The dastardly devils at DICE have played themselves an excellent hand during the development of their latest Battlefield title, subtitled Bad Company. They've been playing up the whole open-level, destructible-world single-player campaign this whole time, somehow managing to successfully manage to make us forget that they had a multiplayer game hiding behind the curtain. A Battlefield multiplayer game.

Having spent a few hours with an Xbox Live beta, the nearly-done Bad Company may have had more emphasis placed on its solo mode than any previous title in the series, but the online side is definitely a Battlefield experience, through and through.

Featuring two maps -- the narrow streets of "Ascension" (better hope Bungie's lawyer doesn't call about that one!) and the huge long road that is "Oasis" -- the beta showcased a single game mode: Gold Rush. One team is tasked with capturing gold reserves scattered throughout the level, while the other must defend. It's a glorified version of what you've seen a million times before (Halo's Assault, Unreal's Bombing Run, etc. etc.), but it's as fun as ever.

Of course, being Battlefield, every type of motorized vehicle under the sun is here. While you won't see much of the rides in the smaller, more claustrophobic "Ascension," you'll have a hard time traversing the desert in "Oasis" without a vehicle. Attack helicopters, tanks, Humvees, boats, dune buggies, and fixed death-dealers like machinegun nests and battery artilleries can all be hopped into (in all but the latter two, DICE has added an in-cabin radio that adds a laudable touch of immersion).

Fortunately, you won't have to walk the length of the map if your buddies take all the wheels when you respawn. In another smart touch, DICE has offered the option of respawning at either your base or with your squad, the latter option dropping you next to a teammate in a safe position close to the action. In one of our matches on "Oasis," we kept dropping in next to a friendly sniper who'd set up shop across a bridge just outside of the village we were trying to break into and get the gold out of.

As you'd expect, there are a number of kit configurations, from the usual machinegun-toting assault to the shotgun/rocket-armed demolitions to the support classes that can heal allies or repair friendly vehicles. We found our comfort zone as a demolitions expert, taking great pleasure in pumping fools with buckshot in close-quarters buildings, while using the RPG to dispatch with pesky enemy armor that was preventing our teammates from kicking ass. The rocket launcher is also handy at destroying the gold bar crates -- an experience that can be quite harrowing while enemy tanks, mortars, and RPG-ers are destroying the walls to the building you're in, exposing you to outside fire.

An experience point-based leveling system, a la Call of Duty 4 or Rainbow Six Vegas 2, should also serve as a hook for those who think they'll be satisfied with simply taking a waist-deep wade into Bad Company's waters. Also of note are Bad Company's dedicated servers for all players (something Battlefield 2 offered as well), meaning lag and games ending due to the host leaving should never be a problem (and they certainly weren't for us). We applaud DICE and EA for footing the bill on these servers for the benefit of their fans. In fact, they're in extremely select company when it comes to this decision. We hope more multiplayer-centric titles will follow in their footsteps.