SA Exclusive: Battlefield - Bad Company

In this SA exclusive online review, Steven van Hemert tackles the first stage of the eagerly awaited new edition of the Battlefield franchise, Bad Company.

Previously designed as an exclusively multiplayer game, the latest release in the acclaimed Battlefield series, Bad Company, now has a full single player campaign complete with an engaging storyline and great characterization and dialogue. It’s a great step forward for the franchise, and expands the Battlefield universe into new territory. The robust multiplayer is still a core part of the game, but in this review, we focus exclusively on the single player campaign.

Watch the slideshow below for screenshots of the game play.

The Story

The story goes like this; after causing havoc in a previous company, you are court marshaled by the Army. Rather than ship you off to some dark prison cell though, your punishment is to join the renegade nutters of B-Company, a rag-tag bunch of misfits who have all fallen foul of the Army’s rules and must now do their dirty work to make ammends. It is no surprise then that B-Company has the highest mortality rate in the military.

But it quickly becomes apparent that there may be some unforeseen perks to your seemingly dire situation. Perks in the form of gold bars stashed across the battlefield. As gold fever grips B-Company, turning them resolutely into Bad Company, you race against the approaching US forces to secure as much gold as possible before you get found out.

Then there is the mysterious Miss July… the voice on the radio that turns the men of Bad Company to total mush. I didn’t manage to get through enough of the game at the demo to figure out where she fits in, but I look forward to finding out when the game ships next week. She sounds pretty saucy…

Gameplay

The collectables on each stage are a great addition to the standard Battlefield gameplay. While executing strategies and securing territory, you have to keep an eye out for various collectable items, most importantly specialized weapons and gold for your deep pockets. It makes searching through the scattered buildings and outhouses far more enjoyable, and brings an element of dirty GTA thrills to proceedings. The collectables menu details what is available on each level, and gives you something to aim for, a mini achievement in the game.

Dying in the single player game is much the same as in the multiplayer – you will respawn close to where you died, making your team members pass snotty comments like “Gee, this looks familiar…” and “Haven’t we been here before” as you approach your original location.

This might make dying seem like more of an inconvenience than a hindrance, but with the advanced enemy AI in Bad Company, losing even a few meters has dire strategic consequences as the Russians quickly move to retake lost ground.

This is perhaps the most impressive part of the game. Too many titles suffer from easy AI, which ultimately just makes the game a matter of point and shoot, with few strategic requirements. In Bad Company, enemy AI is sharp and creative, making the need for foresight and clear strategy absolutely essential in securing survival.

Enemy combatants will also adapt to your strategy, and set ambushes for your advance, or move tanks forward should you take cover and dig in. There seems to be a counter strategy for just about any move you might make, and an approach for every type of soldier you deploy.

Though you are part of a 4-man squad in Bad Company, the mechanics make it an easy style of play. You do not control or provide orders for your company – they seem to figure out your intentions and either follow you, or assist your efforts by flanking enemies or laying down cover fire. The frustration of playing with 3 other AI characters has also been minimized with a slightly jarring twist in game time; when getting into a vehicle, your squad will all instantaneously enter the vehicle with you, negating the time wasted waiting for squad members or driving around collecting them all. In the few hours I played, I experienced none of the usual headaches with companion AI, a massive relief.

As is to be expected from a Battlefield release, the vehicles handle superbly, and with the addition of the destructible environment, racing across the battlefield is great fun; fences and shacks shatter on impact, sending enemies scurrying for fresh cover. The quick change of seat function is also a great addition as you don’t have to exit the vehicle to alternately use a mounted weapon or drive.

Destructible environment

The developers at DICE claim that 90% of the environments in Bad Company are fully destructible, a great addition to the game that has an acute impact on how one plays. There are some limitations though. You can destroy a wall with a grenade or rocket, but firing a hundred 50 caliber rounds from a mounted machine gun will only shatter the plaster – repeated firing will not bring down a wall. Killing crafty enemies seeking shelter behind walls and inside buildings by blowing their shelter apart and have it collapse on them is endless fun though.

Doors can be shot open with a rifle, as can fences and windows. There are a massive amount of explosive barrels lying around the stages that make for great secondary weapons and blind kills. If you’re in a particular rush, the best strategy seems to be shooting your way through the environment – blasting holes through buildings rather than taking the long route round.

Though I only played for a few hours, I died a whole bunch of times on the medium difficulty. Now I’m not the most patient of war gamers, and have the tendency to run at mounted machine guns and tanks that usually ends with me in a bloody heap, but even when being cautious and taking cover, the enemy AI sniffed me out and brought the pain.

For that reason, the destructible objects in the environment makes strategy absolutely key – a bank of sandbags will protect you from machine gun fire, but if a tank rolls onto the field, you’ll need to find something more sturdy in a hurry. This keeps things dynamic and makes the whole experience far more realistic. The panic of feeling exposed on the battlefield is quite palpable at times.

Graphics

The great debate at the moment seems to be how Battlefield: Bad Company compares to Call of Duty 4, Game of the Year 2007. Discussion at the moment centers on the graphics, some arguing that COD is unbeatable, others pointing out the weapons modeling as the key difference – Bad Company features full 3D weapons, while Call of Duty seems to have graphic skins fleshing out the details of your killing hardware.

Honestly, the differences are pretty slight, each title being better than the other at something, and neither really being completely perfect. Besides, the question as to which title has the better graphics is a little silly as it’s the overall experience that really matters the most in my opinion – the graphics should enhance the gameplay experience, they don’t necessarily need to look perfectly realistic when zoomed in on HD.

Suffice to say the graphics in Battlefield: Bad Company are top notch, both in-game and during the cutscenes. Reloading weapons looks and feels realistic, and I actually flinched the first time I used the health injection, the needle looking painfully realistic as I jammed it into my chest. Explosions feel real, with flames, debris and dust choking the level.

End thoughts

Something I found quite interesting about the impending launch is the Gold Edition for the PS3. Much like a DVD package, the Gold Edition will also feature behind the scenes footage and strategy tutorial videos for mastering the nuances of the new gameplay. The Gold Edition will also ship with 5 extra unique weapons that are available from the start of the single player campaign.

This seems to be in line with the recent furor that erupted over EA’s plans to sell specialised weapons in the game for an additional fee. Lets see where this ends up – hopefully not with me pausing the game to buy a rocket launcher with my Visa card.

This is the first of the Battlefield series to be built specifically for consoles, and is surely only the first of many more to come. The single player campaign works well in the Battlefield universe, and I’m genuinely keen to get through more levels and perhaps track down Miss July.

I’ll update this post with a rating once I’ve spent more time with the game, but its looking like it might be a solid 5 star release.

DICE Studios / EA Games
In stores June 23

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(4 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Filed Under Featured Reviews, Games, Gaming