There’s nothing better than watching a couple of campers blend in with the ruble of a building as you sabotage it, to blitz with an RPG or a charger. There’s never a dull moment in Bad Company 2, with the Frostbite Engine’s Destruction 2.0 whole buildings and objects in the gaming environment can be destroyed realistically. You’ll spend a lot of time in the campaign shooting and blowing up destructible environments just to admire the realism.

This time around the campaign has taken a turn for a more serious but linear storyline. The Russians have set their keen eyes on a mythical WWII weapon of mass destruction, which in the wrong hands will threaten the world. Preston Marlowe (you the player), Haggard, Sweetwater and Sergeant Redford are sent on a mission to hunt for this weapon before the Russian’s gain possession.

The missions you play throughout the campaign are great fun from vehicle shootouts to avoiding freezing death in the snow trail blazing mountains. Your AI team mates are splendid bullet sponges and rarely take a shot penetrating enough to take a life, leaving it to you to pull the plug on your enemies.

At times when you progress through a mission you can see enemies being spawned right in front of you, generally after a while you start to memorize their positions. There is little incentive for exploration apart from finding the collectable guns placed in every level.

Banter between your team mates is never ending, livening up the atmospheric tension of the battlefield and keeping you entertained throughout the campaign. DICE doesn’t take itself too seriously with its humor in the campaign and takes various shots at Modern Warfare 2 in cut scenes and during gameplay.

Sound design is exceptionally accurate and delivers an immersive experience in a league of its own, from the deafening blow of an explosion striking your ears to the sound of flesh piercing bullets lacerating your enemies and surfaces. Every weapon is modeled to perfection, with excellent sound design clearly differentiating each weapon heard in the game.

At times the collision detection between you and certain objects in a map can cause you to stall or get stuck making you a sitting duck for snipers in multiplayer.

The online multiplayer experience in Battlefield Bad Company 2 is magnificently executed and will definitely turn heads. Even if you’re not a fan of multiplayer games this game is guaranteed to change your perception and leave you drooling for one more match.

My applauses go out to the level designers for the excellent results they’ve given players. Despite the sheer size of the maps there is enough sprinting and walking range for everyone, without being killed every so often as you would in smaller utilized maps. The end result is longer lasting gameplay and more area to reinforce your authority over your enemy.

Multiplayer modes include Rush where one team defends or attacks M-COM stations, which can be detonated by setting a charge on it. Squad Rush is an infantry only 4 on 4 version of Rush. Conquest is where you capture and hold flags for as long as you can hold out. Squad Deathmatch is where 4 squads of 4 on 4 compete to reach 50 kills first and win.

Bad Company 2 has a balanced progressive leveling up system which makes new ranks rewarding and exciting, as you unlock new weapons and gadgets for your class in use. Compared to other games it may feel slow but in fact it makes you feel all the more satisfied.

One flaw in the multiplayer is the fact that there’s no limit to the amount of classes one team can choose. A whole team of recons is not going to help in a game where team work from different classes is essential. I’ve seen this occur on multiple occasions where matches could have easily be won but the whole team spent majority of time camping with a sniper rifle.

I can’t stress enough how much of a pleasure and variety it is having destructible environments, especially in a multiplayer game. Watching a building reduce to ruble whilst your enemies are trying to evacuate is hilarious. Nothing beats sabotaging the opposition by crashing a helicopter into an M-COM station. There are endless possibilities with the inclusion of vehicles and it never gets old.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a quality title from the sound design, elegant graphics and definitive multiplayer experience. Every match is unique and unpredictable. One minute you’ve got barricades, trees and buildings as your cover, next the battlefield is a cloud of dust with not a rock to crawl under. Defining online warfare as the game cover suggests is not just a statement, it’s a reality that’s increasingly rising.

8.5/10