Battlefield has always been a franchise that has offered one of the most satisfying FPS experiences available, especially in multiplayer. And thanks to DICE’s excellent Frostbite engine, Bad Company was arguably even more fun than its predecessors (I’m sure some may be inclined to disagree with me on this), letting you almost level entire maps while comfortably ensconced within the impenetrable innards of a hulking great tank, launching a non-stop barrage of artillery towards anything that moves, or anything that doesn’t for that matter.
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| This is one farm hand you don’t wanna mess with. | This guy looks like he’s never handled a gun before. |
In short, Battlefield: Bad Company was pure wish fulfilment, packed with enough military hardware to make a violent dictator insanely jealous and more loud, loud, incredibly loud firepower than you can shake a really loud, loud, incredibly loud gun at. With a unique tongue-in-cheek humour, Bad Company’s single player campaign might have been the perfect blend of gung-ho military action and pithy dialogue, but it was the game’s multiplayer mode that ultimately left the most lasting impression.
As DICE are rumoured to be adopting a more sombre, serious tone for the sequel’s story, it’s likely to be multiplayer once again that proves to be Bad Company’s biggest draw. And so, it was with no small amount of enthusiasm that we approached our hands-on with the game, twitching at the prospect of yet another dose of wild destruction and reckless mayhem.
With the first game’s unconventional, yet intuitive control system indelibly etched into our brain, it’s not long before we’re able to delve into the sequel’s intense multiplayer action. The controls remain largely unchanged and are still nicely accessible, but the interface is noticeably tighter, meaning that we’re never scratching our head wondering what buttons we’re meant to be pressing, where BC1 previously had you frantically juggling through items and guns simply to find a grenade for instance.
At this early stage, Bad Company 2 is feeling very much the same as its predecessor, with the same level of massive destruction and same unreservedly excellent gameplay. During our hands-on session, we completed three Gold Rush matches on the same Arica Harbour map – a dusty, largely grey and brown warzone consisting of two military instalments at either end and a small bombed out town consisting of crumbling, dilapidated houses in between.
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| Tanks for the memories. No, tank you very much etc. Groan. | Now that's a powerful sniper rifle. |
Initial appearances prove deceiving however, as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has more new stuff going on beneath its surface than you might first imagine. For starters, BC2 utilises a modified version of the Frostbite engine, which incorporates what DICE are calling ‘Destruction 2.0’. In layman’s terms this essentially means that rather than merely ploughing through walls and toppling trees, you’ll now be able to pound entire structures into the ground or blast a small hole in cover for you to fire a cheeky bullet through. While all of this might not sound like very much, the wealth of new tactical possibilities it unlocks shouldn’t be underestimated.
Four classes of character, each with their own bespoke weapons loadout make a welcome comeback from the original too, albeit boasting a broader range of hardware and gadgetry for you to consider before making your choice. All are pretty self-explanatory, so Recon, Medic, Engineer and Assault classes pretty much do what they say on the tin and dictate what style of play style you’ll likely adopt in the field, although you can still scavenge other player’s kit to switch classes during a match. Appropriate weaponry and support equipment is assigned to each class, but DICE has stated that over 15,000 kit variations can be derived from varying combinations of the game’s 46 weapons, 15 gadgets and 13 unique class-specific abilities. The upshot of all this is that it may take a great deal of experimentation before you finally settle upon a favourite set-up to confidently take with you into battle.
Despite sinking countless hours into the first Bad Company, we find ourselves completely outgunned when running around Arica Harbour’s more populated areas, so sticking close to your squad is a pretty sound strategy to take. As in BC1, you select your spawn point each time you get torn to pieces in a hail of gunfire, and as ever, popping in by an active teammate is for us, the most preferable option to avoid instant death. Assault class is easily the best all-rounder, the no-nonsense auto-rifles proving lethal in both long range and close quarter skirmishes. Of course, this doesn’t prevent a ghillie-suited maniac sniping you from afar, but then you can always be that very maniac if you’re suitably skilled enough.
Jumping into a tank on the other hand brings the feeling of empowerment that makes BC such enormous fun come rushing back, whereas suddenly being obliterated by several RPG launchers makes the feeling rapidly subside. It seems we’ve forgotten just how riotous Bad Company’s multiplayer fracas can get, with everyone competing for the same targets, snipers concealed in guard towers, helicopters shredding scenery into ribbons from on high and tanks trampling anyone dumb enough to wander into their path. Things invariably get chaotic, which adds up to one hell of an entertaining multiplayer experience, even if we do say so after playing through just one map.
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| This is exactly what Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is all about. Things what go boom and that. | The same superb squad-based multiplayer gameplay remains intact. If it ain’t broke… |
We’ve yet to sample the new single-player campaign, which supposedly follows a more mature B Company into darker territory. Or the new vehicles - the UH-60 transport helicopter and nippy ATV – but based upon several rounds of compulsive multiplayer, we can confidently report that BF: BC 2 is looking very promising indeed. While Arica Harbour is a predictably drab, sandy setting, the promised variety in the other yet to be revealed maps in terms of terrain and gameplay focus puts our mind at ease.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is looking very much like yet another hot, steaming dollop of the very same stuff that’s already gone before albeit bigger, better and louder than before. Ultimately, this really can’t be considered to be a bad thing and DICE seem to be on course in delivering exactly what players want from a Battlefield game. Mass destruction, lots of guns, loud explosions and a hefty dose of mayhem. What more could you possibly ask for?
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is pencilled in for a March 2010 launch date.
