By Dimorphic
The Battlefield series has always been about multiplayer. Over the years since the originals release, the online component of the game has been the driving force of the game. Modern Combat may have had a tacky single player “experience” added in to appease console fans, but when it comes right down to it, Battlefield just isn’t Battlefield in a single player environment. Until now.
Seasoned developer DICE along with EA have taken it apon themselves to create a deep and playable campaign mode in their newest edition to the series: Battlefield: Bad Company. The beauty of Bad Company is that it has been built from the ground up for next-generation consoles, with the campaign mode well in mind as well as the online component, so everything here is catered for and DICE have pulled off what many thought was impossible, a good Battlefield campaign.
But it isn’t just the campaign that Bad Company brings to the table. It also introduces destructible environments. And I don’t mean concrete pillars that get chipped by gun fires or fences that fall over. I mean walls being blown away, divets of earth being blown out in front of you. Gone are the days where you can hide behind a wall, casually picking off enemies that can’t get close to you because of your cover. And its a fantastic breath of fresh air that is more than just a gimmick, it genuinely and positively effects gameplay.
What makes this possible is the brand new Frostbite engine. Developed by DICE specifically for Bad Company and the Xbox 360/PS3, Frostbite allows for this mass destruction and it works extremely well.
The story of Bad Company follows one Preston Marlow, a new ‘recruit’ of B Company, also know as, you guessed it, Bad Company. Those that have been ‘drafted’ into B Company are those that the army feel are expendable, that do not add all that much to the army as a whole and as such are sent on missions that could be classified as suicidal. Things such as scouting out an entire enemy camp with only four men, that kind of suicidal.
The other misfits in your outfit are Haggard, a redneck with an affinity for explosions; Sweetwater, a somewhat level headed yet cowardly intellectual; and Sarge, the only one in B Company that isn’t a bad soldier, he’s simply made a deal that will allow him to retire early if he takes command of B Company for a short amount of time.
These characters fit well within the climate of the story, they all have over-the-top personalities (except Marlow, who is unusually quiet) and some funny dialogue that makes Bad Company stand out from other military/war games.
The war in the game is fictional and has the US fighting the Russians for an undisclosed reason. Not explaining the motives behind the war actually is a plus to the game, as the characters have little interest in the bigger picture after a few missions in. The story itself is quite similar to the movie Three Kings, whereby your rag-tag group of soldiers goes AWOL and goes on a search for the gold of a wealthy private mercenaries group who is fighting on the side of the Russians.
It’s a well thoughtout and well written narrative that never takes itself too seriously, but at the same time isn’t stupidly casual. It finds a nice balance between the two.
Unfortunately, the campaign is still the weakest point of Bad Company, despite the amount of effort put into it. Not because it doesn’t work, that’s not the case at all, it works very well. More so because of the length. Despite the size of the levels (each taking around 45 minutes to complete) there just isn’t enough to be had. It spans only six missions and will take an accomplished gamer around five to six hours to polish off. However there is a hard difficulty setting, plus collectible weapons and gold to search out for those of you that are achievement hungry. But it just doesn’t seem like enough, the campaign really feels to be hitting its straps when you find that it is about to end, and its a little disappointing.
It is also kind of easy. The AI is very good but the problem is the respawn system. It is very similar to Bioshock, whereby if you die you simply spawn at the nearest checkpoint with the battle exactly where it was a second ago. Things don’t revert like they do in Halo 3 or COD 4, and it makes it easy to just systematically wipe out your enemies. The health system also adds to the ease of the game. You have a recharging stimpack with you at all times that tops up your health when needed. Though this is actually a really cool new way of making a health system, coupled with the respawning it really does make the game seem a little to simple sometimes. If they had a normal spawn system then the health would be innovative, but together it just doesn’t work.
There is a wide array of weaponry in the game to choose from, from assault rifles to sniperrifles, RPGs, sub machine guns and shotguns. Each is satisfying to use and looks a treat. They all have their own unique reloading animations and its just fun to look at, as well as use. As well as that, the famous Battlefield knife is back.
As well as the weapons there is a bunch of equipment avaliable to you. Ranging from your healthpack, to mortar strikes, C4 packs, repair drills (for vehicles) and the laser designator (for that oh-so-satisfying air strike), the equipment mixes things up a bit and makes for some interesting gameplay.
All the vehicles are available in the campaign and give you enough experience to be able to use them well when it comes to jumping online. Avaliable to you are light and heavy tanks, jeeps, dune buggies and the military helicopter, though dissapointinglyno fighter jets. Most are easy enough to get the hang of but the heli is so very hard to control in the multiplayer, yet easier in the campaign. All of these weapons, equipment and vehicles are avaliable in both modes, but are class dependant in the multi.
One area where Bad Company does shine very bright, is the presentation. The grahics in the game are nothing short of breathtaking, sitting on the level of Call of Duty 4 and Gears of War. The sprawling country sides and townships are a site to behold, in single and multiplayer and the audio is some of the best I’ve heard. Gun fire rattles off in the distance and explosions look and sound like the real thing, they are destructively beautiful. However there seems to be a bit of a film grain embedded into the graphical styling of the game, no doubt to give off that gritty feeling of war. The problem is it looks out of place, and unlike in Mass Effect you cannot turn it off.
You won’t be disappointed with the campaign though, it’s a lot of fun and warrants at least two playthroughs, even if just to find all the collectables. Though like most Battlefield games it seems that it is still just an appetiser to the main course, the multiplayer.
The online is the what we’ve come to this party for. Bad Company follows in the footsteps of the previous Battlefield games giving players five classes to choose from before entering the fight on any of the six very large maps. You can choose from either the assualt, recon, support, demolition or specialist classes and each have their own weapon selection and equipment arsenal.
Assualt for example will allow you to use any of the assualt rifles, from AK-47s to M16s and the equipment piece is the health injector from the single player (though you have to unlock it). Demolition gives you the choice of heavier weapons, moslty shotguns, as well as an RPG for vehicular defence. The equipment for this class (after it is unlocked) are anti-tank mines, which are fairly self explanitory.
After you’ve picked your class the objective is to capture or defend the gold crates on the map. Bad Compny uses a frontlines system where the defenders will have four or five bases to defend but only one at a time. The attackers need to capture each gold crate at a base (two) to move the frontline back and attack the next base. The defenders win by exhausting the attackers reinforcements, where the attackers win by getting all the crates. Reinforcements for the attackers are gifted when a base is taken.
The mode sounds simple enough but is very addictive, and its where the destructable environments really come into play. Being able to attack from all sides of a building, not just through the door makes for some tactical gameplay. There was a point where I was sniping some enemies on the roof of a bulding, I took out two of them and was aiming at the third when he blew a hole in the roof and dropped down to the second floor of the house. Its the abilty to do things like this that set Bad Company apart from the other shooters on the market. It may not have the variety in gametypes that Halo 3 has, but it makes up for it in other ways. Plus DICE has announced that the conquest mode from the previous Battlefield games will be getting a free release soon.
The game runs off of dedicated servers and as such you will find very little lag. This is an amazing feat for Australians, as even when playing the rest of the world you will find yourself on even footing, which is very rare.
Battlefield: Bad Company is a breath of fresh air to the console FPS market. Mixing in the fantastic Frostbite engine with a short yet fun campaign mode and an addictive and deep multiplayer component, Bad Company is a must buy for FPS fans looking for a great multiplayer experience, though if it is single player you are after you may be dissapointed.
Gameplay – 8.5/10
Visuals - 8.5/10
Sound – 8/10
Longevity – 8/10
Overall – 8.5/10
WOOOOOOO!!!