A fun single-player story mode finally shows up in a Battlefield game while retaining the excellent multi-player.
In the story mode, you play the role of a new recruit into the three (now four) man squad known as "Bad Company". The other three guys in your squad are generally known as screw off, expendable soldiers that are always sent in to perform the crappiest of jobs. As the story moves along, it's filled with some twists and turns that leave your squad AWOL and in the search for some gold. Along the way, you will run into a brutal dictator type who owns the gold you are trying to steal and wants to use it for no good.
The story isn't going to win any awards, but it's not too bad. And it's certainly better than the crappy bot-fest levels we got in the previous Battlefield games. The characters here are funny, even if they are extremely stereotypical.
Another big selling point of the game has been the use of the 'Frostbite' engine. This is DICE's own destructible enviroment engine. In Bad Company, if you know there is an enemy behind a wall then blow that wall up with an explosive. If there is an enemy hiding in an attac, drop a bomb on the roof to kill him. Almost everything in the game can be destroyed in some way, shape or form. There are some limitations, but the system works very well.
The game looks pretty good and I was impressed by the visuals. It's nothing that will blow you away, but it doesn't hamper the game in any way. And the destructible enviroments help make up for the lack of top-notch, Gears Of War quality graphics.
Of course the online multi-player is the big selling point of any Battlefield game & Bad Company is no different. But since this is EA, of course, even they have managed to make this a bit irritating. When you purchase the game, you are given access to the 'Gold Rush' online mode. This has you either trying to blow up crates of gold or protect them. It's a fun mode, but where is the famous 'Conquest' mode? Well in a strange twist, you actually have to download this mode and it's maps. Yes I am serious.
Why was it not on the disc? And why is it now eating up lots of hard drive space? One answer: EA are morons. It's the same reason the Madden franchise has sucked for years. But I digress. Even with EA being their typical moronic self, the excellent online aspect of this series shines here. I personally have always loved and prefer the classic 'Conquest' mode, but the 'Gold Rush' mode is fun too. Either way you will enjoy getting online and doing some killing. If you have never played a online game of Battlefield before, I highly recommend giving it a shot. It's an addictive experience and extremely fun. There is a bit of a learning curve and you will get smoked when you first start playing. But if you stick with it, you will be rewarded with a game with almost unlimited replayability.
While it's no surprise that we get a great online multi-player game here, the single-player being relevant was a nice change of pace for this series. Hopefully with the sequel, we will see this idea expanded even more. Either way, you can get this game for around $20 now and it's definitely worth the cash. I am not a fan of EA, but this is one series I can't stay away from. Sure it's due to the great online play, but now I have a reason to play it by myself too.