| 01 February 2010
Steve
If you were a fan of the original Battlefield: Bad Company or Battlefield: 1943, you'll already have a good idea of what to expect from the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer demo. Playing like a hybrid of both, the game is Bad Company as you know and love it, but with some added refinements that DICE picked up when developing 1943. The end result of this feels comfortingly familiar, yet strangely alien.
Probably the most striking difference between the first game and the sequel is the graphical update, and Bad Company 2 is noticeably sharper and better looking than its predecessor, and everything seems to run just that little bit smoother. Aside from that, most of the improvements are relatively minor, and serve more as refinements to the formula laid down in Bad Company and 1943
Probably one of the smallest (but also the most welcome) refinement is that DICE seem to have resolved the clipping issues that plagued Bad Company; too often you'd find yourself getting stuck on pieces of the destructible scenery – pieces which were often just pebble-sized pieces of debris that any normal person would be able to just step over. This problem now seems to have been completely eradicated, and you are free to sprint around as you see fit.
The most notable change, however, is that DICE have restructured and rebalanced the whole class system, and this greatly changes the way the game is played; while most of the weapons and tech that made up the classes in the first game are still present, they've been shuffled around, which essentially results in you having to re-learn how to play the game. This blank slate approach frees you up to experiment with the weapons and classes on offer, and it's this experimentation that has long been the root of the series' replayability. There's something extremely satisfying about working out how to play the game in a way that best suits your playing style - it's definitely no accident that both Bad Company and 1943 still have extremely dedicated communities, despite the relative lack of gameplay modes to choose from.
In typical fashion, the demo itself exhibits this same minimalist nature, and gives you access to just one of the multiplayer modes – the rush mode –, lets you unlock a handful of weapons, and lets you play on only one of the games maps – the Alaska map. Despite this, you'll still want to keep coming back for more, and this is testament to how replayable the multiplayer is in Bad Company 2.
Mark
As Modern Warfare 2 loses a little of its shine every time I boot it up and the bad begins to outweigh the good, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is showing up at just the right moment. Even the demo was a sneak attack, launching an offensive on my Xbox time with extreme prejudice.
Native to the Battlefield series as a whole, the gameplay is much more varied than the Modern Combats, offering more support roles for those that just don't want to run-gun-die-run. As a matter Of fact, Tyler and I spent some quality time as medics holding down a building behind enemy lines, and when one would die, the other would revive him and vice-versa. In the absence of perks and crates and sentry guns, just being able to do things like hand out health, revive teammates, and repair damaged vehicles not only gives players more to do, but adds another level of accomplishment.
The BF:BC2 demo showcases what is for the moment the game's only multiplayer mode, which is exactly like the previous game's Gold Rush mode. While it is a lot of fun, I do wish that there were more modes to play like a Domination or a good old fashioned Deathmatch.
Two things that the COD series does have on Battlefield is how tight the controls are and how accurate the hit detection is. Sometimes the BF controls just aren't as precise as I wish they were, and coupled with the squishy gun play make some the firefights seem less than accurate.
All in all though, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a timely and welcome addition to the FPS space. For those of you burned out on Modern Warfare 2, play this demo. You'll love it.
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