Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360) Preview
Posted by John Curry on 06.06.2008
Sometimes there are some perks to being in the military.
EA has brought us another chapter in the Battlefield series in Battlefield: Bad Company. This week I had the opportunity to demo the new Bad Company game. While this may just seem like just another war game with sandbox capabilities, I found it to be enjoyable for what it was. The apparent story that I had the opportunity to preview reminded me a lot of the move 3 Kings with George Clooney. The story focuses around a group of soldiers who find a horde of gold bars while fighting. They feel that they are underappreciated and underpaid so they decide they are going to try to get the gold back for themselves.
The levels seem well designed with almost everything showing damage and being fully interactive with your characters. If you can't get a good shot in from the second story and there are some explosive barrels, simply shoot them from a distance and they will blow the wall out enabling you to gain better sight. The characters themselves seem custom built simply for online sandbox play as each character has the green letters above their head signifying their names. This is where your gamer tag will appear during online play.
The weapons are advanced with each character having their own specialty weapon to use. During the demo you are only able to use two different weapons. However the shooting is easy and the aim is spot on. The weapons come in pairs. One weapon is the gun and the grenades. The other weapon is the gun and the grenades that can be launched from your gun. The one thing I do like about the Battlefield: Bad Company game is the ability to unlock 5 different weapons by completing specific things on the website. For more information check out www.battlefield.com/badcompany. This is something I actually found ingenious with the game.
The game follows a 100 life/health standard. If your health gets too low you can simply inject yourself with a serum using LB which will allow you to heal yourself to a full 100. The catch is you can only use it once and then it must recharge which will vary based on the difficulty you choose. I actually enjoy this as it is an immediate effect which will allow you to continue playing as long as you are smart in your injections.
The little driving you did in the demo showed it to be very easy and very smooth. There are two possibilities when driving the vehicle. You can either be the driver in 3rd person mode or the artillery in 1st person mode. Either way it is very smooth and simple to control.
The demo itself is short on playing time, even though it has a 1.5 gig size. The video that follows the demo is where you find out how expansive the game can be. There is different weapons, jets, helicopters, tanks, and several artillery vehicles. It looks like this game can become the sleeper hit of the year and I look forward to playing it online as well as completing the single player mission.
From the website itself the game is listed as having:
War, your way
Battlefield: Bad Company environments are highly destructible, meaning that there are few safe points to hide. Gamers can shape the battlefield to match their play style – the possibilities are literally endless.
Genre-defining multiplayer
Support for 24 players online in a world designed to take full advantage of the game's massively destructible environments.
New vehicles, weapons and toys
Land, air or sea, dozens of new tools are waiting for explosive experimentation. Battlefield: Bad Company gives gamers the building blocks to get creative and usher in a new era of their own "Battlefield moments".
Cinematic single-player experience
A deep campaign loaded with attitude follows a wayward band of ordinary soldiers who risk it all on a quest for personal gain
Frostbite game engine
DICE's Frostbite game engine raises the bar for next-gen gaming, with stunning HD graphics that bring characters, vehicles, and environments to life like never before.
The game will be released on the 24th of June for the Xbox 360, the Playstation 3 and for PC.
