Bad Company makes for good company.
As with great graphics, sound becomes just as critical to create the overall experience of exceptional gameplay, and BC2 is no exception. I have tried the game in 7.1 as well as headphones using the Sennheiser PC 350's. The ambient sounds are very well done and you get a true feeling of spaciousness. The echoed gunfire, rain, voices are created with fantastic detail and reverberated effect. The footsteps, vehicle sounds are very well done.
Many of the elements that made games like BF2 an BF2142 so sucessful have been also carried over to BC2. Game modes like rush and conquest will feel very familiar to followers of the BF series. The focus of teamwork is still paramount to ensuring you are victorious in a match. Vehicles feel very familiar like in the previous BF games. Nice little addition is the UAV heli which you navigate to help spot enemies and guide an air missile strike. A little disappointment for me was the lack of compatibility with older joysticks like my Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback which has been my favorite. A few buttons and actions could not be programmed to make it work properly. Flying with a mouse and keyboard is just not the same.
What makes the BF so great in multiplayer? You guessed it... Dedicated Servers. Dice and EA have not forgotten about the loyal and faithful PC players that help create and make the BF franchise so successful. And I thank you for that. We can expect to see our favorite familiar servers along with a host of map packs. This is an issue that has plagued MW2 with the lack of DS's and made it a multiplayer disaster filled with lag, timeouts and worst of all... hackers. At the time of the launch date, it is to be expected that hundreds of thousands of gamers tried to access the ea game login servers at the same time creating a host of login and related issues. All will be ironed out in due time. Adding friends becomes very easy to do with a side menu tab located at the left bottom of the main menu. Expect to see a host of servers that will cater to everything from light skirmishes to massive 32 vs 32 player mayhem. As with the previous BF's, you are able to access a host of stats, from personal to leaderboards. Weapon upgrades are like the previous series' with a few added perks.
Overall, Dice and EA have produced an outstanding game. From graphics to sound to gameplay, Bad Company 2 has it all. And let's not forget about the best multiplayer experience available to date.