Why all the hyped up elements aren't up to par...
I started playing the tutorial in the first mission. It actually played rather well. I couldn't help smiling when I blew my first hole in the house nearby. Destructible environments were two words which came up whenever the name Battlfield: Bad Company showed up, and I loved that first blast in the wall. The game progressed, and I was hoping for more opportunities to blow holes in walls, and I got them. Only drawback was, everything looks the same. All the buildings are bland; they look like they were rushed because there's absolutely nothing inside them. This made it feel like you were just blowing a hole in a cardboard box. Boring.
One other annoying aspect was the health system. It's not like CoD4 or Halo where your health gradually regenerates, you have to inject yourself with health every time you take a certain amount damage. I found myself looking at the health counter more than I was looking at what was in front of me. This really distracted me from the action. Playing the game on Easy was actually more fun than playing it on Normal because you could actually focus on the action more.
Also, the enemy AI is very much stupid. They will absolutely not take cover, although you will get the occasional rebel who stands behind something that covers everything but his head. Another very annoying thing is that you will almost NEVER know where you are taking damage from. Sure, they give you those red semi circles, but spotting where the enemy is exactly is usually very difficult, and with unwieldy controls, it makes it all the more frustrating.
As for the weapons, they lack punch. They sound devastating, and that's really one of the major upsides to this game. But shoot a guy, and he takes about 10 shots or something to take down, no matter which gun you end up using. Unless it's a shotgun. You're given the challenge of finding collectible weapons, but that's a useless addition since you cannot select any unlocked weapons at the beginning of a level. You will always receive your default weapon. Except in one mission, where you start with a pistol. The pistols seem to have more of a punch than the assault rifles or LMG's do.
There were too many outdoor environments I feel. Over time, everything gets repetitive; the missions, the objectives. I found myself laughing at one objective: "Stop Haggard from invading a neutral country." Something to add to the already decent humor in the game.
Death isn't so frightening in the game, as you will simply respawn at your last save point. Unfortunately, sometimes your last save point is ways away, meaning you'll have to trek all the way back to where you were fighting. Very annoying. I'd rather die, and then just start again from a checkpoint, with all the enemies I killed last time alive and waiting.
Battlefield: Bad Company feels very much like the PS2 title, "Black". The enemies in Black are stupid, they take loads of ammo before they die, you are given so many bullets that you won't even feel guilty if you just fire blindly, and the guns don't have any punch in them, though the sound is deceiving. Even the graphics are similar.
Overall this game was a let down. The destructible environments are probably the only "exciting" thing happening in this game. I'm a hardcore FPS fan, and I'm absolutely sure I wasn't asking for too much from this game.