Although the PC version is still the better pick, it's a fun shooter to try out.
You have only 5 classes of soldiers you'll be playing this time: Engineer, Special Operations (Spec Ops), Assault, Sniper, and Support. Engineers sport a RPG, shotgun, vehicle repair kit and some anti-tank mines. Spec Ops sport a nifty sub-machine gun, stun grenades, a knife and some remote-detonated C4. Assault soldiers are pretty much like Spec Ops, with a assault rifle, frag grenades, smoke grenades, and a grenade launcher. Support soldiers are basically medics: they have a heavy machine gun, mortar strike, frag grenades and a medicine injector for wounded soldiers, including yourself. And a Sniper will have a sniper rifle, smoke grenades, a GPS unit to find hidden enemies, and an interesting thing they call the Laser Target Designator. It's pretty much a mortar strike, except it can only be used on vehicles, and it fires a homing missile to the target. It's deadly accurate, and a one-hit kill, but it has devastating load times, so you can only use it a few times a mission. During a mission, you can 'Hotswap' to different units during gameplay, which is a nice touch on single player, but it probably won't replace the 'pick your kit' system anytime soon. All 5 packs are upgradeable, and all 5 kits also come with an upgradeable pistol as a secondary weapon.
The story goes from 2 viewpoints: the NATO side and the Chinese side of the story. You'll be playing as both factions trying to liberate the country of Kazakhstan from the other side. Each side has it's own units and weapons, as well as it's own battle tactics. But it really doesn't matter about the story, usually it's only a matter of destroying all the enemies and getting out alive. Modern Combat also has a challenge mode separate from the main storyline. It's like a collection of military minigames. There's tank races, RPG shooting drills, grenade bowling, Hotswap marathons, and many more. Although it doesn't feel that right in a Battlefield title, it's still a worthwhile break from doing missions for the whole game.
Along the way through the story, you'll be given medals and stars for your achievements. Medals are given out for doing little tasks, sort of like Achievements on the Xbox 360. Some of them are pretty easy 'Freefall 100m without a parachute', some are very time-consuming '500 Heavy Machine Gun reloads', and some are just downright hard 'complete a mission using only pistols'. Each few medals you get, you get a star. Stars are the ranking system in Modern Combat. You get stars by completing missions, earning medals, and winning challenges. They unlock new ranks for your soldier, new upgrades for your weapons, and new missions for the Challenge Mode. It's not that hard to beat the game, but it's real tough to get extra stars in the later portions of the game.
Actually shooting things is the most fun part, though. DICE gave a nice feel to it by adding things like recoil on heavier weapons, explosive knockback, and ragdoll death animations. It's a nice looking game, although the character models look a little shoddy in some parts, and they still suffer the 'leg twitching' found in the PC versions. The sound is pretty good, everything seems pretty realistic in all spots, from the sound of the grenades going off to the sound of rushing air as you parachute down. The game also suffers a few framerate problems during times where you try to light off 20 sticks of C4 at the same time or if there's a lot of enemy movement on screen. And no matter how hard it tries, it's still not as good as the PC version. But if you happen to want Battlefield on a console, you probably won't be that disappointed , and it's still a fun FPS for people just looking for some action on your TV.