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• Released: Jun. 23, 2008
• Genre: Action
• Developer: Dice
• Publisher: EA Games

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"A Few Karats Short"

A Review by Siraris
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When the first videos started to creep out of Battlefield: Bad Company, I started to really get excited for the possibilities that a game like this would offer. From the sassy characters, to the great looking engine, and most of all, the destructable environments, I thought this could not only be fun as a single-player game, but more-so a multi-player game.

I was lucky enough to get into the beta of the multi-player, and didn't enjoy myself too much, probably due to the fact that I was surrounded by people without mics, who had no interest in working together. There were a few issues I had with controls and balancing (in particular the ability to rain artillery fire down with reckless abandon) but I decided to wait until the game was further along before I drew any final conclusions.

The demo starts you off with a wonderful vignette of a soldier arriving for his assignment, and encountering a Sergeant who couldn't give two shits about any sort of procedure, and two bumbling squad mates who kind of reminded me of Dan Akroid and Chevy Chase in Spies Like Us. Although it induced a EVER so slight eye roll from me, the characters personalities were endearing, and it was a great way to start off the game. I also should point out that the graphics are quite impressive, in particular the lighting and detail on the models, and the voice acting is fantastic so far.

Once you are actually able to control your character and move around, you hop into a vehicle and drive off to your first objective. Standard controls force you to drive with the left trigger, and break with the left bumper. It was a bit jolting initially, since I don't think any other game has ever put driving controls on the left trigger, but it took a second to adjust to and is also something you can change in the options.

You are instantly able to interact with the environment, and I couldn't help but smile as I plowed through the white fence in front of me and drove through the field off towards my Russian adversaries. Once there, though, things started to get a bit bumpy. The first thing I noticed was that my AI gunner didn't seem to taking care of business yet my jeep was getting chewed up. I quickly switched to the gunner position and took out care of things post haste by blowing their vehicle to bits and picking off the last few bad guys. From there, I continued on into a small cluster of buildings, where I proceeded to fight more Russian soldiers. Here I noticed a couple glaring problems:

1. I had a lot of trouble seeing the enemies. I could be blind, but I found myself being shot a LOT, and not having a clue that there was a guy over there. This was especially the case on the second half of the demo when assaulting the enemy encampment.
2. Switching between weapons and tools and whatnot, was pretty confusing off the bat, and I found myself fumbling around with the controls. My encounter with the game found me being shot a LOT, and having to heal A LOT, and it was just not intuitive to switch out to the injectable system and then back to my gun. The controls did get easier on my second play-through of the demo, but they still felt a bit overcomplicated.
3. Reload times are way too long, especially with how fast you are able to be killed. I think I counted at least a 3-4+ second load times, which is just way too long when you could be dead from being shot in 3 seconds. If there was a decent cover system in the game, this would not be an issue since you can be save behind cover while reloading (or until someone blows the cover up, which could have made for some fantastically intense battles) but there isn't a cover system at all, only the ability to crouch.
4. I felt like I was pretty much fighting alone, as my AI guys didn't seem to really do anything but stand around and yell something nice when I actually managed to kill someone. Having some decent allies on my side would have really helped the overall enjoyment factor, at least in the beginning.
5. Ammo seems to be very sparse in the demo, and I actually completely ran out and was unable to find any more at one point. It might have helped to highlight weapons on the ground with a little glowing outline, but that may not be possible at this point.

The ability to destroy pretty much anything around you is fantastic, and DICE did a wonderful job of making it feel realistic and cool at the same time. I cannot stress that enough, it's fantastic. From the way trees fall and recoil when they hit the ground, to the utter delight I feel when I fire a rocket into a building and watch the entire wall blow apart, almost makes me want to cast aside any criticisms I have and buy the game. Unfortunately, the issues I stated above really spoiled the game as a day 1 purchase for me. I like to play a game with a challenge, but I don't like to play a game where I am struggling more with the game mechanics than with the obstacles of finishing the mission.

This game is extremely impressive in the technical department - sound, graphics, physics are all top notch. Your AI compatriots are entertaining, the voice acting is great, and the story seems interesting. That being said, I can see the technical aspects starting to dull a bit with more play, and you are then left with a few very frustrating gameplay mechanics. Had the multi-player beta been a lot of fun, I think I could have overlooked any flaws with the single-player campaign and dove in head first. All in all though, the demo is definitely worth a try, and I can see myself picking this up when the price drops a bit.

Demo Nugget: In the back house in the first village you encounter, there is a small cell phone looking device on a pile of crates. Pick it up, and enjoy :)

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