The Scoreboard #13

Battlefield: Bad Company

Not having retroactive difficulty Achievements was criminal in 2005 when Gun did it, but three years later, with Battlefield: Bad Company, it’s not so bad. Oh, wait, yes it is. It’s the worst kind of annoying to complete levels on hard and not earn the “finish medium” Achievement, and Bad Company somehow managed to neglect this now-standard Achievement. While we’re still sighing our brains out in agitated frustration, it’s was exciting to earn mad Gamerscore at a steady clip throughout the game.

Best Achievement: Home Wrecker (15 pts.) Destroy 200 walls – By the finale of the game’s first stage, you should have launched each acquired grenade in to the nearest possible residential area. This will make things easier in the end, because you’ve only got so much time to lay waste to buildings with mortars before the needs-to-be-destroyed convoy moseys in on your turf. By launching frags through windows on the way to town, you can save time getting the Home Wrecker Achievement, which should unlock by the end of “Welcome to Bad Company”, if not shortly after. Come on – you’ve got home-wrecking mortars at your disposal. What more could you ask for?

Worst Achievement: Beans Bullets Bandages (30 pts.) (Online) Get 10002 kills – Really? Really?! This can’t still be happening can it? It was kind of cute when The Club did it with 10001, but seriously... no one wants to play one game this much. Even if you’re unemployed and free of social activity of any kind, you’ve really got better uses for your time. We’ve discussed this countless times, but just for safe measure: Get over yourself; your game is not as fun as you think it is.

Easiest Achievement: Killer on the Loose (25 pts.) Kill 25 enemies – You’re earning a point per kill here, and if that pattern continued after you completed this trouble-free task, we’re positive that Microsoft’s Xbox Live servers would crash with the hundreds among thousands of Achievements Bad Company players would have unlocked after the completion of the first mission.

Hardest Achievement: General of the Army (35 pts.) (Online) Reach Rank 25 – Much like Rainbow Six’s Elite Achievement, General of the Army requires you to trade in your membership card to Real Life for a brand spankin’ new one that pretty much makes you a slave to Battlefield developer DICE. Even if you’ve got the fiercest of skills, your ass ain’t leaving that couch for a lonnnng time.

Time Investment vs. Payoff: 6 (out of ten) – Bad Company’s got a fairly short campaign, with each mission offering a respectable amount of points upon completion, but if you want to make the most of it, find a block of time to play through it again, since you can’t unlock the regular beat-the-mission Achievements while playing on hard. Along the way, you’re bound to blow up, tear apart and mow down enough of whatever to pull in a satisfying slab o’ points. It doesn’t offer much in the way of online, since there’s a dedication-factor, but if you’re playing a Battlefield game online, chances are you’re there for the long haul.

Overall: 8 (out of ten) – They’re fun, they’re challenging, and they’re plentiful. Battlefield: Bad Company’s Achievements are fun to get, despite a set few being out-of-reach/ridiculously stupid. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of FPSes will blow through the normal campaign, while struggling with the all-knowing AI on the higher difficulty. It’s worth checking out to enjoy the carnage, as well as the unlocks that come in the progress.

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