Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3)

I never had any preconceptions when I picked up Bad Company. It didn't cost me very much and I didn't really expect a whole lot but right from the off Bad Company charmed me with its light hearted take on the FPS genre. If you love Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare series then this game may not be for you as the gritty realism and intense spectacle that Call of Duty thrives on isn't really replicated here. What is achieved however is an amazing romp through the fields and towns of Serdaristan with big guns, explosives and vehicles.

The plot revolves around Preston Marlowe and is 3 squad mates who for their various sins have ended up on the front line with B Company. They are the cannon fodder of the army and as such are sent into hostile territories on what seem like suicide missions. It is only when some mercenaries leave behind a trail of gold that the team soon show their true colours and their rollercoaster journey begins.

The real sucess of Bad Company lies in the classic Battlefield gameplay. This involves lots of running and gunning with explosions and bullets a plenty. What Bad Company does is converts what is an essentially multiplayer experience into an accessible and digestible single player. As a sandbox FPS the player should in theory be able to pick and choose from available missions akin to Grand Theft Auto or more similarly Farcry 2. However despite this setup, Bad Company remains a fairly linear experience with the player moving from one objective to the next albeit in a free roaming area but in a totally predefined sequence. Free roaming is also marred by "red zones" which prevent the player from exploring by dropping a volley of mortar shells on you whenever you venture too far off the beaten track. Despite this the core gameplay and story do enough to keep you entertained. Throughout the story mode Preston and his team mates will track their way through towns and forests encountering various levels of resistance from infantry patrols to helicopters and tanks to reach their various objectives. In doing this this the player will make use of a various array of vehicles included in the game which all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Level design is good with a variety of towns, refineries, prisons, docks and warehouses to blast through however each are tackled in a similar way. This usually involves calling in an air strike, using your trusty grenade launcher or just bombing in with a tank and while the gameplay does become familiar by the end it's still satisfying to blow a hole in a wall to reveal a bunch of cowering soldiers! Despite the enjoyable core gameplay, as the story unfolds you begin to learn more about your squad mates however they never really become an integral part of the game. While they do follow you around the game world they don't aid you and only provide supporting fire while you take the lead. They are also really stupid and rarely follow you sensibly. For example in one area you are crossing a bridge so I decided to jump across some planks that had been left. After sucessfully crossing I looked around and realised my squad mates had all dived into the river presently regenerating across on the other side. Regenerating becomes a common occurence for both you and your squad and instead of a conventional checkpoint system you just respawn and pick up where you left off.

Graphically Bad Company looks good. It is a sandbox FPS so it renders a full game world most of the time therefore the detail is not quite at the level of the Modern Warefare series. However the destructible environments and spectacular explosions more than make up for the lack of graphical subtelty. Up close some of the textures lack detail and there is a small amount of pop in however by and large the DICE engine does a great job of drawing the player in to the game world. That said there is just not enough variety in the landscape to make the player stop and look before gunning on to the next objective.

A real triumph. The soundtrack accompanies the light hearted feel of the game with an assortment of rock/jazz music that accompanies the loading screens. In game the music largely accompanies the action. A lot of work has been done on the weaponary and accoustics for Bad Company and this really helps to draw the player in. For example when hiding in a building gun shots will echo round the room however when (as often happens) a tank spots where you are the shells and collapsing walls deafen you with a ringing in your ears (literally). It really picks up where the graphics leave off and helps to draw the player in to Serdaristan and the explosive playground that is Bad Company.

The multiplayer will not convert Modern Warfare junkies and even the Gold Rush mode while enjoyable does not create the same addictive levelling up that is present in other FPS games. However, if you like Battefield games the usual modes are there and the classic gameplay is reproduced in fine style.

Bad Company has its faults but where I would critisize other games I just enjoyed playing it too much to really care. Blowing up stuff is fun and Bad Company makes no bones about setting out its stall to do just that. If you like explosive shooters with a dash of humour then Bad Company is for you but if you are looking for another round of Modern Warfare then this game might not be your drop of bourbon.