I've always been a huge fan of the Battlefield series. I actually worked on Battlefield 2 for the PC several years back in QA/production and playing the game for several hours a day didn't bother me one bit. There's just so many ways that you can play the game and participate in a very team-oriented battle that games were already different and interesting.
Recently, EA and DICE have made the sequel to the console series Battlefield: Bad Company 2 available for closed beta playtesting on the PlayStation 3. Gladfully, I've been fortunate enough to be one of the first to step aside from my blazing guns in Left 4 Dead 2 and Modern Warfare 2 and try out the upcoming game early.
The demo includes one gameplay type and one map, Africa Harbor, a fantastic atmosphere that includes a large fort, an urbanized city, railroad track ruins and the harbor itself. The objective for the attacking team is to bomb various laptops throughout different areas in the level. The attackers only have a certain amount of respawn lives, so sticking with your teammates and staying alive is extremely important. Once a certain laptop site is bombed, the attackers will earn more lives. Alternatively, the defending team must prevent these bombings from happening as each of the bomb targets move closer and closer to the harbor. There's numerous ways they can do this and that's what makes the Battlefield series so intricately entertaining.
Atmospheric refinements
Africa Harbor was a good choice for the closed beta because each specific area contained numerous strategic viewpoints. The railroad area, for example, contained a train wreck that included many obstacles for cover in the open. One of my favorite camping spots was behind a car without its doors. It was perfect for any sniper to shoot through the car's various openings and also provided enough cover should suppressing fire were to come my way. At first glance, most of the urban town in the level seemed cramped with buildings, trees and signs everywhere. However, the game's ability to make nearly everything destructible opened up even more strategic areas. I found out that controlling a tank and molding your hideout spot by firing at nearby buildings and trees was a much used strategy. Cement barriers can be chipped away with gunfire and mortars, but they're also reliable sources of cover until they get destroyed completely.
Realistic visual and audio overload
One of my favorite things about the game was the amount of detail that DICE put into replicating explosions, gun firings, zooming scope views and NPC chatter. Grenades are sometimes so loud that they'll actually deafen your character's hearing for a few seconds if one explodes near you. Even looking through a sniper's scope will determine on the location of the sun, as lighting glares will also be a factor. However, my biggest praise with Bad Company 2's presentation is the game's spoken dialogue exchanged between computer-controlled characters. Rather than the usual squad-based commands, there's multiple lines for completing objectives or spotting enemy forces. They range from confident and serious gestures to scared and fearful responses that truly make your soldiers around you unique. I also love how the in-game characters constantly swear throughout a level. It's definitely better than kids yelling every few seconds in Halo online matches.
Every soldier has a responsibility
Like past Battlefield games, there's multiple classes that will allow either team to keep their strategy balanced or concentrate on a certain strength. More than ever, you'll have to stick to your squad because of the game's ability to spawn you right next to squad mates regardless of their location. Deaths in Bad Company 2 come more often than not; even a couple bullets to the chest will put a guy down for good. Hence, the four overhauled classes are all very different and it's important to highlight each of their differences:
Assault: Machine guns and can drop ammos for teammates
Engineer: Spec-Ops weapons and anti-tank weapons
Medic: Large machine guns (LMGs) and can heal/revive fallen comrades
Recon: Sniper rifles and items to enhance stealth
Customization for each of these classes will come with unlocked weapons and gadgets with enough experience. These customization options also come with specialization perks, such as extra damage dealt when you're in the driver seat. Most of these options are very useful for some classes, like equipping a Recon with a shotgun to offset their deficiency in close-range combat (they only start off with a sniper rifle). Let's not forget about the game's extremely robust stat tracking system as well. Statistics for certain guns, playing tendencies and awards (like receiving an enemy soldier's dog tag after a knife kill) keep replay value high and reward you appropriately.
Although it's only a small peek before the game comes out next year, Battlefield Bad Company 2 seems to be gradually improving on the original console offering in every way. It's not quite there where the PC game has taken the series (Where's our airplanes?). However, if EA and DICE can keep each game's excitement high with a large amount of players while also establishing solid team-play mechanics, the game could be a solid complement to any gamer's FPS collection. We'll certainly give our full thoughts on the game leading up to the game's release on March 2nd next year.
