GRENADES AND SMILEY FACES

I hate war games. I just do. I like a game that can immerse me in a story line and make me feel for the characters. Most war games struggle with this because it is either about events that have already happened and I know the outcome or they focus too much on making it a realistic experience and don’t flesh out the characters to the point where I feel for them.

Finally, the people at EA have a game for guys like me. Battlefield: Bad Company is a game that mixes a somewhat realistic situation and adds in fresh, funny, off the wall characters that you can’t help but root for. The idea of Bad Company is that these are the army’s rejects. (Stripes for the 21st Century if you will.) These guys know how to shoot, know how to work, and know how to goof off and know how not follow a single order given to them. Because of this, they are the first ones in. They make sure it’s safe for the Marines because if these guys get shot up, the army won’t care.

You play Preston, the newest recruit to Bad Company for deciding to take a Black Hawk Helicopter with him for his weekend leave one night. As soon as you arrive and meet the gang, you are inserted into a Russian border conflict to start helping the US forces calm down the area. (This game was made before the Russian-Georgian incident a few weeks ago. Interesting how pop culture follows real life and sometimes, as in this case, vice versa).

As your small band of ragtag troops moves through the Russian countryside, you realize that the bodies of downed enemy soldiers aren’t wearing the typical Russian soldier uniforms. In fact, they are wearing mercenary uniforms. And here is the driving plot element. These mercs only work for gold.

Then the real hi-jinx begin as your group decides to do what they do best and ignore orders and follow the gold trail instead. You invade a neutral country, storm a palace, and basically just wreak havoc across two Eastern European nations and try to escape with your life and a few extra dollars in your bank account.

You can’t help but laugh at you and your squad mates as you almost start World War III trying to get rich. The gameplay is solid. The graphics are great. There is no shortage of enemies and of different ways to kill them from tanks, boats, machine gun turrets, and golf carts. Yes, golf carts. Even though the game is difficult, if you die, you simply start at your last save point and any enemies you have killed between dying and your last save, don’t come back. Add in an infinite supply of health packs and you get almost more of an arcade experience than an actual war game. Trying to find all the weapons and gold in the game are nice features to bring you back for more and the multiplayer online is superb. This is a fun game, bottom line.

Rankings are based on a score of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.

Graphics: 9.0: There is always a lot to render when it comes to war games. Large, expansive maps, detailed camouflage, and usually lots of guys wearing that camouflage to name a few things. This game did a solid job in most cases when it came to this. From the details of the guns and tanks to the faces on the soldiers to the smiley face pins on your grenades, this game delivered the goods. The only complaint was the blood, or lack of it, when you mowed down swarms of enemies with a machine gun turret or the like. Aside from that, everything was crisp and clear and deserves a strong score.

Audio: 9.0: Another strong score. Gunfire was superb, the voice acting from every character was spectacular, and the music really immersed you into the game. The only thing that keeps this from being a perfect score is the fact that the music isn’t playing as often as it should be. The soundtrack is so good and really gets your blood pumping and the fact that it is only played during a handful of moments in the game is really disappointing. Aside from that, great sound work.

Plot/Plot Development: 8.0: The plot itself is a little weak. A band of soldiers going rouge for the promise of riches has been done before. What makes this so great is the characters. They drive the story all the way home till the credits roll. The development of the plot is also key. The use of “Miss July”, the communications officer relaying all your objectives and the group interaction with her is great and helps give the story a realistic feel as well as a great plot advancement element.

Gameplay: 8.5: It does get a little repetitive after a while to get blown away and to re-spawn almost right at where you were when you died. The enemy A.I. is solid for the most part, although not very reactive or difficult if you know what a flanking maneuver is. The most difficult thing to do is to take down enemy helicopters because they sure know how to spot when you whip out a bazooka. I can’t complain much more than that though because you got lots of enemies and lots of weapons and vehicles to kill them with.

Replay Value: 8.5: With the only collectibles being different weapons and trying to find all the gold, there isn’t a lot to bring you back to the story mode. The big thing to bring you back is a great online experience with lots of different maps and five different solider classes to choose from when you spawn. If you enjoy the story mode, you’re going to love the online play.

Overall (not an average): 9.0: When you bring everything together about this game, you simply fall in love with it. It’s only the little things mentioned above that keep this from getting a perfect score. If you are looking for a shooting game that turns the typical war game on its head, this is the one for you. Solid plot, great characters, realistic weapons, good online play, and you’ve got yourself a winner here.

-Ray Carsillo