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BLOWING UP |
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| t’s been a long wait since Battlefield: Bad Company was first announced back in mid-2006, but the extreme polish evident in the final product makes it all worthwhile. Both single- and multiplayer shine – at long last redeeming DICE for the crappy bot-fests offline players had to endure in previous games in the series. As “new guy” Preston Marlowe you’ve been stuck in the fatality-prone B-company instead of going to prison for some offense that is strangely never explained. Entertaining banter from screw off squadmates Haggard and Sweetwater plays well off of the hard-nosed sergeant Redford, and is a nice change of pace from the ridiculous one-liners you hear in most FPS games. These guys primarily function as storytelling devices in your rogue quest for mercenary gold, so you never have to futz with commands or worry about keeping them alive – every once in a while they may even kill an enemy. The primary gameplay draw is the destructible environments. Mowing down trees with a turret, creating your own side entrance to a heavily fortified base, or ripping open a building to get at the enemies inside are all endlessly fun. Then you gradually add in vehicles like tanks, boats, and choppers, and deadly weapons like the mortar and air strike, and it takes things even higher. Instead of having to save your super-powered mortar strike for just the right moment, you can bomb buildings as much as you want (after a modest recharge time). Vehicles can be endlessly repaired as long as they’re not totally destroyed. Most of the time, leaving behind a tank feels more like a strategic decision than a limitation, and über-weapons are eventually taken away at the end of a level to prevent overuse. With enemy AI, there’s a thin line between very stupid and very smart. Sometimes soldiers stand out in the open and slowly reload their gun while you blast them to bits, but the majority of the time they tear open every building you hide in and attack from all sides. It takes the “no cover is safe” dynamic of the Auger in Resistance to an entirely new level. Unfortunately, the campaign loses a little steam in the final hour or two. The game runs out of new gadgets and rides to introduce and you just drive from town to town grinding through hordes of enemies ad nauseum. The last battle has an “oh, I guess that’s it” feeling to it, and I didn’t really feel a sense of ill will toward the antagonist. Also, it’s disappointing to discover that collecting gold and rare weapons doesn’t amount to anything worthwhile. Multiplayer kicks things back up, however, by incorporating all of the great destruction and vehicle elements into satisfying attack and defend battles over gold crates scattered throughout the eight huge maps. The five character classes all offer unique weapon combos, and the constantly shifting battlefield dynamics offer plenty of incentive to regularly change your kits. Experience earned in multiplayer (+10 per kill à la Call of Duty 4) increases your rank and allows you to buy new weapons and items. Piling four guys into a jeep and rushing into a firefight is just as fun as Battlefield fans have come to expect, but it serves as a bittersweet reminder that all of the building blocks were there for a co-op campaign that will never be. -BRYAN VORE
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Story has never been a real component of the Battlefield games, which makes Bad Company’s hilarious narrative all the more surprising. While it’s a shame that the main villain doesn’t appear until the last few acts, this game is mostly about the ride, not the destination. It feels like you’re on a road trip with your buddies, only with bullets, bad guys, and gorgeous explosions. Much has been made of the destructible environments, and they are very cool — even if they’re a bit canned. Seeing an enemy duck into a house and knocking out a wall to expose him is as effective as it is fun. It works both ways, though, which is a great incentive to keep moving. And even with only one mode available at launch, multiplayer is a must-play part of the experience. |
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9.25 |
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CONCEPT: |
Single-player Battlefield finally comes into its own |
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GRAPHICS: |
Destruction, wide open vistas, character models – all awesome. Interiors are a little sparse |
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SOUND: |
It’s truly a crime to play this game without surround sound |
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PLAYABILITY: |
Sometimes vehicles get stuck on pesky objects, but the FPS gunplay is top-notch |
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ENTERTAINMENT: |
After making your own doorways through pretty much any wall you want, it’ll be tough to ever go back |
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Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:36 pm by amira shahirah
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