud of their Frostbite engine. The AI isn’t exactly tactical, they always know where you are and they almost always shoot at you, this ruins the immersion of a battle for me and it’s why I like Battlefield for it multiplayer. Now, once you’re done with the relatively short singleplayer campaign, or you’re bored of pointlessly blowing up buildings and AI, you can come and play multiplayer and pointlessly blow up buildings and human players, so much more fun. The options for multiplayer are rather limited, slightly disappointing compared to its PC counterparts, you’ll have one screen, and this will give you the choice of ranked and non-ranked, normal or hard selection of players and your map choice. There is no host or join game selection, it’s totally dependent on dedicated EA servers. And on top of all that, there’s only one gameplay mode called Gold Rush; but apparently all this is about to be changed. Albeit the sparse amount of options, once you’ve played a few games it’s incredibly fun and the destructibility feature makes a true difference. In game is where this title shines, the sounds of bullets rushing past your ear, shells landed around you, tracer rounds firing side to side… you are on a battlefield. They’ll be times where you’ll forget that you can blow things up, that pesky sniper in a top window, the whole strategy is changed when you blow up the back wall and jump in, or blow up his cover and make him exposed to his enemy, or drop an artillery barrage on him, you’re not even safe inside a building anymore. This may seem unfair and a tad irritating, but there has been a little white lie, not everything is destructible; central walls of most houses are indestructible, and certain large structures and barricades can’t be destroyed, but everything else can be obliterated, so choose your cover carefully. Outside the game, the options may seem very little, but when you’re playing a multiplayer game the options are plentiful and well balanced. There are five classes to choose from, the typical assault, the demolitions class, the recon, specialist and support. All of which have their particular purposes and abilities, and having tried all of them extensively there’s a good use for every one of them. The assault is the great all rounder, their weapons have high damage, good accuracy and grenade launchers attached to their rifles, they also have the Life-2 (heal yourself) ability which is unlockable after a couple of ranks. The demolitions have the rocket launcher, shotguns which kill basically in one shot, anti tank mines and hand grenades. The recon is the sniper of the group, high damaged sniper rifles, laser designator and motion sensor, the specialist with the fast firing weapons and C4 like explosives, and the handy support with its heavy support weapon and team healing abilities. Each member plays a vital role in a squad; it’s just a shame that the squad mechanics in the game don’t really encourage you to play as a squad. Before you play a game you can invite three other members, these will join come with you to the games you join and you should stay in the same squad throughout each match. I say should, as a number of times I have been split up from my squad, this may be a bug. All the squad mechanic does though is allow you to spawn off each other and talk to each other in game, there really isn’t that much benefit or reason for tactical play. It’s a tad issue that will hopefully be thought about more carefully in future titles. Battlefield Bad Company adds a fantastic feature which hasn’t been done this well in any game yet, and the feature is not only good to look at it creates an all new way of thinking in multiplayer. But like normal, no game is without its problems, this game just has a few things missing which could turn a great game into a fantastic Battlefield experience.

Graphics:

DICE really haven’t let the Frostbite engine go without being noticed in this game, the amount of explosive barrels and explosive containers you’ll find in this game, they like to make it obvious, but they really deserve to brag about it. It’s one of the best looking and impressive engines I’ve personally experienced on this console. The slight lush and bloom tinted atmosphere is perfect for the singleplayer’s playful attitude towards a once seriously taken series, the ‘dynamic’ destruction isn’t quite dynamic but it’s very convincing and so well implemented you won’t even care. Artillery shells will even make craters large enough to let you hide in them, you can cause cover! There’s nothing critically bad to say about this game visually, it just proves the Xbox 360 has a lot of room to play with and gives us hope for even better looking titles soon to come.

Sound:

Another high point in this game is the sound effects, with the right equipment they are mind blowing. What was most impressive were the distance gunfire and explosions, with surround sound you’ll really experience the benefits. Through just hearing where the fighting is happening you can find a battle, they’re really that good. When a wall is destroyed next to you if you don’t see it you will know it, it explodes and crumbles, tank shells will ‘blast’ and not ‘fire’, grenades will ‘blow’ and not ‘detonate’, bullets will ‘whizz’ and not ‘fly’, it’s really just another excuse to blow things up, this is an excuse which benefits the audience though, keep it up. The music is another feature worth mentioning, you have the classic Battlefield theme tune remixed into different versions all sounding very cool, and some of those in menu tunes just won’t get out of my head, It’s irritating, in a good way…

Longevity:

Unfortunately, the campaign won’t last you longer than six hours. For a ‘hardcore’ gamer I’d say around two days, but to be honest for most gamers this is fine. Like I had mentioned before, the campaign is really the ‘cherry on top’ and a decent introduction to the fantastic experience you’ll have in multiplayer. Gold Rush being the only mode for the moment, if it stayed this way this mode will die out very fast. A multiplayer oriented game cannot have one game mode, unless it’s conquest of course. But sources have said a patch will be available and we’ll see the emergence of conquest, clan/host support options, this will give almost limitless play. It has also been said that there will be new weapons and maps available in the future, this we’ll have to wait and see though. Battlefield Bad Company could easily last until the next sequel with continued support.

Overall:

What can I say, the Battlefield name has had a long history, ever since Battlefield 1942 the Battlefield series has been well known and well loved, but the core gameplay has never really been shaken up, it was never a risk DICE has taken, but they tried it with Battlefield Bad Company and they really have pulled it off. Battlefield Bad Company is one of very few shooters to come out this summer for the Xbox 360 out of a collection of so many overall, but Battlefield Bad Company surely isn’t going to be the breaking point for this genre as its dark humour and explosive gameplay is keeping us thirsty for more. As long as we see some of these promised weapons and rumoured maps in the future, this game will be a keeper for a real long time. I say, just keep the shooters coming.