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It’s not just multiplayer that’s seen improvements. DICE has actually put some genuine effort into making the single-player campaign stand out as well. They seem to have taken most of the complaints about the campaign from Bad Company 1 on board and tried to fix them, and while it hasn’t quite worked out as well as one would have hoped, the campaign still manages to be enjoyable, if only for one playthrough. The level design is much more refined and it doesn’t feel like you’re playing multiplayer maps with bots any more. There are still plenty of opportunities to flank enemies and the destruction brings its own set of tactics into the gameplay.
The AI could use some more IQ points though, especially your squad AI. Its not that they are tactically useless, but they just can’t aim for toffee. Way too often, you will see them standing five feet away from the enemies, emptying clip after clip into thin air. The enemies too seem to be aware of this and respond by shooting at you, and only you. It’s not a deal breaker, but it does mean that you will die some cheap deaths as the enemies will ignore your team mates (even if they are standing right in front of them) to shoot at you.
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Another change from the last game is that there is a coherent plot this time around, but it’s hard to classify that as an improvement. The first game might have had very little in the way of a central storyline, but the charm and humour of the game carried the whole story through with some flair. In Bad Company 2, there is still the occasional wisecrack here and there, but as far as the writing is concerned, by and large, you might as well be playing Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six. Yes, it’s another one of those ‘evil foreigners threaten America’ plots. Still, regardless of its fallacies in certain departments, the single-player is mostly enjoyable, especially the excellent opening and the ending. It will last you about seven hours or so and, at best, it’s a fun little distraction if your internet connection is down. But its multiplayer we came here for, and its multiplayer that makes or breaks any Battlefield game.
This is probably one of the best team-based multiplayer games to come along in a very long time. Divided across four classes – Assault, Medic, Engineer and Recon, everything has been balanced to absolute perfection. Yes, the snipers will bitch about the medics being overpowered, and the medics will bitch about the assault class noob-tubing them, etc. But look behind all of it, and you will find a perfectly crafted game of rock, paper, scissors, or since there are four classes and vehicles, rock, paper, scissors, lizard and Spock. Almost every aspect of the gameplay is based on the simple fact that everything has a counter. The game offers unlimited flexibility to deal with any situation, provided you are willing to experiment. Tank hitting your team pretty hard? Spawn as an engineer and go to town. Snipers being a pain? Spawn as one and counter-snipe. The solutions are only limited by what you are willing to do.
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However, all of that balancing wouldn’t count for much if the maps weren’t fun to play around with. But the game’s excellent destruction physics and some seriously amazing map design ensure that each map has its own distinct look and game dynamics. Smartly placed chokepoints, the clever use of height, and stationary guns make for some breathtaking push forwards and hasty retreats. Throw some vehicles into the mix and you will find there is an almost rhythmical flow to the controlled chaos. Boats and choppers add another dimension to the warfare.
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The multiplayer has four game types on offer – Conquest, Rush, Team Deathmatch and Squad Rush. There is also a Hardcore mode on offer, which trims down your health, removes certain elements from your HUD, turns on friendly fire, and makes everyone think they are snipers and act like idiots. Noticeably, all the game types available are team-based. This can mean that the game’s greatest strength can also become its weakness. If you are in a squad that’s working together and playing as a part of the team, there is quite nothing like Bad Company 2. However, if you get stuck in a squad/team of wannabe snipers, it can also make the quite frustrating.
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Lastly, the lack of any tutorials for the multiplayer can be an annoyance to those who are new to the series. There is no explanation on how the different game modes work, there is no option to learn the ropes by playing offline, nothing that teaches you everyday game functions like how to spot enemies or how to open your parachute, and the game manual is as spartan as can be. So even something as basic as learning to fly a chopper is a trial by fire. This being a game that is more complex and team oriented than your run of the mill twitch shooter, you can’t help but feel some sort of ice breaker would have been nice to draw in the new crowd.
Graphically, and in the sound department, the game is fairly impressive. It looks good on both the consoles, but put it on a decent gaming rig, and it looks absolutely phenomenal. The smoke, dust and ice particle effects are truly outstanding. Some of the interior textures might not be amazing, but the sheer amount of stuff that can happen on screen (especially due to the game’s superb environment destruction) can put almost every other shooter out there to shame. It also doesn’t take a lot to turn all the dials to high and run it at an acceptable frame rate, provided you are willing to turn off HBAO. The user interface is also easier to use on the PC. Add mouse and keyboard controls, the ability to browse and pick servers, etc and it would be very easy to recommend the PC over the console versions. It would also be very wrong.
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While its still (in technical terms anyway) better than the console version, the PC version has a few bugs that need to be mentioned here. At the time of writing, there have been two major patches, and while they have addressed some of the more critical game breaking, issues there is still some minor things that need to be tweaked. Ironically, one of the more annoying things about the PC version is the auto updater (you cannot manually download patches) itself, which can often be a source of anguish (random crashes while patching the game and no resume mode for downloading patches). Aside from the auto updater, the main game itself has some other minor annoyances. Adding servers to your favourites list doesn’t always work, the auto balance feature still needs tweaking, there are times when you cannot see your ping in the servers list if you don’t launch the game with administrative privileges, and the friends list works as often as it doesn’t. While none of them are game breaking flaws, DICE still needs to work on these issues before the PC version can be called the best of the lot.
Conclusion
Fortunately, none of those issues plague the console versions and in all the time I spent playing it, I never really had any problems. But despite whatever flaws you can find across platforms, this is such a team-focused game that buying it on the platform your friends are buying it on is the only advice I can hand out. All in all, its a fairly hearty recommendation. This is one of the best multiplayer games to come out in recent times and every one should give it a go. Watch out for engineers with drills though; those guys are jerks!
(+) Fantastic, well-balanced multiplayer
(+) Great maps
(+) Looks and sounds great
(-) PC version is buggy.
(-) Average single-player AI and story
Title: Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Developer/Publisher: DICE/EA
Genre: First-person shooter
Rating: 16
Platforms: PC (Rs 999), PS3 (Rs 2,499), Xbox 360 (Rs 2,299)
Reviewed on: Xbox 360, PC
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