Zap gives us his opinion
The following unedited review was submitted by Zap, one of our regular contributors at HEXUS.gaming. The opinions expressed in this review are his own and not necessarily the views of the HEXUS team.Regardless of what many will say, a comparison to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is almost unavoidable. So the question is this, how well does Battlefield Bad Company 2 stand up to the record selling competitor from Infinity Ward? Pretty damn well.
Bad Company 2 doesn't miss a beat, acknowledging its closest rival and more often than not going out of its way to take clear jabs at their competitors. One of the more memorable scenes sees bad company in a helicopter discussing the possibilities of recruiting special forces at which point Haggard decides to spew forth "those pu#@$%! with heartbeat sensors." and that's just one of many!
After a very compelling beginning sequence that takes place near the end of WWII, players take control of the familiar Preston Marlowe, alongside him the rest of Bad Company, Sweetwater, Haggard and Sarge complete with all their squabbles, complaining and often hilarious one-liners which all add the much needed human element to the campaign. While the story is a fun and often over the top affair it just doesn't captivate and is easily forgotten after completion, but that said, it does a great job keeping the player engaged, paired with some memorable scenarios and awesome firefights that will keep you going till the end.
The controls in this series have always been very precise and easy to grasp. In this outing they're no different and serve well when bringing the pain. Vehicles are easily mounted and easily controlled with a wide range of options to suit players with different preferences to control layouts. Some vehicles are harder to control than others, more often than not I find myself sitting in the burning wreck of what was once a fine Apache fighting machine.
Some of the improvements brought to BC2 include Destruction 2.0, allowing entire buildings to be demolished into nothing more than a pile of rubble and twisted metal. Sadly there weren't enough points during the campaign where this was given its full potential which was somewhat disappointing.
One of the most revealing improvements has to be the health system, now that the previous system has been dumped, you wont find yourself stopping every few feet in order to jab yourself in the chest with a rather large syringe. While being only a very small feature it changes the pace of the game alot and makes everything run that extra bit smoother. I'll also mention that the feel of the weapons has greatly been improved and actually lend something to firing the real thing, coupled with the amazing audio in this outing leads to some very immersive gameplay. One word of advice, those playing with a decent audio setup, head to the options screen and enable the "War Tapes" option to take full advantage of the audio.
Click for larger imageWhen you hear the word "Battlefield" you immediately think multiplayer and that's what the series has always been about. While the single player in BC2 is considerably better than the previous outing, the multiplayer stylings in this game are nearly unmatched.
Complete with four game modes, 10 maps, 24 players, weapon and player ranking, squads, four classes, class-specific weapons, attachments, gadgets and specializations this is a multiplayer experience that gives the closest competitors a run for their money.
The gametypes players can select from include Rush, Conquest and Squad Deathmatch. In Rush as an attacker you're given 2 points in which to plant a bomb while the defenders do everything they can to hold the opposing team off and defuse the bombs. Once the first two points have been destroyed, the defenders are forced to fall back to a further two new points to defend. This procedure is repeated until there are no points left and results in a win for the attackers. If the defenders manage to repel the opposition and dish out enough kills then the round will end there as a win for the defence.
Conquest is the standard Battlefield fare which many fans will know and love. Several flags are spread across a map. Take control of the flags and watch as your enemies respawn counter slowly ticks down till you're declared victor. All be it very, very slowly, sometimes these games can linger on and on and on, there is a definite need for a faster timer in this mode, even with all flags controlled it takes a long time for the round to finish.
Finally Squad Deathmatch sees players put into one of four squads, each squad acting as a team and battling against other squads until one of them hits a kill limit of 50 and is declared the winner. As with all the other game modes, this requires team work! without it, you'll soon be laying in a puddle of your own blood while the victors march onwards over your dead bodies, now let that be a lesson to you!
In conclusion, Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a vast improvement on BC1, the campaign is a lot more enjoyable and the multiplayer is exactly what it should be, a definite rival to Modern Warfare 2. If you're looking for a solid multiplayer experience then buy this game, the campaign is great but the multiplayer will keep you coming back for more and more.
Score - 9.5/10
