It’s been a long time coming but EA and Dice’s first major foray into the single player experience has finally arrived. But with COD4 still being the first choice for war time FPS does it have any chance? 

The main single player campaign sees you as a new recruit joining the 222nd Army Battalion, B Company, better known as Bad Company, a small group of miscreants who have been given their last chance to prove themselves in combat. The game starts off as your usual rough and ready army types going into battle but then the story turns it into a mad treasure hunt, think the movie Three Kings but with loads more action. The main story is interspliced with some cool cinematics where you control the camera and then it will drop you right into the game. You play as Preston Marlowe, also in the team are your usual stereotypical grunts, the one who is a bit nuts and likes explosives, the chatty one and the Sarge, in this game they are called Haggard, Sweetwater and Sarge (appropriately enough).

Controlling your character is just like any other FPS, however the weapon restrictions are quite tough to get used to, you can carry one main weapon and a secondary weapon. At first this does not seem enough but you also have a secondary alt fire on some rifles, plus you can swap weapons on the fly from downed enemies. Primary weapons range from the usual selection of assault rifles and shotguns whist the secondary weapons are more like grenades, C4 or rocket launchers.  

Whilst the controls are simple and good to use there is the strange emission of a prone movement, only run, walk and crouch. At times, especially when under heavy fire you really need to lay flat to get better cover, but oh well, you work with what you’ve got. As well as the weapons you also have a syringe, this is essentially you health pack, it is always there to use so whenever you are about to die you can quickly whip this out and regain your health. That said there are still plenty of opportunities to die and this is where another risky move has comes in, just like online play, rather than send you back to the start of the level, you are sent back to a checkpoint but with the battle still raging around you, so essentially you can complete this game by a war of attrition, whilst not everybody’s cup of tea, I actually welcome this move as it keeps the pace of  the game really high and allows you to quickly think of other strategies to take down the enemies with a full health bar.

Level wise the game is huge, each main level is split into small sub-levels. Each area is quite large and there are plenty of different approaches to each situation. The level layout for each area has clearly been lovingly looked at and altered to give the best gaming experience, rocket launchers are found in high, advantageous places, weapons crates are left around for you to store up on ammo and of course, those lovely red barrels that go with quite a bang are everywhere. The Frostbite engine is simply stunning, you can destroy about 90% of most buildings, leaving just the structures, due to this the usual tactic of hiding behind cover is now over with. There are moments were the enemy will get a few hits on you, leaving you to run behind a wall or into a house to regain your composure, only to have them blow the wall right up and take you out. Instead you have to learn to keep moving, hang around and the enemy will wait for you to show your face, whilst the AI is good in this aspect, they still seem to enjoy running into the open to get shot down by you or your team mates.

Even though EA and Dice have tried to make a single player experience, they could not resist an online segment, and would you believe it, its great, at the moment there is one mode (new modes have recently been announced), but don’t let that disappoint you. In Gold Rush you play as Attackers or Defenders, the Attackers need to destroy the gold by any means necessary and the Defenders need to protect it, if the Defenders lose they get forced back to another location and this is repeated until all of the gold has been destroyed.  

The classic Battlefield player selections are there, including the usual Assault and Defender set ups. You can also purchase new weapons to up you game, but this is only through ranking up you player. An impressive 24 players can go at it, 12 a side and there is no slowdown at all, even with helicopters, tanks and boats all going hell for leather.  

Bad Company offers one of the best online experiences I have had for a long time and there is no let up in the action. The online menu is quick and simple to use, allowing for quick and custom matches and giving you the option to look at you’re in game awards and achievements.  The single player game aint too bad either.