Battlefield: Bad Company

by Drew James - 2008/04/17 9:11pm

The war is over. But, the battle has just begun.

PSBeyond brings you a hands on impression of Battlefield Bad Company. The ups, the downs, the soldiers screaming orders in an Arabic tongue, it's all here. We were greeted with a sunday mourning type tune as we launched into the game. The load screens are packed with tidbits of information about guns, intel, all the stuff you generally don't read and learn on the field.

The beta build came with two maps (Oasis and Ascension), and a standard attack and defend game mode.Not much has changed since Modern Combat 2. You're still getting those generic loadout kits that balance each other out. Also you will have the option to switch your loadout kit with one of a deceased ally or enemy.

Starting the game up you look around and see a handful of vehicles to choose from. Tanks, light tanks, Humvees, 4X4s, choppers. It's all there. Or you can be gas conservative and take your route on foot, which will take longer but greatly reduces your chance of being spotted. If you're on the attack team you're job is to take out enemy crates and obviously if you're on defense you have to stop them. This creates a slight unbalance because the attack points aren't too far apart in both Oasis and Ascension. So unfortunately we had to do some grenade throwing to clear out enemy campers. On defense the game doesn't open as many possibilities as attack. The two points that you must defend are relatively near your respawn points and it can get tedious if you stray too far from the targets. As expected from a battlefield game, the level does expand upon completing an objective, thus making sure the defensive team doesn't get too comfortable with their surroundings, also that the attack team don't become too familiar.



This game is flooded with rewards. An aspect that is sure to keep gamers playing. Rewards for any weapon you use, specific types of kills: Defensive kill, headshot, savior (Tell him he owes you big time), vehicle kill, air kill, mortar, etc. Rewards and ranks mean nothing if you're still using a pea shooter. Ranking up and gaining rewards earn you credit, which allows you to purchase different guns and side weapon upgrades. Unfortunately there aren't any noticeable difference between the upgraded and previous weapons other than power. But the ability to change side weapons and gadgets is a plus. Even if you aren't equipped with a support kit, you can buy a gadget that heals you and still be able to keep your grenade.

Visually, Battlefield isn't raising any bars on consoles. But it does a great job of bringing the war-like ambience and feel to the player. The sound however, is great. You hear bombs and guns going off in the background as you traverse through fields.The screen shakes as mortar blasts fall on surrounding areas and environments are shattered apart on impact. A great sight to see before you haul tail for cover.

There are a few noticeable flaws that we'll chalk up to early development but, overall Battlefield Bad Company looks to be a good game to pick up once you've grown tired of the prestigous Call of Duty 4. Stay tuned for details and our review during the launch window.