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Battlefield: Bad Company
We kinda always thought war was supposed to be hell, not hilarious, but count that as one of many preconceptions developer DICE wants to change with Battlefield: Bad Company. That smiley face on the grenade pin in the game’s logo is more than just some cheeky icon — it’s a creative approach.
You’re Preston Marlowe, new guy in B Company — the Army’s dumping ground for screw-ups and loose cannons. “You smell very clean,” says explosives aficionado Haggard, while nerdy and talkative Sweetwater professes a crush on the radio dispatcher. Sergeant Redford is mostly normal, but he’s hours away from retirement, so he just wants to finish his job at war so he can fish in peace. But when the situation gets FUBAR and mercenary gold enters the mix…everyone’s priorities change.
The oddballs-against-all-odds approach works great as long as you’re in the mood for a casual romp behind enemy lines. Bad Company is refreshingly non-technical. You’re in a squad, but there are no squad commands. The world around you explodes on command; conveniently, you carry limitless health boosts, which you can use at any time, and you respawn at generous checkpoints (sometimes inside vehicles!). The stakes are considerably lower as a result, but that keeps the focus on more fun tasks, like collecting weapons, hijacking tanks, and wreaking havoc. Military vets will find the single-player mode too simple and silly, but for anyone who just wants to blow stuff up with army men, welcome.
Then again, no true Battlefield player will be opposed to the idea of endlessly respawning — it’s the heart of multiplayer, which features a new 24-player objective-based mode called Gold Rush (see sidebar, left). Clear map markings make navigation simple; close respawn spots keep the action close at all times; and heavily armored, multi-man vehicles make getting into it a hell of a lot of fun. It’s blissfully simple and inviting. You’re also rewarded for working together with teammates — the specialist can fit a target with a transponder, which the demolition expert can then lock onto and hit with a homing missile. You’ll level up in rank, armaments, and ability, as well as earn commendations for weapon prowess with each round — pleasantly similar to Call of Duty 4’s motivational stickiness.
Our review build had some noticeable issues with horizontal image tearing, and we wish that the buildings didn’t look and crumble so similarly. Nor are we sold on the overzealous reverb effects, which made gunfire in a small room sound like a shootout in a metallic bank vault. Mapping vehicle acceleration and braking to the left trigger and left bumper felt awkward at first, but it’s a good trade-off for using the second analog stick to swivel turrets. The helicopter still felt freakin’ impossible to fly, though.
We’re willing to put up with these quibbles for the promise of 24-player online matches, considering how friendly Bad Company feels. It’s the perfect military shooter for Halo and Unreal Tournament players who find the Clancy titles too real to be fun.
ON Xbox 360
+ Action-oriented, pick-up-and-play multiplayer.
+ Great characters in the story.
- Bad horizontal tearing and some echo-happy sound FX.
? Why are videogame helicopters always so difficult to control?
8.0
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kadavis13
January 19, 2011 at 10:10pm
The online multiplayer is a blast and I love how you rank up to the top class (general level 25) and then it is a constant competition for highest number love it!
monsterclip111
April 18, 2010 at 9:22am
hi i love COD and BC 2 ya this game sucks compared to the new one it is like dust the new one they swear more in the game but it is an ok game.
monsterclip111
March 26, 2010 at 4:35pm
man I got the game about 3 months ago and I still havent beat it but dang it's fun but bad company 2 has come out and I am very happy about that :). and I will have to get that. and it is kind of like cod 1,2,3,and kind of 4.
notatakenusername
March 15, 2010 at 6:42pm
I figured out a glitch to get infinate c4. You go by those ammo boxes if u have c4 already. It will refill your c4 supply. INFINITE EXPLOSIONS!!!!
XxBaRr67xX
September 14, 2008 at 5:27pm
this story mode of bad company is actualy fun compared to the last battlefields. good job on that.({67})
Coleman28
September 04, 2008 at 9:29pm
"You smell very clean" -Haggard Good game focused mostly on the 'fun' 9/10
ghostmirror
August 15, 2008 at 6:58am
Are u allowed to play online under the age of 13 on bad company message back please Gamertag:ghostmirror
ptlilly
August 08, 2008 at 7:20am
Thank you for Conquest Mode! Its great! I like the map layouts and I've enjoyed it, but I'm really hating that siren that goes off when you get low on reinforcements. COD4 is ntohing like BFBC. Its easier for me anyways to rank up in than it was in COD4. The points just keep coming. The only thing I wish is that I had more friends on my list playing it so I could have more team chat. So many are still in Love with Halo 3 and COD4.
LongDuckDong13
August 01, 2008 at 10:17am
XBox Live: LongDuckDong13 Helicopter controls are sub-par. But overall good game.
Quadsilly
July 27, 2008 at 2:58am
I wish they would let you change the controls on BF BC. I can stab someone really fast on COD4 but it really sucks on BF BC.
PetroNSX
July 26, 2008 at 12:47pm
i have to admit, i wasnt that impressed online. the whole time everything just didnt seem to flow and i hated the health system. it always seemed like one quick burst from an m4 would kill me and it took half of my m16 clip to take sumone down.
snatchattack1
July 22, 2008 at 4:40pm
the single player is short. but the multiplayer is really fun. it only has one game type but you really have to work as a team and that makes it even more fun.and there is a good amount of achievements
krazykazz
July 21, 2008 at 11:20am
they messed up on the hard and normal achievements on this one. u have to play normal to get that achievement when u beat a chapter on hard. games a waste of time as it is and they want u to play it twice? lame
jjackal79
July 18, 2008 at 12:59pm
BF"BAD COMPANY , is an alright game single player was cool and funny, but online stinks to much lag , no mode changes just the same crap just different maps! i give it 5 out 10 because of single player&co-op play.
Toutso
July 09, 2008 at 1:35pm
Really, COD4 and Battlefield:BC weren't going for the same type of multiplayer. On COD4 you basicly take out as many guys as possible, to make your job easier. On Battlefield:BC you take out people, but at the same time you use more teamwork. If you hadn't of healed the guy next to you, I bet he would of died before arming the bomb.. and if you didn't blow up that tank, he would of been a sore in the attack. I would of given it a 9.5. And really, those two games can't really be compared by features, if they weren't aiming for the same type of gameplay.
xboxperson
July 08, 2008 at 10:34am
This is just my opinion but personally, i love the demo. I played it almost daily with my friends, in fact i sometimes chose the BF BC demo over my favorite game COD4. But once you buy the game, it is extremely repetative. Well, on xbox live it is anyways. If u play the demo online and dont care to play one player then the demo should be fine for you. I bought the game and i am bored with it, it is just like the demo OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. If they would have made the online a bit funner i would play this game much more often.
anthony tonyj
July 08, 2008 at 2:05am
this is a very fun game. DON'T COMPARE IT TO COD 4. They are two different games. The single player is fun. The multiplayer has a bunch of cool weapon unlocks and other stuff. I hope you enjoy it.
Jester9
July 03, 2008 at 9:57pm
Remember all those problems EA had with charging for guns? There not completely gone. Have u looked at the "Find all Five" page at its website? Well in order to get every weapon, u have to do things like play the demo, sign up for newsletters,etc. Now that's all fine, but I was outraged when I saw that to get the assault unlock u have to have & played EVERY Battlefield EVER made!!! 1942, Modern Combat, 2142, Vietnam, & even Road to Rome, & Secret Weapons!!!! I don't know about all of u, but I don't have all those games, & I don't plan on buying them anytime soon. I thought that EA and DICE would have learned their lesson by now & just make all weapons available for free & already in the game, but I guess not.
Fat Explorer
July 02, 2008 at 6:46pm
ok seriously this game is freakin sweet,youve got hardcore action (you can blow up practically anything) youve got sweet AI(on easy not so much but on normal and hard these guys are really smart) then you have hilarious characters, Haggard is the funniest character ive seen in a game in a long time he is seriously crazy and its wat makes him funny now there is really good graphics and pretty good sound except when oyur in a corner or near a wall then the sound kinda has this wierd echo, but i didnt care cause its a fun game and i havnt played multiplayer yet so from just the singleplayer point of view id give it a 9.0 now if the multiplayer is as good as the single player or maybe better id give it a 9.5, the only reason it wouldnt get a 10 is because the easy diffuculty is way too easy, a three year old could beat it
manicclownboy
July 02, 2008 at 4:04pm
this is truly a great time to be a gamer! o.k. i'm not going to dispute that cod 4 holds the current undisputed multiplayer crown.but i don't think bf:bc is trying to take that. it is what it is. pick up and play, pure and simple. i'm not awesome but i can throw a much needed medipack to a teammate, or call in a mortar strike to make incoming enimies second guess their approach. i might not rock hard at halo 3 but i can make a difference in bad company
Olitinge
July 01, 2008 at 11:52pm
After playing COD4 campaign and comparing it to BF:BC COD is better in my opinion but in multi BF:BC lol.
f8d2black
June 30, 2008 at 4:19pm
hmmm... anyone have any idea when they are going to allow us to download the conquest match type?
Runandgunning80...
June 30, 2008 at 1:05pm
I honestly think playing single player is way better than playing online against other players.call of Duty 4 still rules out!!The old battlefield game Modern combat which i still have it..What they should've done is make this game a Multiplayer missions like ghost Recon games..It'll be funner than going against your friends or someelse..I hear that Call of Duty:world at war will be Co op?hmmm that might suprise those who play cod series..I would want to see CO op on Battlefield as well..For this game:battlefield?well instead of 24 players i believe they can add 100+ players for this huge maps..WOW that would be awesome!!
da FartRhino
June 26, 2008 at 8:58pm
[url=http://profile.mygamercard.net/da+FartRhino][img]http://card.mygamercard.net/geothermal/da+FartRhino.png[/img][/url] I found it easier to fly the helicopter if you switch the control scheme to type 2.
El CooL BeanS
June 26, 2008 at 7:49am
So since the single player is simple is the multiplayer player worth getting pulled away from COD4
foamysking
June 25, 2008 at 4:41pm
what rez iam running 720p through hdmi with no issue it might be the vga or possibly an issue with the screen but i doubt it if i figure anythin out on that ill keep ya posted but there is a serrious issue with connecting to servers is what it says well after speaking with microsoft you need to clear you 360 cache go to system tab then memory select your highlight your storage area then Y for device options the input X,X,LB,RB,X,X then select yes and that allows you to connect again
Dan OXM (not verified)
June 25, 2008 at 10:43am
I was running through the VGA cable in HD. 24" Samsung HDTV.
foamysking
June 25, 2008 at 10:21am
hey just out of curisoty what video setting were you running at i have logged over 20 hours already in the demo and full game combined but i have yet to see any horizontal image tearing
GODhimself37
June 25, 2008 at 9:05am
i agree. frontlines sucked. at least this game is halfway decent. frontlines only got good reviews cuz i could support so many ppl online. too bad nobody plays it.
natsfan7
June 25, 2008 at 7:52am
I'm not trying to anger anyone, or call out OXM's review crew, but come on, how does Frontlines: Fuel of War get a 9 and Bad Company get an 8?? BF is a much better game.
Mitch OXM
June 24, 2008 at 10:17pm
Ironically, "Bee Movie" scored quite well in OXM. I think the reviewer hailed it as an adequate game for its audience - that would, in turn, probably make it unplayable for anyone outside that range. :)
kutchena
June 24, 2008 at 9:06pm
I'd have to agree with something that I found in this month's OXM (letters to ed.): if you have a problem with games that score 7.0-8.0 in a scale of 10, then you should play something rotten (say, "Bee Movie") to rediscover the magic of a solid game that lacks just a few qualities of the greats...
Master Devwi
June 24, 2008 at 8:07pm
I'm very excited for this game, but your review makes some good points and the score makes perfect sense. Besides, 8/10 is not bad at all.. it's actually a very good score. Great job Mr. Amrich!
Dan OXM (not verified)
June 24, 2008 at 5:16pm
Uh, graphics and sound are both really important elements. But the gameplay is very strong, and that's why it got such a positive score like 8.0. If you read the review and not just the number, I think that's explained...
sneaky77
June 24, 2008 at 5:00pm
If you played the game and don't agree with the review why does it matter what they say? There is a demo for everyone to try on live anyway.
samiam28
June 24, 2008 at 4:54pm
These guys are dicks! BF: BC should've gotten atleast a 9.0 if not higher. They only complain about graphics and sound. So thats why it got an 8.0?
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