Battlefield Bad Company 2 Review!

[RoachBurn]

Ok, sorry for the tease but I'm too tired to write a full review. Right now I'll just post my overall score and hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to edit this post with actual details like I usually do.

Needless to say, I have completed the single player campaign and achieved a good number of ranks in Multiplayer. That being said...

Single Player: 8.5/10!
Multiplayer: 9/10!

Overall: 9/10 regardless of the 8.5 SP score! Only 8.5 due to how short it is, but god damn what a crazy ride it takes you on!

[RoachBurn]

Aaaaaaaalrighty then! Since I can't edit my previous post, I'll start again.

I love DICE for 1 simple reason, they don't follow the current stupid trend of Console > PCs. I just wanna get this out of the way, I own 2x 360's and a PS3, and they're both total garbage. PCs are still #1! I also own the PC and 360 version (some of my buddies can't afford good pcs so...)

With that said, DICE catered to PC gamers so much with Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BC2) that there's no reason NOT to get the PC version. As a bonus, if you buy the PC version in it's initial release, you get the Collector's Edition for the same price because every initial copy is Limited Edition only! After they're gone, you only get the regular edition for the same price. The Limited edition comes with some extra maps and some Multiplayer guns unlocked from the start instead of through progressing into the higher levels!

Let's get the crap out of the way first.

*crap start
Story: 2/10
The story is really generic and at some points it makes absolutely no sense. There, I got rid of the crap points.
/ crap end*

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics (on PC only) are AMAZING! The console graphics are decent but nowhere near what the PC can do. The lighting is pretty good at what it tries to accomplish but sometimes you'll get sun light bleeding through tree branches or holes in the ceilings.. I appreciate the effort, but the beams of light just look really strange, almost solid. Shadows are appropriate where but sometimes pop in and out randomly and during cut scenes they can pixelate quite a bit (big pixels). Textures look incredible and there are times where the landscape views are just insane! Now this next point may seem harsh, but as good as Crysis' graphics were, the full landscape views always left a lot to be desired for me, but not so with BC2. Some parts, I believe, look WAY better. The guns also look great and enemies act believably. The ragdoll physics are present, but the death animations are top notch and can rival pretty much any other game in this aspect. There's only a handful of enemy models in the game, a little more variation would've been very much welcomed, but what's there is ok.

Sound: 10/10
If you think Modern Warfare had good gun sounds, wait until you load this bastard with full surround sound and a subwoofer that can handle the .50 Cal Sniper Rifle. When that bad boy goes off it sounds like there's a thunder storm in your room! I couldn't believe how pronounced the gun sounds were, I was so happy with what my ears were hearing. It's like ear porn! I can't say enough about the gun sounds, but even reloading has the appropriate heavy metal slamming sounds, with chambers locking, bullets dropping to the ground and even the smallest details of handling the gun. Everything sounds as it should and I am beyond impressed. The voice overs are hit and miss. Well, they're actually all done really well, it's the dialogue that sucks, but I covered that in my crap points within the story.

Gameplay: 9/10
Immediately I think of the original Xbox game, Black, when I was playing this game. The graphics felt very similar (except WAY more detail and atmosphere) and the weapon sounds were just as orgasmic to shooter fans. If there was going to be a Black 2, BC2 would be it. I couldn't get enough trying out every single gun whenever I got a chance to pick up a new one. I'd kill a few dozen guys, switch to another gun and keep going. Every single gun has a good weight feeling to it and the proper kick back to it's shots. There's no 1 single overpowered gun, they all do what they're supposed to and they do it well. Just find the gun that feels comfortable for you and the rest is violent bliss. The AI is hit or miss. Sometimes they'll use cover extremely well and flank believably. Other times they'll stand there as if saying "I can't believe I spent my money on Modern Warfare 2 instead of waiting for this game... please just kill me so I can repent..." yeah, the game is that good.

The other amazing part of the campaign is that it never gets stale. All of the levels are varied and, even though you pass through a lvl twice, you never get the feeling of de ja vu because you're always playing it differently. For example, one level you're raiding a castle and the next lvl you're fleeing the castle in a jeep! The game goes between On Foot action to Vehicle sequences so smoothly that it just blends together into one mind blowing experience without feeling forced or rushed. It's like watching a movie and never feeling like some scenes could be left out. Everything fits very well and lends itself to the next stage in the best ways. Driving vehicles is a blast, the controls are responsive and the physics are just arcade-ish enough to not feel like a boring chore.

As for Multiplayer.. well, as I said at the start, DICE caters to PC gamers. We get options to tweak pretty much any visual aspect you could imagine, it supports all resolutions including proper widescreen (stupid Bioshock!) and the interface load outs are WAAAAAAAAY better and more intuitive than the console bastardized versions. PC players have all the class options available across 1 single row with very easy to use drop down menus. Console UI is way more cumbersome. Also, it supports DEDICATED SERVERS AND MODS! YOU HEAR THAT ACTIVISION! YOU ASSHOLES!

Ahem... yes... it supports PC gamers the way ALL damn games should. Also, there are huge amounts of PC gamers playing. In fact, there was a post recently on.. Kotaku I believe... from DICE themselves saying that the PC gamers outnumber the 360 and PS3 combined! IN YOUR FACE! It's about damn time PC gamers showed support for a game that supports them in the first place.

Respect: 10/10
DICE has 100% of my respect. They did this game right for PC gamers.

Overall: 9/10
This game is a MUST BUY if you love FPS games and have a PC that can run it. Even if you only have a console this game is still a must buy! I haven't enjoyed a FPS game like this in a looooooooong time and I gotta say, the more I play it the more impressed I become.

And btw, I realize this review was very pro-PC and anti-console, because I am. But that's a whole other rant for another day when I don't need to wake up 4hrs after writing it.

If you have any questions about something I may have left out, just ask and I'll do my best to answer it. My brain doesn't really exist right now, I'm so tired...

[venger]

I tried the beta and I have to admit I didn't give it much of a chance. Did they fix tank turret sensitivity? Either make it 1:1 with the current setting or a separate adjuster? I never could figure out how to do basic things like spot, call for backup, heals, supplies, etc. -- things comparable as in BF2.

[Reese]

How would you compare the multiplayer play to the first BF:BC?

I thought the first BC, was extremely sluggish online. That being said, I played it for the Xbox, not the pc.