Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a fantastic modern shooter, and a real contender to Modern Warfare's online FPS crown.
Gameplay: 9/10
Bad Company 2 plays pretty much the way you would want it to. The controls are slick and responsive on foot and great when you jump into one of the games large number of vehicles.
It is worthy of note that much like in the previous game, helicopters require a certain amount of skill to fly effectively but it won't take most players too long to get to grips with controlling them.
The campaign mode provides a great mix of all the kinds of activities you would want to try your hand at as an overly versatile soldier; Sniping, driving ATV's, being a gunner in a Blackhawk helicopter and blowing lots of stuff up etc. It's nice to see that the developers put thought in to the variety of things the game sees you take part in.
While these numerous different kinds of gameplay may not necessarily add to make the game feel more believable or even original, it does add to the fun factor and provides a much more light hearted and arguably more diverse experience than other games of its genre.
The multiplayer element of Bad Company 2 is where the game really shines.
The game modes present in the game pretty much provide what you would expect from a game of this type, combing deathmatch style modes with more objective based ones.
The combination of vehicles, weapons and classes allow many different approaches to the battlefield, and really allow you to find a playing style that suits you. It's great to be able to jump into a tank and destroy buildings after getting tired of Sniping during a game.
Graphics: 8.5/10
Bad Company 2 looks great. Very detailed, diverse environments, great character models and fantastic plasmid effects all give the game a real feeling of quality. Weapons are all modelled extremely well also and vary from the makeshift style of the grenade launcher to the endlessly cool industrial look of the drill.
The games visuals do have some downsides however. Not all of the games environments are done to an equally high quality, and this is especially noticeable in some of the multiplayer maps.
The snow and desert levels of the game look absolutely spectacular, but some of the forested areas of the game suffer from strange textures and just generally aren't as great looking as the rest of the game.
Also worth stating is the lack of character models online that make the game feel a little more generic than it had to be. There is only one character model per class from each of the two sides, meaning there are only a total of 8 different characters in the whole of multiplayer (four Russian and four American)
Sound: 9.5/10
The sounds in Bad Company 2 are genuinely top notch. The game features great voice acting throughout, neat effects for explosions, fantastic gun sounds and great vehicle sound effects.
Every noise heard in multiplayer was caused by someone within the map and adds to a sense of realism. There is constant interaction between the soldiers you play as online and you are kept updated often as to what is taking place in front of you by either radio chatter or the yells of your allies.
The only not so great part of the game as far as audio is concerned is the soundtrack, but at the end of the day it's functional not terrible and few people will even care.
Story: 5/10
Not a strong part of the game. You are a member of Bad Company, a group who are basically the ultimate reject-come-cannon fodder squad in the U.S army.
The storyline basically contains a lot of clichés, and without going in to it features a lot of what you would expect for a generic shooting game storyline. Near the end of the game the story seems to try and take a serious turn, but comes off almost laughably.
The characters are a lot of fun throughout the game, they just don't happen to be part of a story that even starts to become something you would happen to care about.
The Verdict 8.9/10
The main draw here was always going to be the multiplayer element, which I am glad to say this game really delivers on as far as what you would want from an online shooter experience.
The campaign is a lot of fun, and of a more adequate length than other recent games in the genre, but really won't appeal to those who are looking for a story driven campaign experience.
On a whole Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a great game, with good graphics, great multiplayer and tons of action. This game is really worth checking out if you have even a base level interest in first person shooters or action games.