Battlefield: Bad Company

Electronic Arts and DICE have taken the exceptional multiplayer content so typical of the Battlefield series and have created a single player first-person shooter for offline fun. The storyline and mission are simple enough, you are part of an Army battalion of rejects who would rather collect gold above all else. When your group is not foraging for riches, the Army gives them the worst tasks during the war. The challenge is keeping the platoon focused as they are easily tempted to chase after gold thereby creating unfortunate consequences for you.

There are plenty of weapons and gold to discover and the game provides you with two ways to recover from your untimely death – re-spawn where you are or send you back to the last checkpoint. The overall game play is fun, but don’t have high expectations for the artificial intelligence. Buildings are great to demolish and you can take some long distance shots at the enemy using tanks and rocket launchers.

The graphics are a little hazy and some of the texture is grainy. The visual presentation, especially with the explosion effects shows signs of problems, but it does not detract from the overall experience. The sound track plays in the background, but it is not repetitive or annoying. It includes the songs on the radio of the jeep you drive. The sound effects are equally as impressive adding to the realism of the scene and action.

The multiplayer version in this release is a bit different from previous versions. You can choose either Create Match or join an existing one with Quick Match, but your choices are limited. You do have your choice of classes and a single main weapon, but your options increase as you unlock more opportunities.