Battlefield Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first person shooter made by DICE Entertainment, or Digital Illusions CE. It was released for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The game features 24 player online play, a really good campaign, and the real reason why this isn't a Call of Duty ripoff is that locations are almost completely destructible.

I haven't really played a game like Bad Company. The gameplay really feels realistic, from commanding a tank, to just shooting an assault rifle. There are tons of different weapons to choose from, and they all have their own specific feel when firing. The main thing about BC is tactical destruction. Nearly everything you see is destructible somehow. You can use this to your advantage, as well as your enemies using it for their advantage. A quick example of how it works. A brick wall in your way? Use a grenade launcher. Sniper on the second floor? Use a grenade launcher. Don't have a grenade launcher? Shoot an explosive barrel to make your way in. Faced with a fence and can't jump over it? Knife through it! Anyone that's used to having indestructible cover will have to get ready in case it blows up. Instead of having a health system that refills over time, Battlefield Bad Company has a health meter ranging from 0 to 100. As you take damage, the number will drop. Once you lose health, don't go into cover and recover. Instead, you get to use a life injector that completely refills your health. All you have to do is wait a couple seconds between each health refill, and refilling is unlimited.

When you're not trying to gun down infantry and vehicles, you're most likely trying to look for collectables along the way. As you progress, you will find different guns from other infantry. Guns you never had before are collectables in the game. Another thing you should look for are crates full of gold, which applies to the storyline.

Online play is superb. Initially, you only get one game mode, and that is Gold Rush. It is played with two teams, Attackers, and Defenders. The goal for the Attackers is to look for two Gold Crates and destroy them. The Defenders try to hold off the Attackers until they run out of reinforcements. You get 25 ranks, which are all from the U.S. Army, and 5 classes to choose from before each life: Assault, Demolition, Recon, Specialist, and Support. The maps you'll play in are seen in the campaign of the game.

On to the story. You play as Private Preston Marlowe as he firsts lands on B company. You meet with the other three people, Privates Sweetwater, Haggard, and Sergeant Redford. At the end of the first level, you find out that a Legionnaire is trying to kill you, and that his army is paid in gold bars. Once you find the gold part out, you decide that you just want to get paid a lot of money when you get out of the situation.

The presentation is probably above average, at the most. The textures look really good, to be honest. However, there are some technical issues. For example, sometimes when you try to use your attack knife, objects and people will always react, but you don't see your knife in motion. That is the same with your auto injector. However, once you really get into the game, you probably won't care if that keeps you alive.

I'm still not done with the gameplay. There are also tons of vehicles you can commandeer or destroy. You can drive an armored van, a tank, or a helicopter. You can also drive a boat, but that doesn't play such a major part in the game. In Call of Duty you can command an AC130, but in Bad Company, you can just drive the helicopter yourself. Another reason why this is different from Call of Duty is that it has a different checkpoint system. In COD, once you die, all of your enemies and hostile vehicles are still there and alive. But in Bad Company, the damage you do to infantry and vehicles stay the same, but there are a lot less checkpoints than in COD. It really adds to the challenge with its checkpoint system.

So, what's the final verdict on this game? Well, the campaign does keep you entertained for a good amount of time. Multiplayer is also what keeps the appeal for a time. There are 3 difficulty levels, tons of collectables and gold crates, and, the icing on the cake: Tactical Destruction. This is the stuff that can make the Editor's Choice.

The good: tactical destruction, its realism, you get to drive vehicles, shooting feels really good, plays well with others, compelling campaign.

The bad: some technical issues, a slight lack of online modes, no co-op.

Score:

9.8