Developed by DICE and published by EA, the Battlefield series releases the new Bad Company title which finally makes it to the PC world. Battlefield Bad Company 2 gives no passes for retirement for our group, and instantly throws you back in action. I guess that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has a pretty good rival and potential overtake in the multiplayer scene. The first Bad Company had a good destructible environment which is highly boosted in this release. The long awaited Battlefield Bad Company release for PC is here for the hardcore competitive PC gamers.

This time the story begins in 1944 during the Second World War. Don't worry, the game is not oriented in that war. But, as all good stories you need to know the horrible background of your story. The story starts where a Korean scientist is being rescued but a strange and devastating weapon kills the rescue team and mostly everything around along with scientist.

Now, the company which is composed by your known gang i.e. Sweetwater, Haggard, Sarge and of course Preston Marlowe which is the protagonist in this story and of course the character which you will control. For those who are new to the Bad Company, the Sarge is the guy who has no fear and is the man who keeps the team together, Sweetwater the technology expert and Haggard the pyro-man or the destruction man. This time this fearsome gang is back in action into a mission which no one would ever take or try on a trail of a Russian super weapon which could change the world as we all know it.

For the new comers, the team will instantly get in your likeness with Haggard and Sweetwater always fighting between each other and Haggard who finally was going to retirement gets the no time to sleep and his retirement gets delayed once again.

One thing I like from the single player campaign is that you will be using vehicles and their weapons for strategic actions which makes the game more interesting while the sarcasm and the comments of the team make gameplay a unique experience. One thing about the single player is that you have either a set of missions you need to complete or you will left in an open environment with some vehicles while it up to you to go bananas and complete the task. Talking about experience, the game makes a huge effort in graphical features including the destructive environments around the map. The map has a lot of destructible objects, like houses, roofs, vegetation and cover location. Yes, don't expect to hide behind a wooden crate and it will be bulletproof. The crate will easily be destroyed and eventually exposing your cover... including fences and other fragile cover objects which can be used. All this mixed with impressive graphic details make one great shooter experience.

This puts the game tactics in another perspective and opens a lot of tactical solutions against your enemy. Like for example if there is an RPG launcher in a building, you can either snipe him down, sprint into the building and take him down... or do what Haggard would do, blow the place up :). Thou be careful since this can be used against you by the enemy. A note on this is to always keep changing your position.

One thing which one can comment on the single player is that the team although it provides a good mission companion, they are a bit too much of a super hero where if they take an RPG to the face they will just wake up from the floor as if someone just pushed them. Some of the missions look a bit linear because it's mostly kill and follow the team, apart from the mission of the sniper where you need to cover your team while killing the sentries, hiding your shots with the noise from the thunder. You cannot complain much on the single player since it's well plotted having a good score, impressive graphical features and gameplay. A lot has changed and improved for the previous release of Bad Company giving a greater and balanced experience with a variety of environments and place to explore... erm to destroy.

Although the single player is very enjoyable and it's really worth playing, the game's forte is not this... the multiplayer is where the game shines and where the people will play the game most. One can say that the single player is a training session for the multiplayer.

The Battlefield series has always given a great impression when you need multiplayer, and you don't need to look any further if you want a good team-based multiplayer game.

Now on the multiplayer, the game features four classes... being Assault, Engineer, Medic and Recon. For those who are new to the Battlefield classes, The Assault class uses assault rifles having under-barrel attachments, can drop ammo boxes for all the team ammo supply. The Engineer carrier a nice rocket launcher with anti-tank mines backed up with s silenced sub-machine gun. The engineer, like the first Bad Company will be able to repair friendly vehicles with his multipurpose drill. Of course the Medic class provides a box of medical supplies to heal the team mates or revive a fallen solder with his defibrillator while armed with a light machine gun. The last but not least is the Recon which is specialized in C4 demolitions and sniping. Apart from that, the Recon can deploy motion sensor to track enemies in a small area or call in mortar strikes. As you can see, the multiplayer scene of Battlefield Bad Company 2 is based on team work and not just the usual death match where you just shoot randomly.

The weapons mentioned above are all unique to the classes specified, but there are the pistols and shotguns that can be unlocked when you level up including specializations which basically enhance your bullet damage, armor strength and armor capacity to allow a mix of each kit. Mixing these upgrades will allow you to customize your class combining some of the other classes' features.

During the battle, as in all Battlefield series you will have several vehicles which can be strategically used to make a turnout in your battle. Such vehicles include tanks, helicopters, APCs, boats and card which can easily be used to reign havoc all over the map. By time, using these vehicles will unlock upgrades which will unlock special weapons and faster reload. Along the map you will also find UAV control stations which can be used to take the sky but be aware of your position as you will be vulnerable at that time.

In the multiplayer there are Conquest, Rush, Squad Rush, Squad Death match modes of play. The Conquest uses the same concept of capture the flag but instead of the flag you have control points with a 32 player limit.

The Rush mode is brought over from Bad Company with your team either attacking or defending some M-Com stations. Something like on Counterstrike source where you either have to plant the charges or defend the zone and disarm the charges. In the case of the defending team has unlimited tickets while the attacking side can increase their tickets if they finish the job. Like the Conquest, the Rush has a limit of 32 players.

The Squad rush is somewhat like the Rush but it's composed by two squads which go on a head to head fight over two neutral M-Com stations. You can either be the first to destroy the stations which will get you more tickets or just kill the enemies to be the one with the most tickets. This mode has a maximum of 8 players.

Finally there is the all might Squad Death match which is basically a run for survival with the first team to reach the 50 kill will win the battle. This mode allow a maximum of 16 players.

As you can see the multiplayer discourages the solo mentality which is found in many online FPS shooters. Battlefield is mostly on Team work and skill usage.

Conclusion

Battlefield Bad Company 2 has maximized the capabilities of its predecessor with gameplay, graphics and the inclusion of the PC as another platform. The game is great and it's highly recommended if you are a multiplayer and a team based fighter fan like games such as Enemy Territory or older versions of Battlefield since it delivers an awesome experience. The single player alone cannot justify the game's rate because it's forte is the multiplayer experience. Not that the single player campaign is not good, but the multiplayer really elevates the power of this game.