"Battlefield: Bad Company" was a great game to revisit, and in finally getting to experience the game, it gave me the itch that modern "Battlefield" games have struggled to give me. It made me see how great the series used to be, and it successfully remained engaging despite coming from a wildly saturated genre. With "Battlefield: Bad Company 2," I had been hearing nothing but great things, with many telling me it was an even better game than the first one. After finally getting to play it myself...yep, it sure was great.
"Battlefield: Bad Company 2" moves to a more linear style than the sandbox style of the original, but doesn’t sacrifice the spirit of the first game and retains the awesome destructibility of the previous entry. The campaign design feels as fleshed out as the first game, but it also makes some very nice quality-of-life changes that really help it to be an improvement over "Bad Company." The story is loaded with action-packed set pieces, and the characters continue to have moments of wit throughout the game. The weapons are as powerful as ever, the level design remains as interesting as before, and the shooting feels even better than the previous game. Also, as per "Battlefield" standards, the multiplayer continues to shine through.
I will say it is a game that does wear the "Modern Warfare" influence on its sleeve pretty hard, and if you've played the "Modern Warfare" campaigns, you might feel that vibe a lot here. Also, I wish the checkpoints were a bit closer. There were quite a few times where I died and started way further back than I feel like I should've.
Overall, "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" is a great improvement on a first-person shooter that was already pretty damn fun to play. The "Bad Company" games really make me wish that EA would actually think about something other than money and make go back into this direction. Hell, this game makes me forever question why EA just outright dropped the "Bad Company" set of "Battlefield" games altogether. As it is, the "Bad Company" games are great showcases of a time when "Battlefield" really was an exciting shooter franchise, and I highly recommend giving them a shot if you haven't already.
Final rating: 9 out of 10 "Awesome"