Battlefield: Bad Company 2

First and foremost apart from the first few levels of the campaign that i have played and sampled, my opinion/review of this game comes entirely from playing online. Apart from Battlefield modern combat 2 on the original xbox i have had no prior experience of this gaming franchise as i have never been a 'PC Gamer'. Having not owned Bad company 1 i was a little reluctant to invest in this title as there is currently a wide variety of games that have my interest. However after 11 hours of online gaming already i am happy to say that i was right to take this gamble. First of all the graphics are good, although not mind blowing, but still impressive and the sound effects are very realistic such as the firing of your gun or the distant sound of an incoming chopper which gives the impression that you are really there. Add to this the realism of how your character moves and shoots this was a very good start for me.
Now to the combat:
At first i approached this game as a normal first person shooter with my usual sprint in, throw a grenade and shoot whatever i can hit. This tactic did not work for this game as countless times i was either at the recieving end of a well placed enemy or occasionly even a tank towering over me around the corner. This was made harder with all of the effective war vehicles that meant that a quick trigger finger with a rifle or a camper with a rifle grenade isnt always good enough. This led to me adopting a new stratedy of actually using my squad members to gain objectives and to get kills. With the easy point and click system which helps you to organise your squad easily and effectively i was able to now stick with my squad members which was far more efficent for gaining objectives and subsequenly getting those most sought after kills to improve my K/D ratio and look good in front of everyone.

So is it worth it? I think so but this game will take a little time to get used to and a little patience as you wont always be the best. With the availability of many war vehicles such as attack helicopters and the realistic gunfights it all leads to a very enjoyable online experience that will leave you wanting more. This game is so much better when playing with your friends as you can form a squad and can communicate your strategies easily and efficently.
Overall i would give this game a 9/10 for the multiplayer experience online and if i can pry myself away from it maybe i will be able to enjoy the single palyer experience which im sure will be great.

Simply the best First player shooter that I can think of by far. Having played modern warfare 2 after this game I can safely say that surpases it in every expectation. The guns seem more solid, the battles infinetly more varied (with a huge selection of vehicles from Apatche's to quad bikes on large battlefields), and the more important aspect, infinetly more fun. Unlike COD, which is based around getting shot repeatedly without being able to retort until you climb to prestige levels, battlefield gives everyone a fair fighting chance. Yes levelling up can give you an advantage, but unlike COD this advantage does not end in ridiculous kill streaks from people that hide on rooftops sniping and bombing everyone. Yes this is an option in the game, but after getting a couple of kills your enemies will come in a tank and blow up you, or your house and probably the vehicle you drove to the house in for kicks. There is much more of a team feel to this game, points are gained for reviving, healing, re-arming or repairing your team members or vehicles. Couple this with a single player campaign of decent length with engaging characters and bright South American landscapes and you have a game to be reckoned with.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Review
Single Player:-

Gameplay:
BC2 has a very solid and memorable single player campaign that is quite different from the original game in numerous ways. Firstly, the SP maps are considerably more linear than BC1's expansive maps, with only a handful of open 'arenas' per mission. Whilst I was initially skeptical of a BC game with increased linearity, the change generally increases tension and ensures the player remains focussed and immersed. In contrast, while I enjoyed the open world sand box of the original, I did often find motivation to complete the mission lacking or get bored of dying and having to drive a long distance as the checkpoints were occasionally unevenly spread. The missions in BC2 are varied, usually just hard enough to be a challenge but not too hard as to be a challenge, with the usually excellent AI putting up a good fight.
The campaign itself is a decent length unlike another recent competitor, and the storyline is more interesting, easier to follow, and makes more sense than said competitor. But even with a good story and focussed gameplay, this game wouldn't be complete without the old squad, Haggard, Sweetwater, Redford, Preston and a couple of amusing new characters along the way. These guys complete the game. Haggard and Sweets' banter is always amusing with Redfords harsh put downs always bringing a smile. The conversations they have while idle are as funny if not funnier than some of the scripted material, for example one conversation
between the squad about 50 Cent is particularly funny. In my opinion, no other FPS game of recent times quite mixes the humour, storyline and ferocity of combat quite as well as BC2. When I completed BC1 for the first time I remember thinking that it was a good game that only just missed out on greatness due to a few small faults. DICE have however improved on and subsequently surpassed themselves with BC2, I'd therefore give BC2:SP ~9/10

Multiplayer:

Invade nobody noticed there has been another game released recently that's been proclaimed the 'largest entertainment release in history' that has sold however many millions of copies and is also based on modern warfare. This game was good, it was pretty fast paced, poorly balanced with 'noobs' getting a lot of unnecessary kit and experienced players grabbing double barrelled shotguns and sprinting round and round the map one-shot-killing every player in their way, racking up a massive 'killstreak' and then nuking everything. I prestiged on this game and played nearly three days online before I realised that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I'd been fooled by the massive hype and the number of friends that played. It wasn't about 'modern warfare' it was about a few tooled up players killing as many people as they could as fast as they could. Then along comes BC2. It had a tiny fraction of the publicity the other game had, and unless I missed something, hardly any of the over-hyped craziness either. I
bought the game because of it's online, and because I hoped it would show the other game up as the singleminded and occasionally dull multiplayer experience it is.

BC2's online multiplayer is like nothing I've had the pleasure of experiencing on the 360 before. The first map I saw was Valparaiso, a south American themed map with a low sun streaming through the jungle. At first glance I thought a developer had produced a game that graphically rivalled the great Crysis. A recently destroyed tank spewing black smoke at the entrance to a shanty town and a blackhawk circling above with it's gunners tearing houses apart. The gameplay itself ranges from brutally fast paced (some urban and CQ jungle maps) to a steady advance with snipers, machine gunners and heavy vehicles (desert and jungle maps). However, most maps combine these elements. Some start with an armoured vehicular assault by land sea or air, while others involved parachuting into forests at night, followed by blistering fights in streets and then a final infantry assault on an enemy postion. This is of course when playing Rush mode, first introduced in the original BC. This mode is usually fun and well balanced, with the occasional round where either due to an exceptionally good enemy team or a particularly weak allied team means the enemy start sniping you not long after spawn, however, this is a problem with all online games that are not scripted in any way. These situations however are few and far between and DICE seem to have made an effort to ensure camping does not occur too often. Conquest mode allows an all round battle, in contrast to Rushes headlong assault. It usually means every structure on the map will be levelled and a forest will turn to a patch of dirt by the time tanks mortar strike and rocket launcher carrying infantry have finished with it. By the end of the round, it really makes you feel like you've been in a battle, on a battlefield. And it doesn't stop there. As you progress through the ranks you gain new weapons and gadgets, be they vehicle improvements (armour, secondary weapons etc) or scopes, skills or extra ammo for your soldier, the game constantly rewards you for your efforts, whilst not giving new players previously mentioned unnecessary help or experienced players uber powerful unstoppable weapons. Finally, BC2:MP is far more diverse, better looking, entertaining and there is nothing quite like crushing a squad of enemies in a collapsing building. BC2:MP ~9.5/10.

Conclusion:
Great single player with Likeable characters.
Superb graphics.
Lengthy campaign (~10hrs on normal)
Incredible multiplayer experience.

Any fan of online fps should not miss this game.