14 DAY TRIAL // 
The first Battlefield games, as developed by DICE, were pretty much multiplayer affairs, very well suited for matches which employed well rehearsed team tactics. After Battlefield 2142 was launched, DICE quietly began working on Battlefield: Bad Company, only giving away the fact that their next project was likely to offer something for the single player interested gamers out there.
The game launched earlier in the year and after more than a week of playing Bad Company, I must confess I kinda like it. For a full disclosure, I must confess that I am primarily a guy who likes to play real time strategies, turn based strategies and role playing games on the PC, so Battlefield: Bad Company had, from the start, two things going against it: it was a console title and a first person shooter with a hint of squad action. Well, despite having, as always when it comes to consoles and shooters, some control issues, the game is a delight on other levels. Definitely a buy if you're looking for a solid first person shooter with a humorous streak and with engaging multiplayer action.
Story
There's a war going on and the military machines of the United States and of Russia (with some mercenaries thrown in for good measure) are clashing. The date does not matter and the place is not important. All the characters of the game care for is what the war brings for them. And soon, the player finds himself taken in by the nice, light yet interesting story that Bad Company manages to weave from such lowly materials as few characters, a lot of things going “Boom!” and some gold.
The characters are: a demolition expert, Haggard, who enjoys explosions and fighting a bit too much, a communications specialist, Sweetwater, who wants to find love on the battlefield while not getting himself killed and Sarge Redford, the only military-like man in the squad, who chose to serve with B Company to get out of the war quick. B Company is the place where misfits and sociopaths end up and the guys in it are quite aware that they are pretty much expendable, going in before Special Forces because, as one character puts it, “they are expansive”. The newcomer, the character controlled by the player, comes to the squad because of a joyride he took in a military helicopter.
The idea is that during the war, the four guys get into a fight and there, besides death, destruction and Russians, they find a hint of wealth. There's gold and nothing can stop the squad. They practically invade a neutral country, level entire cities and even cleverly slow down an offensive mission of the United States Army in their quest for gold. The good thing is that they have fun while looking for the precious metal.
The game tries and pretty much succeeds in being funny. The ceaseless banter between Haggard and Sweetwater is always nice, while Sarge serves as the brain, the conscience of the group. Maybe the best line in the game is heard when you first find the body of a mercenary who is apparently paid in gold and Haggard quickly offers to “check for a pulse in his pockets”. It's quite fortunate that the game did not end up like Army of Two, which was a machismo festival.
Concept
The game is pretty standard first person shooter fare. There are seven missions in the game, each with multiple objectives which must be tackled in a pre-arranged order. There's no open world aspect to the game, even if each objective can be attacked in different ways. There are vehicles which you get to drive and even a helicopter ride, but the main action will likely happen with you and your buddies on foot, taking down hordes of enemies. You mainly assault positions that various enemies have fortified, so expect pretty heavy resistance.
One of the most interesting things DICE has done is to make death just an unfortunate event in the game. In other words, you respawn immediately after death, always pretty close to the action (save points are very well distributed) and all the progress you've made so far remains. If the traditional route of taking it all from the top had been maintained, the game would have been frustrating because of the level of difficulty. Instant respawning, coupled with quick healing via injections administered via the Left Button of the controller, makes the game challenging and interesting while taking away most of the frustration factor. It also helps that you do not need about your comrades, who respawn with you.
The enemies are pretty clever, they try to flank and often rush you from unexpected directions. The destructible environments offer a nice mechanics, mainly because you need to always be on the move, with every possible bit of cover sometimes getting blown up in about ten seconds flat.
The only gripe is that you can just run or drive by some of the combat encounters on your course to the objectives. Maybe some choke points should have been implemented, especially in the final town which you assault, to make some battles mandatory. I managed to blow up the two bridges (which you need to destroy to stop an American, friendly advance on an objective) without even looking left and right for enemies, because of the judicious use of the healing that the Left Button brings. To a gamer, that's very much accustomed to loading, reloading and quick saving every ten minutes; the quick healing and instant re-spawning are pretty much anathema, but they work for Bad Company.
Graphics and sound
Frostbite, the graphics engine used by Bad Company, is good. Very good at times. Its main strength is that almost everything rendered can be destroyed. I often thought that walls were solid hideout places from the tanks that pop up at various points in the game, but they were gone so quick that I barely had the time to dash to another cover. Houses get demolished, machine gun nests get blown up, and fuel barrels serve as demolition charges. Visually, it's pretty impressive and it's refreshing to have the freedom of carving your own way through a level. My only complaint is that there are portions in the game where the smoke is so damn dense that you really can't see your enemies before they put a combat knife in your back, but that's surely a design choice rather than a fault of the engine.
As far as sounds go, all is good. Voices are well done, explosions are satisfactory, but the real stand out is the nice little jazzy number that plays while you fiddle in the main game menu. Other than that, there's not much to be said. It sounds OK without being brilliant.
Multiplayer
Well, this is a DICE game, so multiplayer is just as engrossing and cool as the single player, while also involving gold. There are two modes you can play: Gold Rush and Assault. The latter is the well known “ticket” based affair of all Battlefield games, where teams try to run down the enemies’ supply of tickets by capturing strategic points and taking down players. The former is a new type of game based on, of course, gold. The attacker’s task is to take out the gold crates of the defenders and the action is pretty hectic, while the games tend to be a bit longer than typical Assault games.
There are a lot of unlockable elements and plenty of load outs and classes you can try so there's a lot of variation and replayability built into the multiplayer. In a controlled environment, with some good guys, the game offers a great experience.
Conclusion
Buy the game. It's perfect for today's gamer. Not too long, as I went through it in under 18 hours. Not too hard, as the instant respawn kicks in and is paired with comrades that never kick the bucket. Not too easy, as some of the fights, especially the ones that imply helicopters and heavy armor, are pretty tough, especially while aiming with the Xbox 360 controller. Not to serious, with well laid out characters and nice story telling. Not too funny, because even if some of the jokes are off, there's solid gameplay which you can always look forward to. At times, the game is too easy but other than that, it is a very enjoyable experience.
Don't buy it but try and rent it if you just hate console control or if military shooter are just not your things. If you plan on never playing the game, sit through a few of the cutscenes. They're worth it.
