Category | Rating | Comments |
Story line | 5 | The original game was a console only release, so this is the first time that the misfits of "Bad Company" have traded lead on the PC, even though the other games in the Battlefield franchise are well known PC exclusives. This is mainly because they are more involved and complex games which don't translate well to console play. In Bad Company 2's single-player campaign, the plot in which our protagonists exercise their talents is essentially the same as every James Bond film you've no doubt ever seen. There is a supervillain with his hands on a superweapon, and he is hell bent on "politics by other means". Enter "Bad Company" who find themselves in the role of reluctant-hero-cum-last-saviour. There are four of them, one of which is played by you. Together with your comrades, your task is to stop the bad guys from irrevocably altering the balance of power against the United States, and therefore the entire Western hemishpere. Whether you choose to accept it or not is irrelevant since your boss has already picked you as volunteers. The details of how you do this mission by mission get largely forgotten as background noise since what it all amounts to is kill the guys shooting at you before they manage to kill you and then move on to the next bunch. Oddly, it's actually quite relieving not to have to worry about the intracacies of puzzle solving and mission planning, and just focus on the thrills and spills of combat. |
Graphics | 8 | The scenery in Bad Company 2 is one of its strongest features. The scenes are well illustrated with exceptional detail and diversity. However, the framerates are fluid as the game doesn't falter much even at highest settings on a typically well specified machine. You'd be forgiven for looking at stills and thinking this is like a version of Crysis that is actually playable. However, this is a clever piece of trickery. The environmental detail is an illusion that you discover on objects that are close up. The polygon counts are actually far lower than anything Crysis had, but the texture detail is equivalent. In essence, with some exceptions, whereas Crysis had "real" blades of grass and thick foliage to traverse; in Bad Company 2, they;re often just a painting on a flat polygon: the tree roots you walk over aren't really there. Further, whereas in Crysis you could travel to those hills in the distance; in Bad Company 2, you definitely will die trying... However, this doesn't apply to non-environmental objects such as vehicles, buildings and such like. They are as good as you will find anywhere else and, in fact, better by far. Unlike many other shooters, Bad Company 2 relishes in the detail of it's destructibles. The buildings have many ways of coming apart and it has to be seen to be appreciated as you run for cover only to have it disappear chunk-by-chunk around you! Additionally, depth perception seems to be more realistic than in some other 3D shooters. All in all, Bad Company 2 strikes an intelligent balance between rendering maticulously what needs to be detailed, and simply that which does not. Really, you don't notice any practical difference, but this may be aided by the fact that the playing area is pretty constrained by invisible walls and self destruct punishments for not playing by the rules. |
Sound | 9 | The sound effects are utterly satisfying from the weapon firing to the explosive impact. Ambient effects from the howl of desert winds to the biting sweep of snowstorms subtly add to the feeling of presence in the environment. Most other accompaniments such as vehicles and movement effects are perfectly up to standard also. However, what sets Bad Company 2 apart from its peers has to be the voice acting and dialogue quality of NPC's, particularly that of your A.I. comrades who fight alongside you throughout the campaign. Their comedicly realistic chatter, effective use of regional vernacular and frequent off-topic discussions are critical to the games atmosphere and character development. |
Game play | 7 | The structure of the gameplay creates a feeling of being in your own scripted war movie. The objectives of missions is ultimately to kill all the enemies in the area, as in all similar games. Occasionally, you must interact with a plot device and keep an eye out for collectibles. However, start and end of levels as well as predefined mid points lead to the all too frequent cut-scenes that spoon feed you the story so you don't really have to think for yourself or interact with the environment beyond moving, aiming and firing. Fortunately, the combat itself is a lot of fun and very addictive. Once you start a level, you pretty much don't leave until you have completed it. Later levels offer more interesting challenges such as guerilla style urban firefights of disturbing realism, and open warfare where you have to decide what loadout and tactic is really going to be most efficient. Inspite of this, generally the game is relatively easy to beat for an FPS regular, so playing on hardest difficulty should be your default choice. In addition, even though there appears to be a wide choice of weaponry, it takes a only a few levels to realise one loadout will last you the whole trip if you know how to use it. What makes the journey worthwhile in Bad Company 2, however, is the buddy side of the gameplay. The way the developer has expertly crafted them and their part in your mission really makes this game. You cannot avoid forming an emotional bond with them, and when you have to do something without them, you really feel alone. You're constantly aware of the fact you are working in a team as a contributor and this is a vital point in making the plot more believeable: it isn't just one man against a myriad of enemies as per every other game. Even though your fellow team members are A.I. controlled, they behave pretty convincingly and provide clues and reminders of the safest or most efficient techniques. Certainly, it is one of the best working examples of this mechanic you will find. Apart from that, there are some standard turret sequences scattered about, most of which are actually a lot of fun and inserted at the right points to pace the gameplay effectively. |
Replay value | 5 | The single-player campaign is pretty much a one-time-offer and once you beat it, you won't really miss it. You might miss some of the highlights of the buddy mechanics, but you'll really just wish that some of your other favourite shooters would have included that element. The developer's choice of gameplay mehanics is the critical weakness in the an otherwise successful adventure game that could have set a milestone in the military FPS genre. Even though the player is entertained by the invitingly endless vistas and thickly decorated panoramas, the game relentlessly stifles your initiative in a rather ill-conceived method of limiting you to a glorified corridor shooter experience. In most circumstances, routes to checkpointed arenas are funnelled by invisible walls. In others, they are curtailed by an imersion breaking mechanism that also serves as the limiting factor in the battle areas themselves. If you venture too far (which is actually only a few yards in most cases) the screen will change to greyscale and a countdown timer of ten seconds will begin with a warning message to turn back. Continue and it will blur out before killing you and respawning you at the last checkpoint. This is definitely the game's deal-breaker because it all happens too quickly and within a ridiculously small margin. Ten seconds is often not enough time to make it back, and worse the distances are too short to really feel like you could make the game your own. However, even as this is mostly true of the early levels, it must be pointed out that eventually as the game progresses the battle areas in some missions are quite large, comparable to Crysis' Korean levels even if the freedom around and between them is not. |
Quote from: deadman on November 08, 2010, 02:42:50 AM
Very nicely written BN :-X, I take it that you don´t play BFBC2 online?
Quote from: fragger on November 08, 2010, 02:51:42 AM
Another excellent review! Thanks for taking the time, B33 ENN :-X ... Maybe you should be OWG's resident reviewer ;D
Quote from: B33 ENN on November 08, 2010, 06:54:58 AMThere is something magical about organizing your thoughts as you compose for others to read. Not only does it allow one to "gel" their thoughts, new impressions often emerge as the writing takes place.
...However, I do like putting it down on "paper", so to speak, as it gives me a chance to wax lyrical without interuption ^+-+
Quote from: nexor63 on November 26, 2010, 08:52:31 AM
That was excellent B33 thanks....I guess if a person is someone who likes the fast moving ..... kill or be killed .... eyes fixed on the screen .... no need for planning type of game then BBC2 is the game to play........... >:D
Quote from: nexor63 on December 01, 2010, 08:56:22 AMThat would be great - I'd love to see clips of the action. :-X
I'm busy getting a few screenshots and video clips together, will post them as soon as I'm done.