BrockTalk

WELCOME TO THE BATTLEFIELD

The Battlefield franchise has been around a little while, but until the release of Battlefield Bad Company 2 I had been somewhat oblivious to its relevance to the world of first-person shooter warfare gaming. I had heard of it, but not enough that I felt it warranted my attention. Enter Battlefield Bad Company 2. It has released to very wide commercial and critical success, which is impressive considering this was done in the wake of the very recent juggernaut that is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Now it had my attention.

Now, if you're like me, you most often begin a new game by playing through the single player campaign not only to familiarize yourself with the world, the weapons, and what not, but more importantly to get some  much needed practice in before jumping online to get your butt kicked by the rest of the world, right? Well if you don't, more power to you, as you are much braver than I, but with that said let me get the campaign discussion out of the way first. BBC2 will immediately feel very familiar to anyone who has spent any time playing the numerous war based first person shooter games released in the last 5-10 years. Shoot the enemies, hide behind cover, shoot the enemies, drive some vehicles, shoot the enemies some more, rinse, repeat. Pretty standard fare really, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The gameplay is solid, the controls are fluid, and the story and characters are fleshed out enough to hold one's interest. The campaign doesn't offer many over-the-top action packed cinematic sequences nearly as often as the aforementioned Modern Warfare 2, but has a few bright spots to offer nonetheless. The first thing you will notice is how pretty much everything in the environment is destructible. This may not sound that impressive at first, as many games are doing this now, but here this really allows the gameplay to open up compared to the forced bottle-necking  of similar first-person shooters. There were multiple times during the game where I just couldn't get the right angle I needed on the enemies, and quickly realized, hey, why not blow a hole in this house with an RPG, bust through that door over there, and flank the enemy? This seems to almost always be an option, and really allows the player to be creative when planning out an attack strategy. Second, there is a level about midway through the game that shifts away from the linear path gameplay and places the squad in the middle of a desert with multiple objectives to complete allowing the player to choose which to accomplish first. It takes on a very open-world sort of feel, and really kept the gameplay feeling fresh. Sadly, this was the only level that offered this and left me wishing there could have been at least one more in this style.

TAKING THE BATTLE TO THE WORLD

Now to the important part, the online multi-player gameplay. Online multi-player has become big business, so much so in fact that pretty much every game released today includes an online aspect of some form or fashion whether the game needs it or not. Thankfully, BBC2 was made for online multi-player, and pulls it off with great success. It comes packed with four different modes: Conquest, Rush, Squad Rush, and Squad Deathmatch. Conquest focuses on the control of flags similair to MW2's Domination mode, Rush (the star of the show) pits an attacking team against a defensive team in a struggle to destroy/defend satellite links, Squad Rush is the same as normal Rush with the focus limited to two four man squads, and then finally Squad Deathmatch is your standard deathmatch mode, but restricted to teams. In fact, teamwork is essential in all modes. Your standard one man army will not get it done in BBC2. Your squad either has to work together to accomplish the goal, or it's lights out. The game offers four different classes to help balance out your team including Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon each with their own specialty varying from repairing vehicles to demolitions experts.

What really differentiates BBC2 from its main competitor Modern Warfare 2 is the inclusion and importance in battle of vehicles, which are fully operable by the players themselves. There are ATV's, humvees, tanks, helicopters, and boats galore. What's even more fun than jumping into one of these bad boys however, is blowing one off the map. See a tank coming down the road to take out your team's stronghold? No matter, just have your engineer class pull out an RPG and take care of the little fly. These moments provide for extreme gaming satisfaction that I have never seen matched in an online experience prior, and make me smile every time. The destruction aspect I mentioned in the single player campaign also carries over into the multi-player realm, and can turn the tide of battle tremendously. For instance, after placing a charge on the enemies sat link the opposing team will usually rush the bomb to try and disarm it before it goes off. If your team has set C4 charges around the supporting walls of the building before planting the bomb you can effectively take out the whole team in one fell swoop when they come running. How awesome is that?

The huge maps and focus of gameplay on co-operative squad based objectives rather than kills really help BBC2 stand out in regards to the pacing of the gameplay most of us are familiar with in other online shooters. One very welcome touch includes the ability to re-spawn on your surviving teammates no matter where they are located on the map which is vital when your team is making a push across enemy lines. Rather than spawning and immediately dying, in most cases you have the ability to plan your point of spawn, gather your surroundings, and come up with a plan of attack that will best assist the team. Another unique element is a dedicated button that allows the player to call out enemies to teammates when spotted by placing a marker on them that displays on the game's screen as well as in the mini map.

JOIN ME ON THE BATTLEFIELD

In short, the multiplayer game is phenomenal, and I will recommend it over Modern Warfare 2 any day. The multiplayer component is worth every bit of the price tag alone, and the inclusion of a decently solid single player experience makes this a must play for any first-person shooter fan. So what are you waiting for? Go pick up your copy and join me on the battlefield soldier!