Meet new people and kill them
So now we come to the multiplayer side of Battlefield: Bad Company which, as we’ve learnt from previous Battlefield games can be patchy depending on the guys you’re playing with. As with most every online shooter, there’s going to be a crowd of hardened combat experts who can shoot the wings off a fly and dying is going to be a pretty common occurrence. Now whilst this shouldn’t deter the new player from having a crack, it can get seriously annoying to run around for five minutes and then just fall over dead after being headshotted by some bugger camping a choke point.Fortunately, there’s a couple of ways around this. The first is the respawning system which gives you the option of spawning at the last base captured or with your squad. Spawning back at based gives you the opportunity to hop into a freshly spawned vehicle and no matter how good he is, a sniper doesn’t have a hope against a tank… Or you can spawn with your squad. This is the far riskier approach as you’re dropped right into the action but does mean that you don’t have to leg it across the map and you now have the support of the rest of the squad.
Click for larger imageWell, when I say support, that’s very much up to the guys and it’s a 50-50 toss-up to whether you’ll have a bunch of team players or a bunch or arses who couldn’t give a stuff about anything other than their own personal score. I’d be very surprised if anyone didn’t find at least the first half-hour of play to be a fairly constant round of dying, respawning and then dying again. But once you get into the swing of it and realise that walls aren’t necessarily a safe bit of cover, you’ll start to make some progress… and here’s a hand tip… if you can, get on the artillery… I’ve topped the leader boards twice now because of my 1337 skillz with these babies.
Click for larger imageSo in summing up, Battlefield: Bad Company is, to my mind, a welcome return to a half-decent single player campaign with an entirely competent, if mildly frustrating, multiplayer side. The reason I label the single player campaign as being half-decent is that the AI is just that little bit dumb. Yeah, they take cover and move around but they never act as a unit and soon become predictable. Wounded Ai retreat only so far before hiding and then not actually doing that much else whilst unhurt AI will use cover to some extent before just running at you or standing in the open firing… oh, and they’re all damn good shots… even from miles away…
Click for larger imageFor a single player experience, Battlefield: Bad Company isn’t as good as Call of Duty 4 but is a less frantic experience overall. Yeah, there are some moments of sheer blind firing panic but the game progresses at a much more leisurely pace, which actually appealed to me a bit more. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed CoD 4s manic missions but I also like a breather every now and then… On the multiplayer side, Battlefield: Bad Company tries really hard to impress and the much talked about unlock system is a reason to keep playing… though dying loads can be off putting. So overall, I’d say this is a case of try before you buy… you might like it loads but then again, you might not.
Pros
Frostbite engine is very, very good
Enjoyable single player campaign
Great sounds for the most part
The usual up and downs of Battlefield multiplayer
Cons
AI is barely GCSE grade G
Single player can become a tad samey
The usual up and downs of Battlefield multiplayer
Battlefield: Bad Company is a refreshing addition to the series
HEXUS Awards
Battlefield: Bad Company – Xbox 360, PS3
