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EA and Activision are embroiled in a sort of Pepsi versus Coca-Cola type brand warfare. The two gaming giants go back and forth, each creating competing franchises in popular gaming genres in their quest to dominate the gaming world. 'Battlefield Bad Company 2' is EA's answer to the wildly successful 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2', which broke sales records during the all-important 2009 Christmas season. Usually such simplistic comparisons are avoided, but the writers of 'Battlefield' take numerous referential digs at 'Modern Warfare 2' and make it patently obvious this is a "me too" franchise. Like 'Modern Warfare', 'Battlefield' is anchored by a relatively brief single player campaign that took less than 10 hours to play through on normal difficulty. 'Bad Company 2' picks up where the original left off. The U.S. is embroiled in a worldwide conflict with a resurgent Russian military. The boys of 'Bad Company' are tasked to retrieve a doomsday device developed during WWII and seemingly lost in Bolivia. Why? Who knows? The plot is incomprehensible – something the game shares with 'Modern Warfare 2' – and is just a set up to the action in a various exotic locales. You play as Preston Marlowe, a grunt whose part of Bravo Company, a four man team of indestructible misfits. The F-bomb-dropping-comrades-in-arms mix their killing with heavy doses of insults and popular culture humour. 'Modern Warfare 2' did a terrific job of capturing the chaotic and almost uncontrollable nature of war. Your success seemed to come with heavy does of luck at times as confusion reigned. This intensity doesn't exist in 'Bad Company 2'. In fact, the game got easier as it progressed. Strategically flanking the map with some sort of scoped weapon easily dispatched most enemies. Your companions are indestructible, so they make great distractions. At one of the later levels I watched for three minutes as my companions sat in the open and were being consistently hit by .50 caliber machine gun fire. My understanding is this would rip most humans in half. After but a few complaints, the NPG members of Bravo Company, would reload and return fire. Granted the game is stressing a lighter tone but a little more realism would have been appreciated. While 'Bad Company 2' is a fun game, with some moments of drama, excitement and exceptionally detailed environments, it tried to outdo 'Modern Warfare' with gimmicks rather than substantial improvements to game design and combat. Some of those gimmicks work, such as the fact the aforementioned rendered environments can be completely destroyed. Others are annoying, such as the game's frequent use of vehicles, which are more or less deathtraps. The destruction of game environments, which the game developers refer to as "tactical destruction", is a great feature. In both single player and online multiplayer, you never stay anywhere to long as any heavy weapon fire can literally bring the house down around you. Players can even die by just being in collapsing building. You have to be aware of your surroundings. So, the age old practice of "camping" with a sniper rifle can be a perilous tactic online. The addition of a multitude of vehicles which range from four wheel ATVs to armoured helicopters really doesn't bring anything of value, just frustration. The problem is the vehicles (and you inside) are too easy to destroy. In the single player campaign, you're never more vulnerable to a quick death than driving around in a fully functional tank. In online play as soon as you enter a vehicle it seems to shows up on all your enemies' HUD displays. You might as well be wearing a "Kill Me Now" sign. You have maybe 30 seconds before you're peppered with heavy weapons fire and blown to bits. In fact in one online contest, I found myself running around a tank at close range lobbing grenades and damaging my foe's vehicle. After several minutes of irritation my online adversary decided it was easier to get out of the tank and chase me down. There is a lot of replay value. That's the game's strongest suit. In particular the four-man squad-on-squad matches were terrific and intense. 'Bad Company' is designed to stress team play, and you can even choose to re-spawn anywhere on the map a squad member is still alive. Generally speaking, the squads who tend to work well as teams tend to win the matches. Pros:   Terrific environmental game design Tactical destruction allows you to blow those environments to smithereens Multitude of modern weapons to use Online play stresses teamwork which makes it more newbie friendly Cons: Vehicles are deathtraps Cartoonish single player campaign lacks realism of any kind Russian invasion plotlines are getting tiresome 'Battlefield Bad Company 2' Format: Xbox 360 Publisher: EA Games Developer: EA Dice ESRB Rating: Mature Official Site: http://battlefieldbadcompany2.com Rating: 8 / 10

 

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