The Soldiers of Bad Company are back, and they are bringing with them all the action, all the humor, and all the rampant destruction that made BattleField: Bad Company such an entertaining game; but this squeal doesn't pick up where the first game left off. Bad Company 2 is bigger and better than its predecessor and it packs one heck of a punch. The campaign is more focused and more exciting this time around; and though you still can't play cooperatively with a friend your wisecracking AI companions help insure that you will have a blast as you fight your way through beautiful, exotic locations.
The Campaign is really fun, but it is the online player that makes Bad Company 2 a real standout. Huge Maps, incredible destructibility, powerful vehicles, and excellent sound design all help create explosive and dynamic battlefields. Online competition demands skill, adaptability, and battlefield awareness; and the destruction you leave in your way makes the satisfaction of victory all the sweeter. This excellent multiplayer action, coupled with the entertaining campaign, make Bad Company 2 one of the best shooters around.
The beginning of Bad Company's second tour finds Serge, Marlow, Sweetwater, Hagard stationed in a wintery valley; supposedly serving out Serge's last tour of duty. As you might expect, it doesn't take long for things to turn south, literally and figuratively. You soon leave the snow capped mountains behind for the lush teaming jungle of Bolivia. The environments in Bad Company 2 are surprisingly detailed and beautiful; and the occasionally blurry textured doesn't keep the impressive visual presentation from injecting your adventure with a great sense of scope.
The sound design is even more impressive. From the muffled crunches of your boots in the snow, to the buzz of a mosquito in your ear, the audio really helps emerge you in your location. Nearby explosions rock your ears, and after awhile you will be able to identify individual guns by sound alone. The technical presentation is great across the board, and the visual improvements definitely help Bad Company 2 stand above its predecessor.
Of course, half the fun of scenery is blowing it up. Trees, barricades, and buildings of all shapes and sizes crumble and break realistically when exposed to gunfire or explosives. An enemy shooting you through a narrow window can be seriously unfair, until you use a m203 grenade to make that window a lot bigger. Snipers in tall towers can be dealt with similarly and it is remarkably satisfying to blast the building out from under roof topped enemies. Almost any building in the game can be completely leveled, killing anyone unlucky enough to be inside of it and giving you an invigorating feeling of destructive power.
The most engaging part of Bad Company 2 is the online team based multiplayer. You can have up to 24 players competing in squads in one of 3 match type (Attack / Defend headquarters, Controlling points in the map, and squad team death match). The different game types offer different flavors of combat, but the core action is incensing and engaging no matter what mode you play. The sound design continues to be a standout here, every gunshot, teammate exclamation, and engine rumble is a valuable clue.
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