Whatever you have in mind about the previous Battlefield series games…take it and throw it out the window.
Ekim and I started playing Battlefield: Bad Company about three days ago. Before we started playing, he commented that the Battlefield series was more of a multiplayer type of game. For my part, I agreed. Oh, how we both were wrong, to the extreme.
We fired it up and started the single player mode. One of the first things we both noticed was some of the game’s exquisite detail. You could see the texture in the soldier’s uniform and depth in their faces. As we progressed past the first little training mission and got in to the real first level we were pleasantly surprised by a couple of things.
First was the environment’s destructibility. Some objects are able to be destroyed completely while others just completely ruined. It all depends on what type of firepower you’re using. For example, using any of the multitude of machine guns present in the game you can easily take down a small fence and throw enough rounds in to a tree, you can fell it. Up the ante to a fixed mounted .50 cal and things change completely. Felling a small forest of trees is a piece of cake not to mention a group of enemy soldiers. Even buildings are destructible. Some more than others. Again, it all depends on what type of firepower you’re throwing at them. See a building and you decide you’d like to add some custom ventilation? Not a problem, lob a 203 in to the side and watch the side open up like a can of sardines. Anyone standing on the other side of the explosion is usually obliterated. Let’s move up even further. Later on the in the game you are able to call in mortar strikes. The same building that you might have only been able to put a hole in the wall can be completely leveled by a rain of mortars. Other objects such as steel dump bins require a constant pounding but, can eventually be destroyed as well.
There is a wide variety of weaponry to choose from. Most of your weaponry will be acquired by picking it up from a fallen enemy or finding a ‘hidden’ one which are scattered throughout the level. Although they’re not really hidden. Just navigate to the white crosses on the map and they’ll take to straight to them. The only downside is you can’t choose your loadout in the beginning of a mission. The game does a decent job of making sure they give you the “best” weapons for each mission however, there were several times were was praying to find a decent sniper rifle. Each weapon packs its own punch and has its appropriate downside. The MG3 (MG42) carries enough rounds to keep you going for a long time. With a high cyclic rate the rounds diminish quickly and it is not a very accurate weapon. The M24 sniper rifle is deadly accurate since it is bolt action, its downside is a slow reload rate. You get the point by now I’m sure.
The vehicles available to you vary by mission. From jeeps, boats, tanks, APC’s, to helicopters. Yes, even golf carts. (Too bad the golf cart wasn’t outfitted with a .50 cal!) The vehicles are easy to control including the helicopter. Just as carried weaponry each vehicle has its own advantages. The best vehicle to play with was the helicopter for the lone fact that there was no reload rate for either the rockets or guns. Just hold down the trigger and lay waste to anything your eyes set on. Quite fun indeed.
The AI does a decent job of taking cover and moving around the map for the most part. We did notice that once they get locked in to a certain position their movements became predictable. There was always that time when an enemy was ducking down behind a window. You could almost set your watch by when you knew he’d stick his head up again…waiting for it to be taken off by your high powered sniper rifle. As I mentioned, they do move around the map to some degree. If you blow open a building, they won’t stay inside. They’ll move on to some other form of cover.
The best part of the game that I kept complimenting over and over again was the audio. As this is a military war type game, I’m not going to even get in to the voices and background sound. The sound from every weapon and vehicle in the game was outstanding! I’m not sure if the developer took some rifles out to a range and set up some audio recording equipment to get the sound right, but it is very accurate sounding. Fire a sniper rifle and you can hear the rapport echo downrange. Having an enemy fire at you from a distance produces exactly what it would sound like…including delay. You’ll actually see the muzzle flash first and a couple of seconds later hear the round go off. Just like it really would be. This can especially be seen when having an enemy tank fire at you. You’ll see that muzzle flash surrounded by a huge kick up of dust and then the round appears followed by the sound. Just an overall outstanding job with weapon sounds.
As I mentioned in the beginning, both Ekim and I thought this was going to be more of a multiplayer type of game or a very short single player. Battlefield: Bad Company will give you roughly 15+ hours of gameplay depending on what difficulty you have it set on. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, it is difficult to die in this game. You have your trusty adrenaline auto-injector with you at all times. A quick stab to the chest and your health is completely refilled. Unlike in real life, that injector never runs out and you’re never without it. This makes dying either getting hit by an RPG or other type of explosive or simply not using cover enough.
Overall, Battlefield: Bad Company is one huge step up from its predecessors. With good graphics, outstanding sound and a decent single player…you just can’t go wrong with this. A high replay value and great multiplayer makes it even more a good and wise buy.
Hahahaha!!