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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – First Impressions

I only have 1 thing to say "Fuck yeah!"

I haven't been interested in a multiplayer based game in a long time.  I have over 6 days logged in Modern Warfare, but the sequel frustrated me and I havn't played it since the first month it was released.  I played a lot of Medal of Honor 1, Call of Duty 1, and Battlefield 1942 multilayer back in the day.  But only Modern Warfare really grabbed my attention since then, and it is definitely due to persistent leveling system found in the game along with the precise gun play.

I believe I played a single player demo of Bad Company 1 and I was unimpressed.  The destruction seems limited.  The guns felt weak and inaccurate, a problem that I feel has plagued battlefield since the beginning, likely a side effect of the development team focusing heavily on vehicles.  I was disappointed that the Bad Company 2 demo would be multiplayer only, because recently I have had no interest in playing shooters online.  The MW2 community infuriates me, and I find a lack of team cooperation to be boring.  I tried the demo anyways, and I instantly fell in love.  To be honest I had no idea what the hell was going on.  Building were blowing up, people were dieing, I was being revived by the famous defibrillators.  I barely knew the controls but I was able to defend the bomb from a few enemies.   Even with my little effort I felt as if I was part of a team.

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In the very near future I think I will start a segment highlighting elements of excellent game design  of games from under my "Currently Playing" list, starting with a couple features of Bad Company I think work together to make an excellent game. But for now I want to highlight the destruction.  First of all, anyone who uses 2.0 to describe anything should be slapped right in the mouth.  It is stupid and I can't believe anyone finds that vague term acceptable.  But despite the word being dumb, destruction 2.0 is great.  The destruction doesn't feel limited, and many building can be completely leveled.  Surprisingly, it takes a while for the battlefield turn into a heaping pile of smoldering rubble.

This free form destruction leads to battlefield that are dynamic.  I find the mounted machine guns around the maps to be very useful.  They are powerful, accurate, they shower the battle in lead, and there are a lot of them scattered in various windows and towers.  But all it takes is one well placed grenade and you will have to say goodbye to that mounted gun for the rest of the match.  I have only played rush so far but destruction plays a huge role here.  When placing or diffusing a bomb, walls are your friend and provide you safety from enemies.  But when enemies are within the building you need to decide if you want to create a gaping hole to provide easy access to the a hiding enemies back, or do you want to let the wall stand to give you added protection when you inevitably need to arm or diffuse the bomb.

Battles never seem to get old. I have yet to see anyone stay in the same spot as that spot will likely be reduced to nothing before long.  At worst you will see snipers finding nice camping spots in the woods.  Luckily, snipers worst enemies are walls, and they can't destroy them from a distance.

I can't say enough about how much fun I've had with Bad Company 2 in the past couple days.  I wish there weren't two heavy hitters coming in the next two weeks, because all I want is some precious time with my new favorite online FPS.  In future posts I will be discussing the squad system, the enemy spotting system, and how these contribute to a game that has everyone working as a team even without the use of headsets.

About Alex

Alex has always had an interesting in technology and a love for games. He started gaming with Mario Bros. at the age of 2 and never looked back. He looks fondly on the past and eagerly toward the future as he spits the truth about the currant landscape of the video game world.