Bad Company's campaign is decent, but the multiplayer just isn't for me.
+ some innovative aspects (e.g. using a syringe to heal yourself or using special equipment such as a drill to repair vehicles, a laser designator to call in aerial missiles, a GPS to call in mortar strikes, etc.)
+ an almost completely destructible environment with explosive barrels/crates just asking to be shot, wreaking havoc on the surroundings
+ realistic enemy AI that take cover and are hard to see (e.g. they'll take a couple shots and then take cover, rather than full out charge you)
+ amazing audio/sound effects that make the game all the more realistic
+ entertaining characters and campaign story
+ tons of vehicles such as jeeps, Humvees, tanks, helicopters, and boats
+ great voice acting and facial animation
+ detailed maps make navigation and objectives easy to understand
+ non-linear maps allow you to plan your attacks and approach objectives from different angles or paths
Bad:
- beating the game on the hardest difficulty does not unlock the achievements for beating it on an easier difficulty, so you must replay it to get those achievements
- grainy textures everywhere you look
- no subtitles available (I prefer them)
- can't skip all cut scenes (useful when replaying)
- can only carry one weapon at a time besides your knife (except when carrying a sniper rifle, you also get a pistol)
- dieing usually results in you spawning very far from your objective due to the large/expanding map, which can be quite frustrating if no vehicles are in your vicinity; however, the environment remains how it was right before you died (e.g. all the enemies you already killed are still dead when you respawn))
Multiplayer:
+ unique classes that have their special abilities (e.g. with the 'Support' class, you can heal teammates and repair vehicles)
+ lots of weapons, unlockables, and trophies/awards available
+ numerous vehicles and equipment such as tanks, jeeps, helicopters, boats, Humvees, laser-guided rocket turrets, artillery cannons, anti-air guns, machine gun turrets, etc.)
- controls feel sluggish (e.g. when you press the knife button, it takes a couple seconds for your player to actually swing the knife), this can get annoying when unexpectedly confronting enemies head on
- only one game type available (two game types if you include the free downloadable "expansion pack")
- HORRENDOUS spawn killing
- some frame rate issues at times
Overall:
I've been a long time Call of Duty player and really enjoy the series. I thought I'd try out the Battlefield series and see what all the hype was about. Unfortunately, Battlefield just isn't the game for me. For this reason, I feel giving this game a bad score would be unfair because it's just not my type of game. I prefer the close quartered and fast-paced game play of Call of Duty with its crisp and responsive controls. To me, Bad Company's campaign was a decent FPS, but once I got to multiplayer, I just didn't find it enjoyable. The controls just felt too clunky and unresponsive compared to CoD (I had the game's sensitivity turned to max and my turn speed still felt a little too slow for my liking). In addition, the spawn system is even more frustrating than in the campaign . Spawning with your squad usually results in you being quickly spawn killed and spawning at the base just slows the game play down due to the fact that you need to take a 30 second drive to get to where you were originally at. Because of this constant need for transportation, the vehicles on the map respawn rather quickly and the game usually turns out to be "who can get to the best vehicle first".
As you can see, open battlefield/vehicle game play, is not the right sub-genre of FPS for me. For all of you that enjoy Call of Duty (like me), you most likely won't enjoy this type of game play. For anyone else, give it a try because you might like it.