Despite the campaign's few irritating moments, BC2 is still an outstanding game with possibly the best multiplayer ever
Let's start with the campaign. The original Bad Company had one of the most memorable campaigns ever put in a FPS game. What made it so great were the supporting characters in the Bad Company unit. Together, these three made the campaign what it is, and the game wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining without them. This hasn't changed at all from the first game. Bad Company is as witty as always and their battle chatter remains hilarious. The other thing that amped up the campaign was the ability to destroy entire towns. If you had explosives on you, then there was nothing more satisfying than obliterating buildings after clearing the towns of enemy soldiers. This aspect is kind of taken away from you in the sequel. While you can still blow up everything in your path, the game doesn't really give you a time-out from blasting baddies to do so. It's still just as much fun, but if your a fan of the first game, then you'll be wanting a little more destruction this time around. This time there's a lot more story to go around though. In the first game, it was pretty much just a treasure hunt. This time, Bad Company is trying to stop the production of a weapon of mass destruction. Once again you play as Preston Marlowe, who's definitely the most down to Earth guy in BC. In BC2, there are also many more interesting supporting characters. In the first game it was pretty much just the members of Bad Company, the insane European president, and The Legionairre (the first game's villain). And there wasn't any development behind the president and The Legionairre. Now you're aided by a army general, a tech-expert named Aguire, and a hippy helicopter pilot named Flynn. And all three of these characters are far more interesting than those from the first game. The only thing that really takes away from the campaign is that there are some pretty tedious things thrown in, and this makes the campaign harder than the first game. For some this might be an improvement, but for me it kind of took away from the experience.
Now for the multiplayer. This is where Bad Company 2 really shines. The online multiplayer for BC2 far supasses any other multiplayer experience, even Call of Duty's. What makes Bad Company 2's online play so fantastic is that unlike every other FPS game, it's really a team effort. You may be put in teams in Call of Duty, but no one really cares about winning. In this game, to be good, you have to be a team player. The game modes are also very well thought out and original. The best mode in my opinion is "Rush" which really simulates real battle. I've never fought in a real war, but this is probably the closest that a video game will ever get to simulating an actual battle. The mode consists of one team being the attackers, and the other the defenders. They have three areas and three M-comms in each of the three areas, which the attackers try to activate. Once all nine of the total M-comms have been destroyed, the attackers win. But if the defenders can hold them off, the defenders win. There are other online modes, but that's the most impressive in my mind. And unlike other online shooters, the graphics and mechanics remain exactly the same as in the campaign. The maps are just as visually beautiful as they were in the story mode, and that goes for the outstanding sound design as well. So overall, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an amazing game, with a stellar campaign and excellent online multiplayer. And it's one of the few shooters that everyone should play. And if you're sick of Call of Duty, this is the ultimate cure.