Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (also known as Bad Company 2 or BF:BC2) is a video game released by DICE on March 2, 2010 in North America, on March 3rd in Australia, and on March 5th in Europe. It was published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. The game is a direct sequel to Battlefield: Bad Company though it does not continue the story of the original Bad Company and rather starts a new storyline. It is also the eighth game in the Battlefield series. The game was announced at one of EA's earnings conferences, and was showcased at E3 2009.
Overview
In this installment, Bad Company once again find themselves in the heart of the action, where they must use every weapon and vehicle at their disposal to survive.
First image released for Bad Company 2
Gameplay
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thumb|left|300px|Battlefield: Bad Company 2 First Look
Gameplay in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 resembles that of Battlefield: Bad Company but seems to have more of the style of classic Battlefield games. The story seems to take place mostly in South America. The game allows players to play through missions using any tactics they choose. Like its predecessor, Bad Company 2 features destructible environments. However, more destruction is now possible; players can now completely destroy a building rather than just its walls. Also, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield Vietnam are the only two games in the series to have blood in them without a third-party modification. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is the only Battlefield game to be rated Mature 17+ by the ESRB.
Singleplayer
The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 singleplayer was revealed on Thursday, January 21, 2010, at 12:30 on Spike TV, showing ten minutes of never before seen footage of the single player campaign. The singleplayer trailer showed the return of the original gang of Battlefield: Bad Company. B-Company is now chasing what appears to be a super weapon that might cause a new world war created by the Russian Federation, and is again sent in before other army units. Evidently however, the role of B-company has been elevated from their previous role as cannon fodder and a group of troublemakers to instead more of a small unit of special forces. The campaign has a more serious mood than the first Bad Company.
Campaign
In October 1944, a group of US commandos infiltrate Japan to find out what the Japanese are working on. They secure a defecting Japanese scientist who was working on a secret weapon codenamed 'The Black Weapon' (a scalar weapon) and attempt to escape the island on a submarine. But after repeated warnings by the scientist, the commandos witness the Black Weapon being fired and perish, and this sparked a myth about what really happened in Operation Aurora.
In the present day, Bad Company are on a counter-intelligence operation behind enemy lines in Russia in attempt to secure a high value induvidual, and a device related to a scalar weapon. Despite escaping Russian soldiers and completing what they thought was their final mission in B-company, the device is discovered to be a fake. Being impressed with their previous activities, Army General Braidwood assigns them to the Special Activities Division, and tasks them with delivering information to Agent Aguire, much to the disappointment of Redford.
The squad travels to Bolivia in search of Aguire. Through many firefights with paramilitaries, they manage save Aguire just before a Russian hauls him onto a waiting Mi24 Hind. After discovering that Aguire's findings were stolen by the Russians, Aguire requests the squad to get all his intelligence detailing the Scalar Weapon from a satellite. The squad moves up to take the mountain with assistance from their pilot Flynn and his UH-60 Blackhawk. After taking over the satellite station, Sweetwater crashes the satellite, with the squad driving over cross country to find it, taking on Vodniks and Quad Bikes along the way. After reaching the satellite, the squad successfully defeat a Russian counterattack aimed at destroying the satellite, but soon bad weather rolls in. While Redford and Haggard go to find transport, with Sweetwater following, Marlowe soon finds the data storage unit and proceeds to go down the mountain during a blizzard, taking on Russian patrols, and is soon extracted by the others in Flynn's helicopter.
During extraction, Aguire briefs the squad about the man responsible for building a Scalar Weapon named Arkady Kirelenko; a Russian Army colonel the squad failed to eliminate in Russia, who is believed to be hiding in Chile. Marlowe and the squad travel to Chile, where they, aided by US Armoured forces and Marines, find Kirelenko, though he soon escapes after US Command starts shelling Kirilenko's position. Left only with papers from Kirelenko's office, Sweetwater discovers there is a shipping manifest for a lost ship called the "Sangre Del Toro." Aided by the rest of the squad getting the coordinates, Marlowe finds the ship and retrieves an unnamed compound essential to the use of the weapon and finds out the truth behind Operation Aurora.
While attempting to meet Aguire in Colombia their helicopter is shot down by a Javelin and they become separated. Sweetwater and Marlowe regroup first, taking on a militia counter-attack, and they soon find the rest of the squad. After fighting through heavily defended Russian bases, the squad find Flynn, and then race to a helicopter base on Quad Bikes. After fighting through Russian territories in a salvaged Blackhawk, the squad reach the rendezvous with Aguire, Marlowe gives Aguire the compound, while Redford demads to know what's happening. However, Aguire double-crossed the squad by allying with Kirelenko, his rival in the quest for the Scalar Weapon. Aguire wanted revenge against the United States for what happened to his father, one of the commandos in original raid on Japan, after Marlowe revealed that the US military callously sent them to their deaths. Despite the alliance Kirelenko betrays Aguire and kills him. Flynn intervenes and saves the squad at the cost of his own life, being shot down by an RPG.
While still mourning after Flynn's loss, the squad overhear a Russian soldier's radio, which the squad use to find their position. They begin to advance towards a city, but then Kirlienko begins the detonation of the Scalar Weapon. The squad begin advancing through a Venuzuelan city, being attacked by Russian and militia troops, along with mortars. However, as they reach the mouth of a large river, they witness a huge firefight between US and Russian troops. However, as the fight reaches a climax, the Scalar Weapon detonates, annihilating the US forces and sending 'all tech dead'. The squad then fight through the blast zone in pursuit of Kirilenko, but, as the squad reach the plane, an An-225 Mryia, they realise it's taking off. The squad unanimously vote that they should hijack the plane, and set off through sewer tunnels towards it. Though they had to discard their weapons, they climb on board through the undercarriage, and await dawn.
The squad begins to progress through the plane, taking out multiple guards before reaching the Scalar Weapon, which is protected by a reinforced pane of glass, which Haggard says will 'take an act of God to get through, a lot of C4.' The squad then fight towards the cockpit of the plane, but realise that Kirilenko is in the Scalar chamber itself when they discover that the cockpit is empty. After detonating C4 to get through the glass, the squad destroy the Scalar weapon, and then proceed to bail out of the plane. However, as Sweetwater tries to give Marlowe the last parachute, Kirilenko tackles him, and Marlowe is forced to dive out of the plane, killing Kirilenko in a free fall with an MP-443. Sweetwater passes Marlowe a parachute in midair, and the pair land safely in Texas alongside the rest of the squad. However, as they begin to celebrate, General Braidwood tells them to follow him in a HMMVW, as the Russians are invading through Alaska.
The last cutscene shows Russian forces swarming through Alaska and Canada, advancing on the US border.
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Multiplayer
- See main article, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Multiplayer
thumb|300px|right|Official Multiplayer trailer
Multiplayer allows players to choose from four weapon kits before the start of each match. These kits include Assault, Engineer, Recon, and Medic. Each match gives players experience, and kit related experience points, allowing players to specialize their kits. Experience points are gained by each opponent killed and when an opponent is killed, the points gained are displayed on screen. A dog tag system has been included in the game. If a player is killed with a melee attack you collect their dogtag, and that information is stored in your profile and additional experience is given. There are four different gametypes:
Conquest: Players must capture and hold flags for as long as the enemy respawn tickets hold out. Every kill makes the enemy lose one ticket, and enemy tickets constantly decrease when a team controls more than half of the flags on the map. Vehicles unlock as control points are held.
Rush: Players must defend or destroy pairs of M-COM stations for as long as the attacking teams respawn tickets hold out. An M-COM station can be destroyed by planting a charge, using conventional weapons, grenades or when a building is collapsed down on it.
Squad Rush: Rush mode played with only two opposing squads and one M-COM station.
Squad Deathmatch: Four squads and one Infantry Fighting Vehicle roam the map. First squad to fifty kills wins the match.
Each gametype has specific maps only available for that gametype. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 also features dedicated server support.
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Major Changes from Battlefield: Bad Company
- Increased weapon damage.
- Destruction "2.0" allows players to "chip away pieces from cover and take down entire buildings."
- Different weapon attachments like sights and under-barrel shotguns.
- Specializations in multiplayer add abilities to classes.
- Enemies can be tagged and called out via the back/select button while aiming at them.
- Addition of Squad Rush and Squad Deathmatch gametypes.
- The "Specialist" and "Demolitions" kits have been removed, with their weapons and gear being spread out among the Recon, Assault, Engineer and Medic classes.
- There is a new "Hardcore" mode for any gametype that removes most HUD elements, disables the killer camera, and reduces player health by half. The remaining HUD element is the ticket counter located in the bottom left. The player is still able to spot although there will be no marker.
- Now available on the PC.
Vehicles
United States of America
Light Vehicles
Tanks
Helicopters
Watercraft
Russian Federation
Light Vehicles
Tanks
- T-90
- BMD-3 Bakhcha
- BMD-3 AA (ZU-23-2 Anti Aircraft Gun equipped)
Helicopters
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Weapons and Gadgets
Weapons can now be modified with attachments. Attachments include the ACOG and various other scopes and a Red Dot Reflex Sight. All assault rifles in-game automatically come with grenade launchers, all submachine guns have a silencer equipped for aesthetic purposes, and all sniper rifles have telescopic scopes.
Assault Rifles/Carbines (Assault Kit)
Submachine Guns/Carbines (Engineer Kit)
Light Machine Guns (Medic Kit)
Sniper Rifles (Recon Kit)
Shotguns
- 870 Combat
- Saiga 20K
- SPAS-12
- T194 Shotgun
- USAS-12
- Neostead 2000
Pistols/Revolvers
- M9 pistol
- M1911 (included in the Limited Edition)
- MP412 REX
- M93R
- MP-443 Grach
Miscellaneous Battle Rifles/Sub-Machine Guns
- M14 MOD 0 Enhanced
- G3 Battle Rifle
- WWII M1 Garand (Unlocked if you're a Battlefield Veteran. http://veteran.battlefield.com. Requires a Veteran Rank of 1, however two games are needed to be registered.)
- WWII M1A1 'Thompson' Sub-Machine Gun (included in the Limited Edition)
- Type 100 Sub-Machine Gun (Singleplayer only)
- Type 5 Semi-Automatic Rifle (Singleplayer only)
Launchers
Explosives
Gadgets
- 40mm Grenade
- 40mm Smoke Launcher
- 40mm Shotgun
- Mortar Strike
- Defibrillator
- Combat Knife
- Medic Kit (Dropped by Medic class. Heals teammates when in range)
- Ammunition Box (Dropped as Assault Class. Resupplies ammo for teammates when in range.)
- Motion Sensor
- Repair Tool
- Tracer Dart Gun (Fires a dart which acts as a Beacon for RPG-7AT and M2 Carl Gustav to lock on to and home in on the target)
Stationary Guns/Launchers
- XM312 (static)
- KORD (static)
- M134 Dillion Minigun (Uniquely mounted on UH-60 Blackhawks)
- BGM-71 TOW
- 9M133 Kornet
Beta/Demo
The PC Beta ran from January 28, 2010, to Febuary 25, 2010. The demo was scheduled to be released for consoles at the first of February 2010. The multiplayer demo was confirmed for the Xbox 360 on January 31. In order to have played the PC Beta, you must have had pre-ordered the game from certain retailers, or you could have registered for a Beta key at the Battlefield Bad Company 2 site, which would give you a code to access the multiplayer. Without this code, the beta was useless. The Battlefield Bad Company 2 demo featured the map "Port Valdez", a snowy map set in Alaska. The game mode included was the new "Rush" mode, which is essentially "Gold Rush" from Battlefield: Bad Company simply renamed.
There were four classes to play as, Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon. Each class started with one main weapon, a pistol, and the class's respective gadget. As the player gained more points with a certain class, a second weapon for that class becomes available. Also available for unlock was the Tracer Gun, the G3 combat rifle, the Mk 14 EBR, M1A1 Thompson, M1 Garand (only for BF veterans), several shotguns, and the "Vehicle specialty".
Stats, pins, and experience earned from the Beta were not transferred to the full game.
Dr. Pepper Promotion
Soft drink company Dr. Pepper is currently holding a promotion that runs until March 31, 2010 (it will return later in 2010), in which every specially marked 20 oz., 16 oz. and 14 oz. bottles or 32 oz. fountain cups of Dr Pepper®, Dr Pepper Cherry, Diet Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper Cherry will have a code under the cap good for one redeemable piece of DLC on Dr. Pepper's website. As of March 20, 2010, it is currently unknown what will be available, and the DLC is not available to be redeemed. There will be special camos and kit upgrades, with some containing a special achievement/trophy.
Patches and Updates
R7 Client
A blog post made on the Battlefield Blog includes the details concerning this update. It was released for PC.
R10 Server
A blog post made on the Battlefield Blog includes the details concerning this update. It was released for PC.
R8 Client
A post on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Forums includes the details for this this update. It has been released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on May 11th 2010 and also includes the changes concerning the R7 Client update. It will eventually be released on PC.
R12 Server
A blog post made on the Battlefield Blog includes the details concerning this update. It has been released for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on May 11th 2010 and it also includes the changes concerning the R10 Server update. It will eventually be released for PC.
PS3 1.02 Client
This update was released in Europe on May 12th 2010 and in North America on May 18th 2010. It contained support for the SPECACT to be bought.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Battlefield Bad Company 2 was released on February 2 2010 and contained 11 tracks all composed by Mikael Karlsson. However, none of them resemble the classic Battlefield Series theme.
1. The Storm (Main Theme) (4:30)
2. The Secret Revealed (4:01)
3. Cold War (0:49)
4. Snowy Mountains (3:03)
5. The Ancient Weapon (3:50)
6. Operation Aurora (1:14)
7. Snowblind (0:43)
8. The Storm (Edit) (1:01)
9. The Secret Revealed (Edit) (1:01)
10. Snowy Mountains (Edit) (1:00)
11. The Ancient Weapon (Edit) (0:58)
Critical Reception
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 received generally high reviews from critics. Many praised the engaging singleplayer, memorable characters, destructible environments, and the amazing multiplayer. The Playstation 3 and PC version of the game received a metascore of 90, while the Xbox 360 version received a slightly lower score of 88.
Trivia
- Throughout the game, many references are made to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, mainly to third mission, Cliffhanger. This would be apparent because when DICE would be making the game, Infinity Ward had released the level Cliffhanger as part of a Q3 (Autumn/Winter) Demo, and it would be the only level known about at that time.
- The final mission of the single player campaign is very similar to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's epilogue mission, 'Mile High Club'.
- On the fallen sign in the final cutscene in the game, the number "1942" appears, referencing Battlefield 1942.
- The game has a more serious tone than its predecessor, changing from searching for gold to stopping a weapon of mass destruction.