Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Jack does, as he discovers that war is as funny as it used to be.
Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Jack Webster. If you’ve played Bad Company 2, or just want to ask Jack more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC, 360, PS3)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the sequel to a ‘test-case game’: Battlefield Bad Company, is an absolute masterpiece in every fashion. It is one of the most original, funny and challenging games of the year so far.
Loved
Funny: One of the key things noticed in the first Bad Company, was the new style of characters, and overall dialogue. The characters seemed more human, more likable, unlike some competitor’s ‘heartless American killing machine type’ of character. The characters are all exactly what they should be – ‘characters’. You’ve got the nerd, the TNT-happy hillbilly, the African-American and of course, the normal bystander – which you can only see thinking throughout the entire game – “WTF am I doing with these bunch of crazies?”.
Along with this direct ‘funny’, you’ve got the background elements. Throughout the campaign, and the multiplayer system, you will notice the soldiers around you aren’t monotone American hulks, taking everything ‘like a man’ – you’ll soon be laughing at the fact other units are yelling (usually in broken high-pitched voices) significant amounts of profanities, usually not dependent on the situation. One example would be when an M-COM station has been destroyed – You’ll be able to hear pretty clearly (as you move onto the next point) another unit yelling “F***ing A!”.
Challenging: This is one of the most contentious issues surrounding the players of this game at the moment – “Why am I not killing anyone?!”. I continue to hear this day after day, from those around me who also pre-ordered the game. I can tell you that my closest friends were getting to the point of getting ME to refund the game – they believed it was a load of crock.
Make no mistake – this game is challenging. This isn’t Modern Warfare 2, where you can aim 360 degrees in the direction of your enemy, and kill them ten-times over. There are serious considerations that need to be taken when it comes to recoil, shooting when you’re getting shot at, etc. These same friends, as the days have progressed, have since gotten to like the game, and even liked it the most out of their current game library.
Original: This is what other developers need to focus on in the FPS gaming scene. Bad Company 2 has hit the nail on the head when it comes to originality: there really is no other game like it where the characters are genuinely human; where a war game can make someone laugh out loud; where it can combine these two things, and have a relatively challenging game (maybe even getting close to that of ArmA). With this, DICE adds the Battlefield-unique seamless integration of vehicles, and this adds a whole other dimension to the game.
Hated
Teething: The current bugs and downtime are a bit shameful for such a well-made game, however there never has really been the perfect game release. The dialogue between users and high level DICE representatives such as the Associate Producer has been awesome compared to other competitors.
Yes, it has had several teething issues, but Bad Company 2 really is the most stand-out game so far in 2010. It’s an 8/10 for me at the moment, but once the issues get sorted out, it will go to about 9/10 or above. These issues will get fixed. In the three days BF:BC2 has been out, there has been more developer-user dialogue then there were ads for Modern Warfare 2.
Reviewed by: Jack Webster
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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