The reckless rag-tag B Company are back, and this time they’re on the hunt for a mysterious weapon of mass destruction.

The Battlefield franchise has traditionally been on the PC. 2008′s Battlefield: Bad Company was the series’s first attempt at serious single player experience and it wasn’t half bad. Building upon some promising foundations, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 hopes to take the formula to a new level, refining the game’s multiplayer componant while delivering the latest chapter in the single player storyline.

When we last saw “Bad Company” they were driving into the sunset having just relieved the US Military of a truck filled with the Legionaries gold. Fear not if you haven’t played the previous game in the series, as the events aren’t referenced and sadly not at all important to the entire campaign. B Company’s squad is still comprised of Sarge, Sweetwater, Haggard and Marlowe. However there has been a noticeable shift in tone from the first Bad Company. The light hearted action comedy feel has been replaced with an all together darker, more serious game but thats not to say that the game is devoid of the comedy moments that made the first game such a joy to play. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is streamlined, with a linear structure, but this linearity does on occasions lead to a feeling of the game forcing the pace. It is only when you break momentum from the single minded campaign to destroy a building, hunt down collectables or take in the environments when the little comedy gems are unleashed. It is these comic moments where you feel like you are really part of a tightly knit group. There is an ebb and flow to the conversations that feels natural as the characters talk over each other and argue with a brotherly passion. It is just a pity that you can totally miss some of the funnier moments if you aren’t in the right location or even when your eagerness to progress the campaign means these moments never happen.

The standout element from the first game was the destructable environments that played stage to your gunplay and thankfully the destruction engine has been given some noticeable upgrades. Buildings can puntured and even torn to the ground if enough of their support structure is taken out. The destructibility only plays a small role in the campaign, it is in multiplayer where it becomes an additional strategic level.

Typically when an area is given such a prominent presentation like destruction is given, this is to the determent of other graphical areas usually suffer. However Battlefield: Bad Company 2 features some of the visually impressive environments to date. In need of particular praise is the Bolivian jungle section. Dense and lush, the canopy muffles all gun fire and casts some terrific lighting effects. Colours are vibrant and the moments of  silence that follows any furious gun fight are deadly vacuous. Once all the commotion dies down the jungle returns to life and individual animal noises slowly increase in frequency and volume. In fact the sounds in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are even more impressive than it’s visuals. Firing a gun on the battlefield gives off an echo as the gunfire resonates around, unlike the sound of close combat in tight corridors where sounds almost have a screeching popping sound effect. Explosions are furious, often beating your eardrums into momentary deafness.

Unfortunately Battlefield: Bad Company 2′s single player also has its fair share of problems. Most irritating is its pandering to the Michael Bay ethos of brash, bigger and louder. Each level follows a similar template; a slow build-up gives way to a major set piece before you are whisked off to another location as your squad attempts to track down the mysterious weapon of mass destruction and stopping the tyrants whom want to use it against the United States. It is this consistent bouncing around the globe that leads to an erratic flow and no real memorable moments in spite of major events occurring every fourty-five minutes or so.

However the single player campaign is essentially just your starting appetizer, online is the filling main course. The battlefield name has long been synonymous with large scale conflicts featuring air, land and water based skirmishes and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is no different. Battlefield was one of the originators of the class based squad shooters and nothing has really changed a great deal. Medics can dispatch aid and revive downed team mates. Engineers have the ability to repair damaged vehicles or sabotage enemy hardware. The assault class is your standard class and will be the main force in all attacks. While the Recon unit will frequently be found cowering on the hill sides spotting enemies, calling mortar strikes but mainly sniping targets.

Dedication to an individual class will reap great rewards, the more time you spend and better you become the more weapons become available. Each class has dedicated abilities and unique weapons, this with the fantastic multi layered ranking system and the added level of special gear unlocks, gives you larger scope to customise your solder. Upon entering a battle you will be asked if you want to join a squad and with good reason. Squads have been given a greater impetus in the overall battle, as squad members are now mobile spawn point removing the irksome trudge from one side of the map to the other that previous games forces you to endure.

The first things you will notice the moment you start firing your weapon is you are no longer the pin-point accurate shooter you were during the single player campaign. This is due to the total removal of all aiming assistance that gave the campaign aim a “snap to target” feel. Your aim would be aided with an optical scope or red dot sight but these targeting aids are upgrade items and you will have to rely upon you iron sights to get your kills.

On the game mode side of things nothing has really changed. The objective based Rush and Domination modes return. Both modes allow two teams of twelve solders to fight for supremacy on vast maps. New to Bad Company is squad based death match and a simplified smaller squad version of rush. In the case of Squad Deathmatch four squads of four face off in the battle to be the first team to fifty kills. Where as in the tactical Squad Rush mode it is a simple case of attack and defend, but rather than the multi level rush mode the squad variant only features one critical point. Both squad modes are a welcome addition to the well rounded online options.

Its disappointing that the single player campaign is a short, generic globe trot lacking much of the charm and character than made its predecessor so enthralling. Regardless, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will more than satisfy your online warfare urges and is easily among the top-teir multiplayer games available today.

Mark Craven