The year has barely begun but already there are some great games for us to buy on the market. So far we’ve seen the release of Mass Effect 2, BioShock 2 , MAG and a whole host of other games that this girl can’t afford! And so, with all of the free demos out there that are, well, free, I saw my opportunity to get to play an extremely capable game a)for nothing and b)I get to play it with millions of other gamers around the world. For those of you who don’t have the time to download such a demo, I have taken it upon myself to ask 7 Questions about the Battlefield Bad Company 2 Multiplayer Demo to show just how great the game is.
(To see how my 7 Questions Reviews work, take a look at the review I did for the MAG Beta > here )
1.What’s In The Demo?
When we play most demos, particularly multiplayer ones, the developer is always sure to ram the fact that the demo “is not the final product” down our throats. This warning was present in BFBC2 as well but with just over a month to go until the entire game’s release, this is pretty much the final thing aside form a few little alterations.With that in mind I’m going to tell you what was actually in the demo. In the demo of the game there’s one map, one type of gameplay match and four types of load-out. The game places you at the centre of Port Valdez, a snowy harbour compound set in the side of a mountain. The beautiful graphics literally took my breath away when I first loaded up the demo, yeah they’re THAT good! In this stunning location lies your goal : place charges at the pinpointed sites and wait for them to blow up. Easy. Not quite. The enemy are there to defend the plots (and vice versa when you’re a defender) and they make your life a living hell. You can choose 1 of 4 load-outs to “sort ‘em out” and get rid of them to allow you to do your job, they are : Assault (your average soldier) , Engineer (the guy who fixes tanks and blows stuff up) , Medic (the almighty healer) and Recon (AKA the sniper). See, there’s something for everyone!
2.With All That Action,How Does It Play?
The game plays fantastically well to be honest. Battlefield Bad Company 2 doesn’t have the epic 256- player battles that MAG does, but it captures the essence of the classic, smaller skirmishes that we’re used to in an amazing light, giving us the tools to not just play a game but to have fun with it, allowing us to be creative. Although the demo only allows us to play on one map, each battle is never the same. Not only do you get to use the guns and artillery that other games allow (such as the stationary machine gun) you also get to drive tanks around the critically designed map, quad bikes and heavily armoured trucks can also be used to flank a position. It isn’t all good though, the variety is great but sometimes the objective can feel a bit linear and I’m growing tired of the same structure. I also saw that without the ability to make a team work together as well, the orchestrated matches of “sabotage” (as I’ve nicknamed them) did eventually fall into chaos and despair, leaving the game to descend into a run-and-gun , kill everyone match, which is the definition of Team Deathmatch and not “sabotage”.
3. We Want To Know About The GUNS!
Strictly speaking that’s not a question.. (Hehe, I’m so crafty).But it is a valid statement and I know that you’re ALL thinking it. The best class for these almighty pieces of punchy metal is the engineer class, you get to load-out with a SCAR machine gun (that one from MW2) , a rocket launcher (RPG-7 – that other one from MW2) and a pistol. I know that I shouldn’t compare BFBC2 to other games as they are completely different but games such as MAG and Call of Duty have set the bar extremely high for competitors such as Battlefield Bad Company 2 and I can’t help thinking like that. If you’ve played Battlefield Heroes on PC (the WW2 version of the game) then you’ll understand that guns have never been DICE (the developer’s) strong point. Their guns are jumpy like they’ve been ripped from an old cartoon and don’t match up to the rest of the lovely graphics in the game. Not to say that they’re not GOOD they’re just not the best.
4.What's So Great About The Graphics?
EVERYTHING! I’m seriously not joking. You all heard about Codemaster’s pathetic attempt to make a realistic shooter? Operation Flashpoint 2 : Dragon Rising? Well it was “sour milk” type of bad anyway but in comparison to this it’s as if a really big man came and did a poo on it. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is the most realistic war game out there. MW2 is an excellent game but it just isn’t very realistic. In BFBC2 your bullets can make or literally, break the scenery around you, take this example… I generally load-out as the engineer class in the game, purely for the rocket launcher, before we go on to set charges at the target and so when I get to the building/structure that the bomb site’s held in, I help my team out by OBLITERATING IT. Blasting super-fast rockets at the side of a building in most games means a few smudge marks can be seen on the side but with Battlefield Bad Company 2, buildings actually fall apart. The way they crumble like a delicious chocolate chip cookie is enough to make any gamers' mouth water in astonishment, it’s that cool. I also loved the snow. This particular map is set in the side of a mountain so of course there’s snow. Beautiful, beautiful snow that’s just a little bit too perfect.
5.Can I Hear About The Ve-Hick-Ulls?
Tanks.Quad bikes.Heavily armoured trucks with machine guns mounted to the back.Oh, and a chopper. I know that as a gamer, having played many games over the years, it is basic practice for developers to metaphorically get some sticky glue, a bunch of powerful guns, a few things that can move and then throw them into a mixing bowl and voila! portable death machines are created. Some developers don’t take the time to refine these “reapers on wheels” but instead just mash them together out of play-doh (and sticky glue). With Battlefield it really feels like the peeps at DICE HQ sat around a table, together, and talked about them. They feel polished refined and unique. For example, there are 3 types of tank. 3! I thought that only ‘slow and blasty’ tanks existed before this game! Each tank has a different type of weapon which means that they are 3 times as deadly. Tanks also allow you to have 3 other team-mates on board to rain bullets all over the enemy. Quad bikes in the game are for 2 people only and can be really useful for flanking as you can bounce around the map on one (seriously the suspension is amazing!) before ditching it to go sprint to the objective, the enemy probably will have been following the bike and not you, and so you can get away unseen! The heavily armoured trucks sort of speak for themselves hence the name “heavily armoured trucks” but if you still don’t get it they’re like smaller,weaker tanks with a little less firepower. Also featured is the chopper, DICE’s poor attempt at flight which is seriously hopeless and is too difficult to control. Plus, it really annoyed me so, it doesn’t deserve a mention.
6. What Was Good/Bad?
So far this review has been a bit long winded and so I’m really surprised that you’ve read down this far but anyway here’s the bad : the chopper (aargh!) , most of the guns, and the rubbish aiming (just like in MAG). The good : the vehicles, the visuals and the errm… ve-load-outs (as well as everything else that isn’t mentioned in the “bad”).
7. What Do I Think Overall?
It’s a lot of fun to play and I could really see myself playing this all the time. I really enjoy playing it but it needs to be refined so that a)the characters and the guns don’t flail around like a fish out of water and b)it needs to be a bit more polished. This is truly a fantastic game but I can’t help thinking that Battlefield Bad Company 2’s multiplayer mode is trying too hard to be MAG’s little brother. Chin up little buddy, maybe next time you’ll be great like your big bro’ MAG, but for now, stay at home with Mommy, k?
You Can Also Read My “7 Questions Review” of MAG > here
