A CyberGamer Xbox 360 Review
Brought to you by the Xbox 360 Review Team

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Review

Booming onto the market in 2008, Battlefield: Bad Company gave the series fresh blood, new life, as well as a humour, and story not seen in most First Person Shooters. It followed the story of four soldiers, in the appropriately named "Bad Company" on their quest to find "The Legionnaires" who according to one of the Squad Members is the "deadliest army in the world."

From there, we follow the squad all around the world, and we also partake in a 4 man invasion of Russia! Such fun, from a previously unknown gaming series. Now Dice is back, and with a big vengeance with the recent launch of Modern Warfare 2. Can Bad Company 2 Contend with the juggernaut that is Modern Warfare 2? Continue reading and find out!

Pretty much picking up where the original left off, you take the role of Preston Marlowe along side Terrence Sweetwater, the squads rogue computer nerd, George Gordon Haggard, the squads bomb nut, and your commanding leader, Samuel D. Redford, who is due for retirement soon.

The game straight away throws you into the action. A few paragraphs detail a small mission, in which the US Army, before using the Atomic bomb to end World War 2, went into Japanese controlled territory looking for something only known by "Operation Aurora", what this is, who knows? Well that's what your set to find out.

You take the role of a new character, not a main character, but someone used for a story telling device. Your with 3 other soldiers, part of "Bravo Squad".

You start off in rubber boats, similar to today's Zodiac craft. The waves lap up the side of the watercraft, as you proceed towards the shore in the current of the waves. Lights are dimly seen along the coast line, as the sound of birds can be heard in the distance.

The moon bathes a solid glowing light down onto the water. The second boat containing "Able Squad" pulls up beside you, before you start your engines and slowly move towards a small hut.

Your told to cut the engine, as a two man Japanese patrol walks over a small footbridge, lighting smokes, nearly looking directly at you, but failing to notice the cunning Americans glide across the water.

A small cheer comes from one of the boats, before you continue on.
Alas, it wouldn't be a Bad Company game without guns, loud noises and full on action. A search light hits Able Squad, and they're eliminated by a machine gun. Your engine goes quiet once again, as you and your squad huddle in your boat, trying to evade being seen. Too late. The search light fires up again, and you come under fire. Everyone bails from the watercraft, and you all start swimming.

After a brief pause, you're on land, and ready to fight. This begins the tutorial, essentially making the game accessible for new players, whilst not providing an un necessary pain for returning players to the series.

You proceed through the trenches, dispatching Japanese soldiers whilst American bombers roar overhead, truly setting a grand scene. Before long, your fighting to your objective, a scientist of sorts, before you hear a sound. "Aurora" is being fired up, and your only option is to egress to a Sub Pen, and steal a Japanese submarine with other soldiers. You go through a brief "on rails" car scene, destroying various vehicles, as well as soldiers, before you escape in the Submarine. Your squad is happy, thinking they've survived, before a giant blue flash comes from the island, a tidal wave comes, and sweeps you off your feet, drowning you, as your dog tags float to the surface...

Fast forward quite a few years, and you're playing as the main character from Bad Company again. You're in a completely different scene, evading land mines as you make your way to a village, the snow crunching beneath your boots.

I won't spoil anymore of the story for you, but instead, I'll start detailing my thoughts on the game. I've been playing Battlefield since the original, 1942. I spent upwards of 200$ at the local LAN Gaming store, perfecting the game, and I have fond memories of nearly all the games since.

I feel the series has changed for the better, especially in the FPS Market we have today. Bad Company, and its sequel, capture a vibe and feeling I haven't experienced before in any other games. It manages to combine humour, action, drama, and intense combat scenes, all into one package, and not falter at any point.

When I first started the game up, I noticed DICE had managed to capture that feeling once again. The soldiers cracked wise jokes, even though they faced death at any point, and didn't know if it was coming or not. The detailed conversations the soldiers had, really captured what I consider the military vibe between mates, and "brothers".

The humour is still there between the main characters, as well as a stern side to the sergeant I didn't recall seeing too much of in the original. In relation to the characters, the voice work is spot on. The voice actors have done a brilliant job fleshing their characters out fully, fitting their individual look, style, as well as demeanour.

The sound of the game is spot on too. Everything sounds as it should, which is something I loved about the original game. It wasn't an always loud game. You could be in a multiplayer game, and hear the distance shots of a Tank as it fired rounds across the map at a flag, or the sound of the rotors beating from a Helicopter as it scoured the map for enemies to devour.
My favourite sound effect is the shell shock.

Have a tanks big round destroy a wall in front of you? Expect everything to sound dull for 10-15 seconds and the screen to move around a bit as your character is seemingly concussed. This sounds awesome in writing, even better in practice.

The guns sound perfect, meaty, and powerful, but having a unique sound to each of them, as opposed to them seemingly becoming blurred into one another. The sound of empty casings can be heard in chaotic firefights, as well as your squad yelling out enemy positions during firefights and combat.
From urban combat zones, to the tranquil forests of South America, with the rainforest birds singing, and the rain trickling off the foliage and leaves, everything sounds perfect.

Something I must stress, is in Multiplayer, turn "War Tapes" on, under Audo Settings. It makes the game so much better. You can hear your team mates' characters swearing, yelling for Ammo, medics, engineers, alerting you to snipers, mines, everything. Also, the game is definitely a must if you have 5.1 Surround Sound. It'll blow your mind, and ear drums.

Graphics, what can I say, perfect, just like the first. I noticed some screen tearing at first, where when you move, occasionaly horizontal lines come across the screen, but they went away after the first mission.

Everything looks really nice up close, right down to getting right beside a squad mate and seeing the weaving in their clothes, as well as small details like buckles, ammo pouches, and zips. The guns all look spot on, right down to small things once again, like fire selection switches, bullet casings, barrels, everything.

My most memorable thing from what I've played, is going through a forest, having beautiful vividly coloured birds fly overhead into trees, before the thunder came rolling in, and a small summer storm happened, rain leaving puddles on the ground, also making ripples in pre existing puddles.

Facial expressions and up close views of emotions are all done well, and with what I would assume is a high detailed motion capture system. Good job to DICE for making a perfect story, captured with vivid colours, awesome visual effects, and spot on voice acting, something you don't see a lot of. ("RAMIREZ GO DO X!" )

The achievements for the game are a bit tedious. The largest majority of them are Single Player, as you'd expect, but there's some multiplayer achievements, which I honestly have ups and downs about. The ups are, it gives you new things to try for, as opposed to simply playing MP to kill and rank up, but some of them are a bit silly. Such as trying to headshot someone with a Drill in Multiplayer.

This might be possible on a Sniper, but even then, you'd have to purposefully go out of your way to find one, then make sure they stay still, and not notice you. Regardless, the game has a good balanced list, and I look forward to 1000'ing it, something I couldn't do in the original.

Replayibility and game play are really high in my eyes, simply just because of the grand scale of the game. The maps in Multiplayer are huge. Taking some time to move from one spot to another, and you don't realise until you press start how much distance you cover in each Single Player mission. The campaign feels fluent, not forced, and indepth enough for it to be a playing experience on it's own.

Multiplayer has been beefed up heaps, offering a heap of new maps, new vehicles, like the UH-60 (The "Black Hawk" for you military illiterate) which sports 6 seats, Pilot, Co-Pilot, 2 passengers with open sided access, and two guys dropping thousands of rounds from the Miniguns mounted on both sides. Truly a piece of fun. With attachments, gun improvements, different bullet types, different kit customisations, and vehicle customization, Bad Company 2 will always leave you with something to try and unlock, and aim for.

Maps are now even more destructable, with buildings being able to be destroyed completely. Quite a convenient way to take out a MCOM Station. Speaking of, it's now easier to find collectible guns and stations in Single Player, as they're marked on your minimap.

There's also a hardcore mode, which removes the annoying "Watch the guy who killed you" post death screens, as well as higher bullet damage, no HUD, no vehicle HUD, and no map. Something I was glad was fixed in the Beta, was the amount of screen shake that happened when you were playing the Recon class.

Bad Company 2 is the true successor to what the original game laid out. Bad Company 2 comes along, kicks down the door, straps the bomb, and blows up your usual expectance from a first person shooter, and sequels in general.

Goods:
- Audio and presentation, spot on
- Multiplayer is still a blast. Get the pun?
- Awesome Sound, wait, did I say that!?
- Classic story mode, with humour and action rolled into one

Bads:
- Occasional screen tearing
- The fact the "VIP Map Pack" was already on the disc
- Having a building fall on your head!

Visual: 4.8/5.0
Sound: 5.0/5.0
Gameplay: 5.0/5.0
Achievements: 4.8/5.0
Longevity/Replayiblity: 4.9/5.0

Total: 4.9

By Bryce Wilson
CyberGamer Review Team Writer

=========================================================

Courtesy of myself, I also have TWO LIMITED EDITION DOWNLOAD TOKENS which inlcudes the VIP Maps, two new guns, 4 vehicle unlocks, and they're free for whoever wants them.

Note: If you don't get one, don't sweat it. You can unlock everything via natural progression.

POST NOTE: Tokens have been given away. Peace

Edited 3 times, last edited 10/3/10 - 11:31pm.

wow i didt read all of that but seems alot..
how long did that take for yu to write.
i only read the last bit and was pretty cool

nice review i might get the game after all

nice review

Not sure mate. Most of it just flowed out. Isn't really a problem for me writing long things. I would say around an hour for 1844 words.

wowah!!
nicee job but alot of commitment

Bryce has allot of commitment in what he does. Nice work, getting the game soon.

respect ^1

good job

My eyes are worn out from reading salts posts but i will get round to reading this tonight and good work in advance.

Wow2u ignoring me Drjft when I asked about the monitor.

Nice review though, dunno if I'd rate it that highly (4.9)

Thanks Adam, I appreciate it.

And Skayze, you downy, I replied It must not of sent though. My old PC had issues with CG. I sent you two PM's just then. You owe me an Avatar for it. *hint hint*

the game is a about a 7.5/10

the bad
sound and picture can only be appreciated with surround sound and HDMI
multiplayer is good but provides nothing different to the BF games or the FPS genre
campaign is buggy
stroy is very average.. and there is no replay value

the good
playing through the campaign, although bland, was quite enjoyable to the comedy and environmental visited
multiplayer is a nice change and is quite enjoyable.. until your killed by and tank or an lmg
you play play with minimal lag

all i can think of off the top of my head

Edited once, 5/3/10 - 8:45pm.

Well thats your opinion. How about you write a 1.8k word review, and actually back it up with some points, instead of just saying it, without any reasoning why.

pretty good review dude, I like the way you write, could see that being the voice over of a Video Review for GT or iGN.

and perfect spelling gramar, good to see that in a 1.8k post

but since this is a "CG REVIEW" and CG is a website for competitve multiplayer think you should have focused the majority of the review on the MP part of the game.

what I'm interested is what are the private match setting like? are they at all adjustable, is it easy to set up lobby, how much customization of the game is there, whats hosting like etc.

From what i saw, lobby's are easy to set up, there isn't much customization but it isn't needed the settings are very competitive as it is.
Hosting is run on private servers and from what i have been told there is Australian servers on the gold coast.

Edited once, 5/3/10 - 9:04pm.