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Old 04-13-2010, 09:42 AM   #1273
Blackheart
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 23
Default Just finished...

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Nice war game and if you've played the first one the sequel is a step up.

Story
The events pick up after the first game with the memorable and personable squad we remember from Bad Company as they are called into action on a new mission on the day the sarge is supposed to retire. What ensues turns out to be a complex multi-layered dilemma which turns into a global catastrophe and along the way we see espionage, betrayal, high octane action, and some of the most ridiculous conversation exchanges between your teammates that will leave you in stitches at times. Full of adrenaline and personality Bad Company 2 is a solid shooter game despite some serious flaws and still manages to deliver a nice war scenario. Recommended for FPS veterans and is not for the casual gamer.

The Good

- Impressive graphics which convincingly convey the combat tension when needed as well as portray the look of urban war zones consumed by chaos. The visuals as well as the nice lighting and shadow rendering really set the mood and tone for the game.

- Nice arsenal of satisfying weapons that really do the damage when needed and are fun to use. The default weapon, the XM8 assault rifle [a real gun btw], is by far the most versatile weapon which shoots fairly accurately in short and mid ranges with minimal recoil, has a scope for long range, and comes equipped with the XM320 grenade launcher attachment for taking out large groups of enemies. Shotguns really pack a punch and there's a diverse selection of sniper rifles all with their respective benefits.

- Solid shooting mechanics and bloody combat sure to satisfy action fans.

- The GeoMod engine for destructible environments, first introduced in Red Faction, is faithfully recreated here. Virtually every building in the game can be laid to waste. Having issues with some problematic sniper or a group of enemies camping out inside of a building? Instead of trying to snipe them through a window or doorway, why not just level the whole building around them? Nice.

- Impressive sound design. Everything is well done in terms of sound from the diverse gunshots for each respective weapon to the explosions to the ambient sounds. Enemies sneaking around you sound just as effective as their screams when you blow them away .

The Bad

- Lots of weapons enemies use have unrealistic shot ranges, such as shotguns, which are supposed to be close quarter combat weapons, can hit and heavily damage you more than 10 meters away .

- Too many combat scenarios which can be a little too reminiscent of Modern Warfare 2. There are quite a few situations such as: using a UAV satellite to take out targets, shooting down helicopters, pulling out binoculars and marking targets for air strikes, LZ helicopter combat, tank combat, and more which I felt were simply cloned scenarios from MW2. I was wanting a little more diversity in the combat.

- In a need to build up intense action the game throws a multitude of different combat scenarios at you all at once which can be a little overwhelming, more brutal than MW2, and unrealistic. Taking out an enemy outpost littered with infantry, soldiers on machine gun turrets, snipers, other enemies with RPGs is one thing, but when you have to confront all that as well as fight off two havoc helicopters at the same time then it gets a little ridiculous. Hope you're good at fast weapon switching on the fly.

- Can only carry two weapons at a time. I mean, seriously, WTF?!? For some of the downright hardcore combat situations you find yourself in it would have been nice to have a larger selection of weapons at your disposal.

- No cooperative LAN play on single player campaign. Would be nice if a friend could jump in and take control of one of your squad mates, but it just isn't so...

The downright Ugly

- Regenerative health system can take a little too long to heal at times.

- Unforgiving difficulty setting on "normal" and "hardcore" will either have you crying or screaming and cursing at your monitor as you pound the life out of your keyboard . What is supposed to be the game designers' idea of "challenging" can at times be more like having teeth pulled than an enjoyable gaming experience. The damage system is relentless even on normal and the normal difficulty setting can be comparable to other games' hard setting. Two shots and you're critical at near death. MW2 and Gears of War aren't even that crucial in their damage systems. Sometimes it only takes one shot. I remember in one of my normal games running from one cover to another and an enemy who was half a screen away in the distance killed me with a single shotgun blast. BAM! Dead just like that. Compound this with guns that have an unrealistic range, overwhelming combat scenarios of fighting off too much crap at once, and a slowly regenerating health system and there's an equation for a lot of dying. Watch out for flying keys. Thankfully, all of this offset by the "easy" difficulty setting which is more tolerable and with a little skill is manageable enough to beat.

- Poor driving mechanics. Every vehicle regardless of type, even ATVs, handle like water boats or tugboat barges.

Conclusion

Where the game fails with its flaws it can be brutal, yet, if you can get past this then you might find a rewarding shooting experience. This is because where the game succeeds it does these elements really well. Well done technical audio and video production values as well as solid shooting mechanics, destructible environments and some really nice weapons can make for a really fun shooter. Not to mention some of the combat scenarios when the game isn't being merciless can be really fun. So, in the end it's up to you if you can make it past the bad to enjoy the good in the game all the more.
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