Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review
- Posted March 16th, 2010 at 16:18 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 53 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 8.5
- Avg. user review score:
- 8.2
Summary
A polished entry in the Battlefield series, with a deep and engaging multiplayer component.
We like
- The outstanding audio and visual experience
- The action-paced single player campaign
- The deep multiplayer mode and maps
We dislike
- The predictable storyline
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
(continued from previous page) ...nicely, and the whole package is played out in full Dolby Digital. It's not often that developers will invest in really knocking the sound design out of the park, but when they do, it really is a treat.
As competent as the single player campaign is, it will largely play second fiddle to the other half of the equation: the multiplayer. The Battlefield series has been defined by its superb multiplayer experience since its inception, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 lives up the franchise's reputation. Bad Company 2 offers up several multiplayer game types. Rush and Squad Rush are the title's highlight; setting players to either attack or defend a pair of objectives. These appear alongside your standard Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch modes. Each mode represents a thoughtful addition to the Bad Company 2 formula, and in an era where multiplayer is tacked on to so many different titles, none of it feels forced. The multiplayer continues the Battlefield tradition of utilizing a class system, featuring four unique classes this time around: the Assault, who is armed to the teeth with heavy weaponry and ammo, the Medic, who can revive any downed player, the Engineer, who specializes in explosives and vehicle repair, and the Recon, who focuses on spotting and sniping the enemy.
DICE has obviously spent a lot of time working out the kinks in the multiplayer. Each of the four classes feels distinct, and really allows you to fill the role that you want to play. The various weapons and vehicles all feel balanced, playing out into what is essentially a large game of rock, paper, scissors, where the most diversified and coordinated team always has the upper hand. The map design is exquisite, especially in the Rush modes, as epic sprawling desert battles give way to frantic claustrophobic urban warfare as the matches progress, each step of the way encouraging players to use every tool at their disposal. The sense of scale is just something that isn't paralleled by any other game on the market.
The driving factor to Bad Company 2's multiplayer component doesn't lie in its mechanical intricacies, though. Rather, it lies in the sense of character progression. Taking a nod from Modern Warfare 2, you are rewarded points for just about every action on the battlefield, whether it's sniping an enemy from several hundred meters away, or repairing an ally's vehicle. Each match can yield a new unlock, ranging from weapons to tools and accessories. The old 'carrot on a stick' idiom is in full effect here, and you'll find yourself playing 'just one more match' until the wee hours of the morning.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 may be yet another entry into the crowded pantheon of shooters, but it's one that shakes the foundation of the genre at its very core. Though the storyline and outcome of the single player campaign is a little predictable, it is action packed and full of adrenaline pumping moments, whereas the multiplayer combines mechanical brilliance with an epic scale. The result, which is helped along the way by the brilliant visuals and sound, is exceptional.
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Comments
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_WarMachine_
- 12:23pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 1
I would love to play this game but my plate is full with FF13, GOW3 and MLB 10. I'll probably rent it one of these days.
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coverton341
- 12:30pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 2
Meh. Probably will never pick this one up. Too many shooters and I am not that big of a fan of the genre anyway.
Glad to hear it's a decent entry though.
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LfCpS3
- 12:34pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 3
8.5?
mw2 had a predictable story line and was still uglier and sounded worse than this game but got a better score?
lol, i guess FPS with the COD tag or MW tag will only get a 9+, or if its a exclusive title. Bad calculating for the score.
, either way still a good review but the score is bad, sounded like a 9.5 from what i read about what you said, if not a 9.
EDIT: ITS called conquest, not capture the flag that mw2 has. lo typical. CONQUEST and that is one of the main game modes, like rush.
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Firefox
- 1:12pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 7
Good review but..Taking a nod from Modern Warefare 2 for character progression? LOL Does the reviewer know how long Battlefield has been in the business?
Also I think PSU should just give up on scores and focus on text only reviews (like Kotaku for example) since when you look at their reviews accross the board one cannot help but feel that they don't actually have a system to determine a numerical value for games.
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joeymetalgear7
- 1:19pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 8
@3 and 5, well maybe mw2 got a higher score because it was one of the best games of last games. Your obviously blind if you think mw2 can beat bf2 technically and im goin warrant a guess an say that u\\\'s both suck at mw2 online, hence the reason for the trollin. now that my trollins over, im very dissapointed with bf2 singleplayer, i liked the sandbox approach of the last game and here way too linear but the online more than makes up for it, classic DICE magic!
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Free_Agent
- 2:54pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 12
I don't know, I played the demo and wasn't that impressed. Granted, I didn't play it very long. I am a HUGE BF2 fan though. I played that game for years, and still do sometimes. It's too bad they haven't been able to translate all the elements of that game to a console. I still might pick this on up, I'm just not in a big hurry.
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hood
- 3:02pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 13
I think that games should be given 2 scores one solely for multiplayer and one for single when brought k2 i went straight online when i brought mw2 i went straight online when i brought res 2 i played the story when i brought fear 2 i played the story when i brought rainbow 6 i went straight online. Online is where your going to spend a majority of your time the single player shouldnt have as much of in impact on certain games. Story vs Story id give it to MW2 Online vs Online BFBC2 for me that makes it the better game,
People arent being trolls when they say this game is better than MW2 they are just voicing their opinions. Opinions that you can choose to agree with or not. Im my case BFBC2 blows MW2 out of the water MW2 cant even touch BFBC2
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RugerRellP89
- 3:09pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 15
Wow, an 8.5. It's at least a 9 in my book. I'm liking it a lot more than MW2. The only thing MW2 has on this is Spec Ops.
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alrightiwill333
- 3:42pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 16
and mw2's storyline was a well written masterpiece with no plot holes? can't see how story could bring a game down 1.5... but i guess when people always say "i only care about gameplay" then are just lieing
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Powder-RocKer
- 4:14pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 17
MW2 online is the best FPS created yet. They did an amazing job with it, and BC2 cant compare. The maps are nice and big in BC2, but the quality of the guns and the detail is nowhere near MW2. Sorry, but Infinity Ward has a easy win here.
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Brokentusk81
- 4:18pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 18
It's hard for me to believe this game doesn't warrant a score closer to 9 or 9.5 from PSU, but then again in this game isn't as realistic or awesome as Modern Warfare. In Bad Company 2: you can't ninja-run faster than bullets and knife people; you can't run around with dual-shotguns like most real life soldiers do; you can't sit in the corner of the map and kill a friend on the opposing team over and over to get a nuke. So I guess I understand the score. . .
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LfCpS3
- 4:29pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 19
@9
LOL are you a moran? seriously?
I NEVER SAID MW2 DOES NOT HAVE CAPTURE THE FLAG, i said bfbc2 has conquest, that is not like what mw2 has, which is capture the flag!!!
@ everyone else
LOL are you kidding me? I agree i am not the best(who is?) but i am good enough to get lots of kills(check my stats) and i can honestly say mw2 does suck harily balls. Its rubbish and just run n gun,. The story line is unorginal. OMG RUSSIA TAKES OVER USA, NEVER SEEN BEFORE !! The story line is rubbish. Just because i do not like agame does ot mean i have not played it or am bad at it.
mw2: guns all feel like **** and is obvious a 10 year old made them. No skill needed. Graphics are bad for the size of the game. The game has nothing that would decrease the quality of graphics which is why it sucks. The online is buggy and full of 1 shot Q scope snipers. The online is broken. Nothing is fair and balanced. Also for a game that made billions of dollers you would think that the first batch of DLC would be free, but nope. Not even $10 ITS FLIPPEN $15 FOR 3 NEW MAPS AND 2 OLD MAPS that will look similar to the ones in mw1(graphics wise) It will not do what killzone2 did woth the old maps, like increasting the quality. The maps suck and theres no destruction!!!!!
Im high so forgive my bad english and bad words :)
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urbullethere
- 4:47pm EDT - March 16th, 2010
- 20
Yes the singleplayer sucks in this game, but that's not what it's made for.
As far as comparing online to MW2, the destuctible enviroments alone are enough to blow it out of the water. Then there's the fact that online is incredibly team based, something eons ahead of MW2's online. BC2 doesn't need a Spec Ops mode, teamplay is perfectly integrated into every other mode (this is something PSU really should have emphasized a little more)
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