Bad Company 2 Preview

 

In Bad Company 2, DICE has really made an effort to keep the essential Battlefield gameplay, but improve on it further.

The multiplayer demo and PC beta really introduce us into the majority of the gameplay essentials.

It's hard to compete with Modern Warfare 2 for a similar game world timeframe, but Battlefield will always have the edge with the large scale maps, vehicles, and a veteran multiplayer team that loves dedicated servers.

In the beta, they plunge you into Rush Mode.  Rush is a gameplay mode where there is one team of attackers, and one of defenders.  The attackers goal is to destroy the M-COM stations (That look like large boxes of rocket ammunition with computers strapped to the top) by either planting a timed explosive, or using remote C4 charges.

The map in Rush also changes in a new way.  Imagine a linear map being diced into four distinct chunks.  Players begin on the first "chunk" until the first two objectives are destroyed, then the map shifts.  The attackers now spawn where the defenders were, and the defenders have to fall back and defend a brand new position with added defensive bonuses.  By the time you're at the final defensive area, the defenders have the high-ground and a Blackhawk chopper to deter attackers.  Like any Battlefield game though, if the attackers have excellent communication and coordination, they can still dominate the defending team. The same could be said of the defenders.  A well coordinated defense team can keep the attacking team from even destroying the initial map "chunk" and cause the attackers to run out of lives.

Even though I personally favor the Conquest mode of Battlefield over almost every other FPS game mode on the market, Rush mode has given me some new considerations about how "capturing" points should be.  I seem to have a new favorite to add to my multiplayer gaming career.  

Bad Company 2 is certainly going to be purchase-worthy.