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If there’s one
thing we can
learn from the last
two Battlefield
outings, set in their
particularly crisp
and atmospheric
renditions of World War 1 and World
War 2, it’s that war back then was
carnage. These were times when
humans had little answer for the
ruthless rise of machinery; a notion
best represented by the semi-fictional
Behemoths of Battlefield 1 that were
designed specifically to annihilate
the winning team and balance out the
battle. The idea of Deus Ex Machina
doesn’t get more crude and literal.
But as I’m about to get chopped
down by another unseen biplane in
Battlefield V, or decimated by a Tiger
tank from across an impassable
expanse, my shellshocked mind
retreats to a time when gung-ho
heroics never felt out of reach;
when a single moment of derring-
do by even a two-man squad could
take down a tank or swing the tide
of a battle. I think about the tight,
shamelessly consoleified game that
was Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
In a way, Bad Company 2 had no
right to be as good as it is. Previous
Battlefield games already had higher
64-player limits, jets and sprawling
maps, so removing all of that surely
seemed like a backward step. This
wasn’t such an issue with the
console-exclusive Bad Company,
but when it was announced in 2009
that the sequel would be the latest
Battlefield game for both console
and PC, the game came in for
scrutiny, rubbing shoulders
with the mainline series
on PC. Is a battle with
up to 24 players even a
battle, or is it just a bit
of a scrap?
Bad Company 2 went
on to earn its stripes
with distinction, and
nine years since its debut
it still stands as a demonstration
that a Battlefield experience isn’t
defined by scale and spectacle, but
the amount of memorable moments
that it pulls you into. Every aspect
of Bad Company 2 – from its slim,
slithery maps to its almost completely
ABOVE Look at
all that
destructible
wood. It’d be a
shame if a tank
came rolling in...“Bad Company 2 was
a game of toy soldiers,
encouraging you to act
out war fantasies”
destructible buildings – coordinated
to keep creating these moments.Battle lines
To accommodate Rush, the new
defenders-versus-attackers mode,
most maps appeared almost linear
on the spawn screen. While this was
deceptive to an extent, with a high
density of buildings allowing for all
kinds of flanking opportunities, it also
meant that the frontlines were more
clearly defined than in other outings.
It was tougher to encircle the
enemy, while restricting air vehicles
to dangerous but vulnerable
choppers and UAVs
removed that feeling
that your assaults
or stalwart defence
would be undone by an
intervention from some
unexpected angle.
More so than its siblings,
Bad Company 2 was a game
of toy soldiers, encouraging
you to act out war fantasies like
shooting choppers out of the sky in
tanks, or quad-biking behind enemy
lines and hitting a ramp to launch
you into a flag’s capture perimeter.
With slower movement and everything
packed in closer, Bad Company 2WHAT IS IT?
A Battlefield
spin-off, notable
for its destructible
environments and many
console-centric design
changes, despite also
coming to PC.narrowed the power gap between
infantry and vehicles, and every game
would throw up multiple opportunities
to take out tanks in a team or jump
out from a crumbling building to slap
up a UAV with C4 before scurrying off
into a nearby alley.
However, the threat of death was
ever-present, as the game does away
with the prone position and almost
entirely removed bullet drop. Bad
Company 2 more than compensated
for its lack of size, replacing
unpredictability and spectacle with
urgency and escapades.
Sadly, the game is dormant on Xbox
these days (though servers are still
up and it’s part of XBO backwards
compatibility, so there’s always hope).
The best way to play it today is on
PC, where a large community is still
embroiled in its condensed skirmishes.
With Battlefield V so far not quite
living up to expectations, it could
mean the next game in the series will
shake things up in order to get the
juggernaut going again. It’s highly
unlikely that EA DICE will pare things
back to this degree, but that doesn’t
mean it can’t learn from it and offer
a gleaming twist on the formula that
made Bad Company 2 so successful.
Bad Company 3 may be a wish
too far, but for those like me who
appreciate this spin-off’s quirks, a
new entry would need to hold onto the
spirit of this series outlier: slower-
paced, smaller-scaled and offering
more evenly matched interactions
between man and machine that can
make even a halfway decent player
feel like a hero. QMore Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 107