Game Review: Battlefield Bad Company

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Jun 27, 2008

Battlefield: Bad Company
Xbox 360 and Playstation 3
EA Games
ESRB Rating: Teen

With respect to "Call of Duty 4," no game does multiplayer war quite like DICE's PC "Battlefield" games. Console gamers sampled a muted taste of that in "Battlefield 2142," but only now has DICE engineered a "Battlefield" game expressly for them.

As reward for your patience, "Company" doubles your pleasure, packing in a single-player campaign that, in a series first, is more than simply a bunch of glued-together maps with A.I. enemies. DICE has a story to tell in "Company," and it's a startlingly fresh (and - gasp! - amusing) departure from the genre norms. As supplementary material goes, it's surprisingly meaty, easily outdistancing "COD4" in terms of campaign length.

Check out screenshots and gameplay videos from Battlefield Bad Company

The flipside, of course, is that "Company's" single-player issues fall under greater scrutiny than in the past.

So, here's the laundry list. Your squadmates, while never a burden, are generally useless. Enemy soldiers often either leave themselves wide open to attack or possess an inhuman, "COD4"-like ability to nail you no matter where you move. (The lack of any kind of cover mechanic - a problem in multiplayer as well - really rears its head here.) An unconventional spawning system makes the game's difficulty entirely palatable, but there will be times when you'll wish DICE better integrated this with the game's checkpoint system.

But even with those issues well apparent, "Company" is a riotous good time. DICE has first-person shooter basics down cold, and everything about the gunplay - from aiming sensitivity right on down to the sound each gun makes - benefits from a first-rate coat of polish. That goes as well for the vehicles (jeeps, tanks, boats and helicopters, among other treats), each of which are fun to commandeer for different reasons.

And then there's "Company's" destructibility engine, which allows you to destroy walls, rooftops and forestry on a level no game before it has allowed. "Company" overtly encourages players to completely shred their environment, and why not? It's wildly fun, and the game's engine doesn't break a sweat no matter what you throw at it. Amazing.

If all this newness scares you, worry not: Multiplayer remains the star of the show in "Company," which features exactly one mode (an objective-driven, 24-player variation on attack and defend) but packs it with enough depth and purpose to render moot any concerns about longevity. The clash of themes (greed and disenchantment versus teamwork) gives the game an unprecedented sense of identity, but the gameplay is explicitly "Battlefield," and that's all a lot of long-suffering console gamers need to hear.

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