Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2, released just this past March by EA DICE, is the much anticipated sequel to the original released in 2008.  With a returning cast of characters that include Sarge, Sweetwater, Haggard, and Preston Marlowe, gamers could expect to have a serious FPS accompanied by the humor and wit that was seen in the first Bad Company.  Added to the mix is a little more comic relief in the form of a pacifist, hippie helicopter pilot named Flynn.  The game starts out a little unexpectedly, placing you in Japan on an extraction mission just a few hours before the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.  That being said, the player is placed in 1945 as opposed to modern day, which only livens up the overall game.  EA DICE manages to toss in some older guns to keep the time line straight, but then afterward, the players returns to modern times standing amongst Bad Company as Preston Marlow.  The story line of the game, while well done, isn't nearly as fun as the first game.  In the first it is a lot of fun to go AWOL and search mercenary camps for gold, knowing that while you're in the army, they just sort of drop you and pick you up as needed.  In the second, the story line is much more heavily based on a sort of weapon of mass destruction that Special Ops has recruited you to find.  This makes the story line much more straight forward, but Bad Company is much less the "runt of the litter" that it was in the first game.  However, in the second game, the antagonist is much more sinister and plays a bigger role than the one in the first game did.

Graphically, the series has improved significantly.  The various landscapes in which you're placed are much more varied than in the first one ranging from blizzard torn tundras to lush green jungles riddled with trip wire explosives.  While the campaign of Bad Company 2 is significantly shorter than Bad Company, these creative environments help to spice up the single player experience and make it just as enjoyable.  Certain things are a bit choppy such as shadows that seem overly pixel-like, which tends to distract from the incredible textures and lighting on the guns and various other elements in the game.  Ground textures for the most part are pretty good especially in the snow and desert, but the jungle environments consist of flat leaves and twigs plastered to the ground.  The character figures in the game are more or less the same, but look a little sharper than their predecessors.  Certain things still feel a little off, but nevertheless it isn't a huge issue.  Visually I didn't run into any glitches like I did in the last game, I never saw my team mates flying through the air or anything of the sort.

The controls in Bad Company 2 are much more friendly than in the first release.  The controls have adapted to what is more common nowadays, placing the melee attack with a click of the right joystick and making use of the "Y" button to switch weapons.  On that note, the weapons system has had a huge change.  Where in the first you were limited to a set of weapons, either containing an assault rifle with a grenade launcher, a sniper with a pistol, a light machine gun with grenades, etc., in the second you have something called supply crates.  Every so often when you come to a check point there will be a supply crate which is filled with every gun you have yet to find in the game.  Furthermore, you are allowed to take two weapons with you, no matter what they are, enabling me to carry around my sniper and assault rifle combo.  The gadgets in the game have taken a step down and aren't nearly as common or numerous as they were in the first game.  Gadgets are also only provided to you when they are needed, as opposed to always being at your disposal.  While this makes the game slightly less interesting, it also makes it more challenging.

Destructive environments still play a key roll to Bad Company's game play, but the feature has been upgraded from two years ago.  Where in the first game basic structures such as supports, roofs, and the like were the only things that could be left standing, now even those basic elements can be torn down.  If you wait too long undercover of a house being bombarded with explosives, be sure that the roof will eventually collapse on top of you and kill you (In fact, there's an achievement in online multiplayer that you receive for getting twenty kills in such a way).  As in the first game, with destructive environments comes great sound, which has also been upgraded to Dolby Digital in Bad Company 2.  Sound is incredible making your every movement life like and making every situation, whether it be fleeing from an aerial drop or slowly creeping down a jungle river, that much more intense and suspenseful. While the sound effects have gotten better, unfortunately, the music has taken a hit and, while still impressive, isn't nearly as fun or creative as in the first game; it just ain't got no flava.

The AI of the game is a lot better than in the first game.  Stealth is much easier without super soldiers lurking around every corner in a tank.  In several instances you actually have to sneak up behind someone and take them out without anyone noticing.  The best example of this is a moment when the squad comes upon a sniper post outside of a military encampment.  After silently taking out the sniper, two of your squad mates approach the camp masked by darkness, rain, and thunder.  As they approach, you use your sniper to take out all the guards in their way.  However, in the dead of night, a sniper is something that makes a lot of noise. "Sarge: Time it and use the thunder to mask the sound of your sniper shots.  Sweetwater: Is it bad that I wish I had thought of that?  Sarge: Yes."  AI still has some difficulty, however, in concerns to your squad mates.  I understand that while playing on hard I am supposed to receive less help from them, but I expect them to at least run to cover.  Several instances placed me under fire, waiting for my squad members to reach a me because they had decided to walk instead of RUN.  This wasn't a particular issue throughout most of the game, but was a bit of an annoyance at times.

The multiplayer experience is much more polished than in the first, making everything seem a bit more organized and structured.  There are four classes players can play as, Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon, all of which have their own unique weapons, upgrades, and special abilities.  This style combines the cutomization of the Modern Warfare 2 online multiplayer with a load out system much like can be seen in Team Fotress 2 or the upcoming Halo: Reach.  Multiplayer maps are just as huge as the first, pitting you against several players in various missions which either involve planting bombs, capturing locations, or just killing everything in sight.  The server also seems to be relatively smooth seeing as how I have experienced little to no lag at all, even while my computer is hooked up to the internet and downloading things.

Overall, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a worthy successor to Battlefield: Bad Company.  Although it doesn't have everything players loved about the first game, such as music and play time, it manages to suck you in just the same.  The members of Bad Company are just as loveable if not more so than in the first and really make you feel like you could just go out and have a drink with them.  Graphics are a little choppy in areas, but overall are stunning.  The sound, as always, is incredible and simulates each and every beautiful environment to a "T."  While the campaign is short (and also less difficult) than the first, the multiplayer is something that is sure to suck you in with its immense maps and epic battles.  Bad Company 2 is a game I highly recommend to anyone who loves first-person shooters and, as the hype has said time and time again, is a worthy competitor to the Modern Warfare series.  In conclusion, I would like to leave you with my favorite quote from the game: 

"Sarge: Hags, come on now, if you leave, no more T-Bone steaks, now.  Preston: Yeah, no more buying AR-15 ammo at the mall.  Sweetwater: No more shootin' trespassers on your porch. Sarge: No more biscuits and gravy.  Sweetwater: No more Super Bowl Sundays... No more Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.  Haggard: Shiiiiiiiiiiiit.  That's terrible.  Get outta my way!  Gotta save me some cheerleaders."