Gold. It can make a man do crazy things if you see even an ounce of it. You’ll be damned if you don’t find where the rest of that gold went. You’ll be thinking of ways to spend it, to enjoy it, and to savor it. When you’re in Bad Company, you can expect this gold hunt to turn into one hell of a spectacle. Being the rookie that you are in this group, you won’t have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. You’ll be experiencing one of the most fun first-person shooters to grace the console market in a long time. As you go on this gold hunt, you might even find your real self a bit rabid for this gold. But, watch out; sometimes even you might get a little crazy.

Welcome to the Sandbox

At first glance, you may notice that this is an Electronic Arts-branded title; so should we probably expect some run of the mill game that is probably a waste of our hard earned money? Yes and no. Battlefield: Bad Company contains some of the most intricate gameplay details that keep you coming back for more and to finish that single player campaign.

Bad Company is a first-person shooter, for those not in the know and who haven’t heard anything about the game. You star as Preston Marlowe, newly assigned to the squad, which is made up of a bunch of AWOL soldiers who all have done something -that the Army would deem jail-worthy. Instead of imprisonment, they put together this group, B-Company… otherwise known as Bad Company. You’ll meet Private Terrance Sweetwater, the brainy analytical one; Private George Gordon Haggard Jr., who is the squad’s demolition man, so if you need something blown up; he’s your guy; and, last but not least, Sergeant Samuel D. Redford, who agreed to lead this group if the army would cut his tour of duty short. I would have to commend the people at DICE for the script we are graced with. Every world war game tries to make everything tense and as serious as possible. While that is ok for certain kinds of games, it doesn’t always work all the time; I believe we need something a little more light-hearted every now and then. Bad Company gives us that relief while still having the seriousness of the war around us.

"Let the buildings hit the floor!"

Electronic Arts highly marketed this title with DICE’s extreme Frostbite engine. The Frostbite engine works with the best use of destructible environments we’ve seen so far, outside of LucasArts’ Euphoria engine for The Force Unleashed. Destructible environments are a huge part of making the experience as realistic as possible and DICE certainly didn’t disappoint there. Everything in sight that looks destructible probably is. You can use tanks to destroy buildings, and even your grenade launchers on your M16 can make a nice hole in an adjacent wall. There are barrels of explosive material lying around everywhere and will serve to help you in the long run as you’ll be facing a lot of enemies along the way.

Any Battlefield fan would probably know that it wouldn’t be a Battlefield game without the variety help of vehicles. There are plenty to choose from here, from the all-powerful monster tank to a nice ride in a golf cart. Each mission will make some use of these vehicles and it makes things a little more bearable as you travel through the campaign. What is unfortunate about the vehicles though is that your teammate AI doesn’t seem to want to drive anything at all. I’ve tried on several occasions to get my teammate to drive a tank down through the streets, but it wouldn’t happen. They don’t seem to want help you out if you want to take control of that gun turret. You will unfortunately drive during every mission during through the campaign.

"Mount up!"

Multiplayer supports up to 24 players online. Unfortunately there is only one mode at the moment, called Gold Rush. In Gold Rush, you are separated into teams of Attackers vs. Defenders. You must defend your gold crates from the other team or attack the crates on the other side of the map and gain control. There are 2 gold crates for you to find for the taking and you must get through the other team to get to them. Like all multiplayer games, it highly depends on who you’re playing with to make the experience fun and enticing. Playing with your friends makes the matches that much more fun. In the future, EA has stated they will be bringing in another mode in the form of free downloadable content, called Conquest… so be on the lookout for that.

Graphics

As is the norm with first-person shooters these days, grittiness is the word here. The characters give their own sense of persona and add their own uniqueness to the story. The graphics power of the Frostbite engine certainly shows off its goods. Tanks and all kinds of vehicles are rendered nicely and have a fair touch of realism to them. You won’t see anything cartoonish about this game, except maybe the script; but that’s another point entirely. The artistry is a job well done in my eyes as Bad Company sets out to give you a gold rush experience.

"Notice the extreme facial detail."

Sound

It is difficult not to notice the work of the Doppler Effect at work when you’re in the middle of a huge firefight in Battlefield: Bad Company. The weapon noises are detailed and are quite exciting when shooting your way through a battalion of Russians. The tanks are even sweet to hear, with the cannon shots flying right past your ear. Machine gun noises making their rounds through the trees trying to find their target as you see explosions ranking through the forest line. Two thumbs up to DICE for creating an enticing environment that brings the experience to life. With the in-game Dolby Digital, I’ll be damned if you don’t crank this up in your surround sound system. I know I would the first chance I get. The music in this game is quite humorous at what they chose. From the opening song in the main menu to the radio you get when you climb into the Hummer for a ride to your next objective. It makes you feel better when you’re in between the fights.

Plasma Factor

Destructible environments are a beautiful thing and Battlefield: Bad Company wouldn’t be the game that it is without it. Take it away and you have your standard everyday war-wrought first person shooter that we see on the market seeminglyevery week. The ability to take a tank and drive through the forest in front of you as the trees crumble down in your wake gives you quite a good feeling inside. My favorite is always using the grenade launcher on your M16 to blow away those machine gun nests at the right moment as you see the enemy fly out from cover. Another classic moment is grabbing a tank and just rolling through town like nobody’s business and demolishing house after house while easily completing each objective on the map. Don’t be afraid to use any explosive material to your advantage, as you’ll need to use a lot of it during the firefights. The smiley face on the grenade is also a nice touch.

Conclusion

Although I had fun with Battlefield: Bad Company, there is only annoying thing that I’d like to mention. The enemy AI always seems to know where you are during a battle. No matter how you were able to get away from the main battle to sneak around, as soon as you pop up from hiding they know immediately where you are. It’s just one small disappointment that always makes me cringe about the game. Otherwise, this is one title that you shouldn’t be too disappointed about making the investment in. Although you might be worried about the short single player campaign, there should be enough to hold you over in the multiplayer. If you’re still on the fence about it, you can always rent it.