Battlefield: Bad Company Preview Part 1

By: Yourcatch22 | Posted On: Saturday 31 May 2008

With the release of Battlefield: Bad Company only a few weeks away, the hype and excitement surrounding the title is as high as ever. Bad Company promises to be one of the most exciting titles yet in EA’s well established Battlefield series, removing the focus from the theater of war and instead placing it on a meaningful storyline coupled with a virtual treasure trove of special effects, particularly the ability to literally destroy everything in the game. We recently got a chance to take Bad Company for a test spin courtesy of the newly released online demo, which showcases the first battle in single player mode as well the online multiplayer mode.

Now we break everything down, from graphics to game play, so you know exactly what to expect come release day. We have divided our preview to Bad Company into two parts, the first discusses the single player mode and our impressions of the graphics and storyline, and the second will look at the multiplayer aspect. Without further adieu, we present to you our first impressions of the Battlefield: Bad Company single player demo.

Getting Started

Within the first few seconds of firing up the Playstation 3, Bad Company wastes literally no time getting you into the action. The single player mode begins with a brief cinematic introduction, giving you background information on your player, Preston Marlow, your teammates, Sarge, Haggard and Stillwater, and B-Company’s role as a whole. By a brief introduction we literally mean maybe a minute at the most, something we greatly appreciated considering we could hardly wait to get into the actual game play. Unfortunately, one drawback to the instant action was the lack of introduction to controls and game objectives. Still, while frustrating at first, we were able to get a solid grasp on the controls relatively quickly in battle, thanks primarily to small in-game prompts which periodically appear.



One of the first things that struck us was the incredible graphics and cinematography. The DICE team put all of the PS3’s resources to work, creating scenes which are visually appealing and deep with regards to the actions of other characters in the background. The graphics and player movements are crisp and clean, not just in the cut scenes, but during actual game play as well. Also the lighting was some of the best we have seen, making the models and visuals truly stand out. From the moment you touch down in your Blackhawk helicopter, you are consumed by the atmosphere the game creates (credit also my new HD Plasma TV). As you stand there listening to Sarge give you an initial briefing, you notice other soldiers carrying on regular business, such as unloading helicopters in the background, and even chiming into your storyline at times. The dialogue was another aspect of Bad Company which we found to be well above par. As you listen to discussions between your character and other teammates, the conversations flow very well and the tone is just what you would expect in a real squad experience. There is no excessive swearing or graphic detail to exaggerate the storyline, just standard dialogue which offers information on your objectives as well as a little dark humor to boot.

The Mission Begins

Almost as soon as Sarge had finished getting orders from command, we were all hopping into our Humvee and heading into battle. The ability to listen to the radio made the ride enjoyable, although it was difficult to hear most of the time over gun fire and your teammate's rambling. If you are familiar with vehicle driving in other Battlefield titles, you will find yourself very comfortable in Bad Company. Just as in previous Battlefield games, controlling your vehicle is extremely easy and you can get a good grasp on the controls with only a few seconds of experience. Also, as was the case with older Battlefield series games, you have the option to sit in different positions of the vehicle, including mounting the top machine gun, which can come in handy when facing a large number of enemies. Our initial driving mission was also the point in the game where we began experiencing the game’s destructibility factor, which has been highly publicized in recent months. Fences, trees, and even buildings in some cases were no match for our Humvee, adding a degree of realism (although slightly exaggerated in some instances) not seen in any other FPS titles to date. We will discuss this feature more in a little bit.



As you arrive at your destination, you find yourself at an intersection of a few roads with several small buildings for cover. Instantly you are engaged by enemy ground forces and quickly find yourself in the heat of battle. You are armed with an assault rifle, attached grenade launcher, knife, and a health injection (we assume was adrenaline) which will boost your health when you are near death. Controls and aiming are fairly standard, so if you are used to console FPS games, you will have little trouble eliminating your enemies quickly and efficiently. If you are like me, and tend to play FPS games on the PC, it may take a little longer and require some tweaking of sensitivity settings to get a hang of everything. None the less, the learning curve is still relatively small in comparison to other games. Another thing we immediately noticed was the relative easiness in killing your enemies once you managed to get them between your crosshairs. There is very little recoil when firing and targets usually go down only after a few shots, regardless of what part of the body they land. Granted for this preview we were playing in easy mode, so it can be expected that targets are more resilient in normal mode.

The Destructibility Factor

The grenade launcher we found to be most useful, not just in eliminating clusters of enemy soldiers, but also in opening up buildings thanks to the destructibility factor. As discussed before, one of the major selling points for Bad Company is the “ability to blow up everything”. Upon first hearing this several months ago, of course we were skeptical about the scope and what would be considered “everything”. However, once we got into the game, we quickly realized that they literally meant everything. Fences, walls, and pretty much everything else you can imagine can be destroyed at the click of a button. In our case, using the grenade launcher allowed us to easily fire into the sides of buildings, creating dust clouds of debris and large visible gaps. Apart from the fun of destroying literally everything, this feature also comes in handy in completing objectives, such as being able to quickly find tools inside buildings, or eliminating enemies in windows and behind doors. This was by far the most unique, fun, and useful feature of Bad Company that we saw throughout the demo.



As we continued through the initial level, we advanced with our convoy, learning more about our characters and storyline along the way. Eventually, after several attacks, we found ourselves in a large open battlefield with plenty of enemies to challenge us as we made our way over the complex network of foxholes and hills. This area was much more challenging than the previous one, and required you to use the crouch and sprint feature to effectively find cover in an open environment. We also began receiving our first real objectives. Now rather than simply eliminating all enemies in the area, we were assigned to destroy radio towers using the RPG or grenade launcher. Although relatively easy to complete, the new itinerary offered some insight into the way the rest of the game may play out and ways to keep the storyline interesting. The level, and demo for that matter, ends with us being introduced to the elite enemy soldier we would clearly be facing if the game continued, along with our first taste of gold. While there is clearly a lot more of the storyline to go, the demo offered some great insight into the characters and the way in which the game would be played out.

What We Really Thought

Overall our first impressions of Bad Company single player mode were extremely positive. In a franchise which has focused mostly on multiplayer (and this one does as well to an extent), it was nice to see the single player mode had plenty to offer gamers offline as well. From graphics, to storyline, to game play – EA and DICE have managed to produce a title which stays true to the Battlefield series spirit yet taking it in a new and exciting direction. The destructibility feature was clearly one of the major highlights, as expected, but the overall game was solid from top to bottom and offered a great gaming experience with plenty of replay value. If you were considering buying Bad Company this June anyways, pre-ordering it and gaining access to the demo will definitely make the wait much more manageable.

Stay tuned next week, when we will take a look into the demo’s multiplayer aspect. It is definitely something you won’t want to miss.