So, having achieved the highest rank of 25 in online play (and so far, a high skill level of 18 ) in Battlefield: Bad Company, I feel like I can now offer some insight and reasonable criticism of the game. I'm a huge FPS fan and have played just about every console FPS that's come out in the past ten years, so I have a reasonable basis for comparison here. (I used to play Team Fortress on the PC incessantly, but have since drifted away from PC gaming, mostly because I don't like having to think about whether or not my machine is capable of playing a particular software title. Consoles don't usually have to deal with that, but this generation of consoles has almost done away with that hardware unity with all the different SKUs, but that's another subject altogether.)
Anyway, we're here to discuss what's cool and what's not cool with B:BC, so let's get on with it, shall we?
COOL:
Graphics are pretty sweet. I'm a graphics whore, and this game mostly delivers. The vehicles and weapons all look nearly photorealistic, and the excellent sound design adds to their realism. The single player campaign is fairly by-the-numbers, but the dialogue and animations are occasionally entertaining. There seem to be plenty of hidden items to find, from gold bars to new weapons, and you actually have to earn most of the achievements. The auto-save system is actually more generous than most, and curiously, enemies that you've slain before you're killed stay dead after you respawn (usually, but not always, for some reason), basically allowing anyone with enough patience to make it through the campaign on the highest setting.
For me, the real meat of any FPS is in its online play. I hardly ever play through a campaign more than once, but I may play a game online for months or years. There's good and bad here...
There's a reasonable armory to be had, including some unlockables that can be obtained by participating in EA's "Find All Five" marketing campaign. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the game balance is definitely affected depending on who chooses what load-out.
There are plenty of vehicles to choose from, and you'll need them on these expansive battlefields. Being able to spawn on your squadmates instead of at the base can save you a lengthy run if there aren't any vehicles left at the base.
Dedicated EA servers allow for larger battles than some online frag-fests, and you don't have the annoying problem of the host player dropping mid-match like you have in some other games.
NOT COOL:
EA's servers are frequently laggy, making the game almost unplayable for me. If I get a good connection, a 12-on-12 battle can be a lot of fun, but when I blast someone with a shotgun from two feet away, I expect them to be dead, not me, once they realize I'm there and return fire.
As I said before, respawning on a squad mate can be great, but why can't I see where they are on the mini-map or choose my spawn point among active squad mates? I always seem to get in a squad with the guy who likes to snipe from a mile outside the action or the guy hogging the heavy artillery in the base, nullifying the benefit.
Getting back to that "Find All Five" program, I don't seem to be able to access some of the weapons from that program because I missed the window to accomplish the required action. (Gun earned by leveling-up in the now-defunct playable demo, I'm looking at you... Should I really be penalized for deciding to buy the game without much demo play?)
Not being able to customize your load-out a la "Call of Duty 4" already feels icky. The default kits have a decent variety, creating definite job types, but I prefer to choose my own gear when I'm able. Switching weapons also takes way, way, way, waaaaaaaay too long. I often feel like I'm making a suggestion rather than imputing a command when I try to go from shotgun to landmine, which takes at least two button presses, and that's if the system doesn't make me repeat one of those presses...
The level-up system is compelling, but only until you reach level 25. Now that I have, I don't really feel driven to continue, other than the indecipherable skill rating, which fluctuates pretty wildly for me.
The designated play zones on the map are gracelessly handled here, in my opinion. As I said, these maps are huge, but you're only allowed to play in certain grids while the action unfolds. If you stray outside the "hot zone" for more than five seconds, you're automatically killed. I can understand the need to contain combatants to the choke point that's being contested, but it's pretty frustrating to wander over the invisible line, then get hung up on a stray leaf or rock and be killed because of the game's mostly terrible object detection. You can literally be stopped in your tracks by a single tree branch or a tiny rock on the ground, and it can get you killed a lot more than you'd expect.
Finally, and perhaps most frustratingly, there's no way to kick jerks out of your match. Why no kick-vote here? True, team killing is punished by a fairly substantial point penalty, but if you have some idiot on your team who doesn't care about his ranking, there's no way for the team to get rid of him. You just have to bail on what might be an otherwise enjoyable game just to get away from some d-bag who can't focus his killing on the other team.
FINAL JUDGMENT: 80/100
Rent it first if you're tempted to buy it. On the whole, it's a decent game, but it has some terribly annoying idiosyncrasies that make me want to smash things pretty frequently. For my money, Call of Duty 4 is better than this game in every respect, save for the implementation of vehicles, which I don't care for anyway. If you absolutely need to drive a tank or dune buggy every time you wage virtual war, this might be better for you, but otherwise, CoD4 is the way to go.