Battlefield: Bad Company

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 3rd July 2008
Comments (16) Stumble

Walk-o-lot

Functionally, though Bad Company obviously has roots in the Battlefield world, but to say that it’s similar to the past games might be a bit of a fib. Though there are still plenty of vehicles and weapons to use, the game has had to make some substantial changes in order to make the console singleplayer work.

In fact, we’d probably go so far as to say that the singleplayer campaign has a distinctly arcade feel to it.

Yes, we know that’s a shock – Battlefield was always more of a sim afterall, but calm down. Take a deep breath and put your head between your knees for a moment, but do be careful to follow those steps in the right order. Trust me; a throatful of last nights bean supper isn’t going to help anybody.

The good news though is that the arcadey re-direction of the singleplayer isn’t a bad thing and a lot of the changes actually work well within the game setting, such as the Auto-injector system which player use to heal themselves. You can give yourself a shot from the medipack to completely restore your health, but be warned that it can take a good minute or so for the injector to refill between uses, which stops you wading into hopeless battles.

Battlefield: Bad Company Battlefield: Bad Company - Singleplayer

Granted, the ability to instantly re-heal whenever you want does take away a little from the serious sim-alike focus of the action, but it does make the game plenty more accessible and fun to play. Besides, nobody says you have to heal yourself – the US Army would probably be happy to let any member of Bad Company rot.

The weapons featured in the game also help this coin-op feel, as new guns are dotted around the levels at set points and can be swapped over as you wish – though you can only carry one weapon set at a time. Weapons always come in pairs too; the common pairings are assault rifles and grenade launchers, shotguns and hand grenades and sniper rifles and pistols.

Each weapon set has different benefits and limitations, most of them running along the usual lines of speed versus power and range, and you can check the stats whenever you want in the collectables gallery. Every time you grab a new weapon it’s added to the gallery and a new icon pops up on your screen – and yes, there are achievements for getting them all.

There are vehicles and tools too, many of which are going to be more critical to your mission than onions and mustard to a hot dog (consider that a hint for our next work experience placement). You can only carry one tool at a time, or a rocket launcher if you prefer, so learning where the drop points are can be quite important.

Battlefield: Bad Company Battlefield: Bad Company - Singleplayer

Vehicles are one of the subject of the few complaints we can level at the balancing of the singleplayer game though and there are a fair few problems with them. Not only are some of the cars just unrealistic in their properties (we challenge anyone to find a golf cart that can withstand a tank shell), but there’s also a few conflicts with game loading.

You see, when you die in Bad Company it isn’t game over straight away. Instead, the game loads you back at the nearest checkpoint but keeps the game world intact. People who you killed before you died are still dead and you won’t have to fight through the same swathes all over again like a homicidal energiser bunny on Groundhog Day.

That mechanic may not be to everyone’s taste obviously, but we personally really like it and think it adds a level of fairness to the game. If you were going to take down the entire Russian army with just three friends then you’d need some holy resurrection help from God DICE too.

Where it gets tricky though is when you realise that vehicles don’t respawn with you. If your last checkpoint is away from the battle you were fighting and you died because your jeep blew up then there’s a high chance that you’ll be getting blisters on your thumbs thanks to how awesomely immersive the act of walking long distances is in Bad Company.

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