With a campaign and access to two brilliant online modes, Ultimate Edition is the definitive version of Bad Company 2
The story of Bad Company 2 continues the story of Sarge, Sweet Water Haggard, and Marlowe as they race to find a super weapon before the Russians. The plot; narrated by your character Marlowe, takes them across many environments from snow capped forests to humid and boiling jungles and everything in between. The characters provide some entertainment through cheeky and witty dialogue but nonetheless this is typical shooter story 101; providing good incentive for some epic battles and standoffs throughout but offering little attachment to the characters involved Battlefield 1943 on the other hand follows a simple premise of the conflict between US and Japanese forces over the pacific islands in World War 2.
Many new features have been thrown in for a standard price. You get both the full Bad Company 2 experience plus a code to unlock Battlefield 1943 and the new Onslaught coop mode for free. Value is incredibly high for the ultimate edition, though it doesn't add much to a game already offering the same features. The single player takes at least nine to ten hours to complete with M-com stations to destroy and weapons to collect offering slight incentives to replay chapters. The lack of coop through the campaign is a disappointment; but fortunately the multiplayer more than makes up for this with 24 player war across many enormous maps with many vehicles and weapons. To round off the package the new Onslaught mode tasks up to four players with capturing points defended by AI controlled opponents. This coop mode switches things up by including vehicles which gives a tantalising premise for those wanting more than defence and survival modes.
Though standard shooter mechanics apply, namely aiming down the sight to achieve greater accuracy. Battlefield Bad Company's claim to shooter fame is the new Frostbite 2.0 engine. The destruction taking place here in both single and multiplayer is unparalleled, creating a new strategy for all future entries in the series to follow. This enables players to flank and blast away cover and even bring down entire buildings on top of people which is often essential in the multiplayer. Artificial Intelligence isn't the best on the shooter genre but there are often many enemies on foot and in vehicles to provide reasonable challenge. Battlefield has always featured outstanding multiplayer that serves as a worthy rival to Call of Duty's throne.
The team based gameplay will come as a shock to COD veterans. The lone wolf tactics that won search and destroy matches will be met with unfortunate results in Bad Company 2. Victory requires coordination, awareness and general skill. It's all about the different classes and sticking with your six man squad. Soldiers bring assault rifles and supply ammo, Engineers carry SMGs and both repair and destroy vehicles. Medics wield heavy machine guns and heal and revive teammates and Recon snipe from afar and use C4 for downing key targets. Another key element of online is spotting; by pressing select enemies can be marked with an orange arrow that the whole team can see. This makes blindly running out, guns blazing extremely hazardous. Each load out can be changed before respawning. The setup is slightly flawed as you can often pick the wrong equipment or weapon for a given situation. Vehicle controls can take some getting used to and you will find yourself hopelessly dominated by well managed teams. But defeat never feels cheap or unfair. Each weapon and vehicle has been carefully balanced to ensure maximum fun. Modes include Rush which one team plants bombs in each determined area before moving on. Squad death match are standard fare and conquest is similar to Call of Duty's domination in which teams capture and hold flags to gain points. Again it would have been nice to have split screen multiplayer online or off but overall the gameplay is solid and produces a dramatically slower paced and tactical experience. Levelling up unlocks weapons and equipment with extra and specific experience being gained for each class and assisting your squad.
Presentation in Battlefield Bad Company 2 is outstanding. The frostbite engine portrays incredibly satisfying destruction effects. Environments and vistas look stunning and sound, particularly explosions do an excellent job of immersing you in the conflicts. Voices for squad mates sound authentic in multiplayer and greatly convey the characters personalities in the campaign mode. Sarge, Sweetwater and Haggard have new things to say all the time which helps to involve you in their personal opinions. Music seems to be non-existant in both single and multiplayer which heightens the realism of the battles.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition is exactly what it says on the box. A brilliant package which shouldn't be missed by any fan of first person shooters. Developer Dice has packed the disc with features and the brilliant multiplayer serves a worthy distraction from the likes of Call of Duty and Halo. It may be playing catchup with these two well recognised series but once you get into Bad Company you won't want to leave.