This title is even better than it's predecessor, with a great destruction system, amazing graphics & solid gameplay.
This story revolves around the titular Bad Company squad, an elite four man special forces team on a specially assigned mission. I won't say much, because it's a solid plot filled with twists and turns, yet it isn't that exciting, either. Frankly, the story could not be more unoriginal if it tried to be. Nor could the characters, from the oddball helicopter pilot to the assorted good natured grunts that make up the team, it's all done exactly by the numbers. Equally, there is almost no explanation of the earlier games events either, so it's just as well that it's all nice and simple. Your own character is not explained beyond having a name. By the normal run of things such a lazy effort with the story would be grounds for a panning but what Battlefield: Bad Company 2 manages to pull off is that rare trick of making it all fun, despite the worthlessness of it all. Pure, mindless destruction and fun spread over a healthy eleven missions. The various missions take you all over the world but take a traditional form, corridors of one sort or another leading to large open , intense fire fights, interspersed by plot related dialogue, scripted events and the odd bit of solid, immense vehicle action. The shooting from a moving vehicle sections when they come up are exciting, intense and action packed and the vehicles handle really well, compared with other games in this genre that don't handle as well. There are some little twists to the basic game play dropped in from time to time too, such as having to keep an eye out for tripwires or having to snipe sentries without alerting their comrades. It's a nice pace of action, and the mix of things really spice it up. The run and gun game play that makes up the bulk of the game in single and multiplayer is hardly rare, but there are two reasons it works so well in this game. The first is the fact that almost the entire world can be blown to pieces as you move through it. This means that combat feels more real even as it gets more over the top. Navigating through a jungle base, shooting up various, common exploding barrels, chucking grenades around the map like a professional, shooting walls and roofs apart and spraying the tough enemies with automatic gunfire creates a gaming experience reminiscent of some sort of American, Hollywood action blockbuster. The second reason it works is that it's actually quite a tough game. Although there is no health bar and you heal over time, the destruction of cover means you have to keep moving, particularly as you can't lie prone. Without the ability to shelter almost anywhere from fire you can suddenly find yourself in real trouble if you're taking fire. This usually means that your best, indeed often your only way to survive a bad situation is to kill everybody who is attacking you in double quick time. It's a change compared to games like Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 or Killzone 2, because the environment is 99 destructible, so it's an intense, exciting experience.
Bad Company 2 has superb graphics despite its humble console origins. Not only do the maps and levels look amazingly well detailed and rendered, but you can smash them all to bits, leaving detailed and well rendered wreckage. The destruction of the game environment is hugely satisfying and there are plenty of grenades, rockets or explosive barrels lying around to help out. It could be argued that this destruction adds an additional tactical layer to the game, as key positions can be completely levelled and defences or cover for attackers flattened, but it's not uncommon for the map to simply get razed in the chaos of the fighting anyway. If you hide behind something and the enemy sees you, chances are it'll get destroyed, if you see an enemy in cover (or even if you just think you see an enemy) then a good course of action is to dig him out with grenades and rockets. Whether you're blasting buildings apart with rockets, laying down controlled bursts with an assault rifle or putting in big booming hits with a shotgun there's real meat to the weaponry which again adds to the atmosphere of the game. DICE has managed once again to tap into the childish joy of shooting guns at people and things. Outside of shooting other people the effects are equally good when you're on the receiving end. There's blood and dust aplenty from bullet hits and the death animations are suitably cinematic without being needlessly unpleasant or overly silly. The border that appears around the screen when you get hurt is obvious, but understated. Even when you're about to die you can still actually play the game, which is a big plus. It is fair to say that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is, at last, a return to form for the First Person genre. The graphics, sounds and art style bring back fond memories of older Battlefield games I've experiences, yet significantly improved. Everything fans of the first Bad Company could want is there.
Overall, a solid, fast paced action shooter, which is a fresh take on the First Person shooter market.