Back in the day, Mario and Sonic were the preeminent surrogates in a console cold war. Fans chose sides — either Nintendo or Sega — and expressed undying loyalty to one mascot or another. They’d argue over “blast processing” or the number of colors on screen.
A lot has changed. Sega has bowed out of the hardware race, and that great duel has given way to a more diluted landscape. There’s no longer two monolithic sides; instead, players have gaming opportunities spread across consoles, hand-helds, PCs and the Internet. Anything resembling a Mario-Sonic brouhaha seems remote.
When looking for a successor to that landmark rivalry, only one matchup seems to have the ingredients for an epic struggle, and that became clear to me as I played DICE’s “Battlefield: Bad Company 2.” Electronic Arts is throwing down the gauntlet to the 800-pound behemoth of the industry — Infinity Ward’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” series.
It’s a clash that’s slowly developed over the past decade. Both shooters began as projects based on World War II. Both have shaped the evolution of online shooters. The two have even branched out, featuring a contemporary setting and modern weapons.
The big difference is in their approach. The “Modern Warfare” series tackles its subject matter with a somber air, emphasizing the brutality and horrors of war. On the other hand, “Bad Company 2” tackles it from a Hollywood perspective. It’s all about explosions, destructions and bigger-than-life characters.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it. In fact compared with “Modern Warfare 2,” “Bad Company 2” is more entertaining. The plot is simple but tinged with mystery. The returning cast lightens the mood with its humor. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t have the jaw-dropping scope of Infinity Ward’s game, but “Bad Company 2” doesn’t need it.
DICE’s shooter is as intimate as “Modern Warfare 2” is grand. With Marlowe, Sarge, Sweetwater and Haggard, the game presents a finely tuned squad whose talents and personalities complement each other. They have a balanced rapport that almost lets players overlook a cliched story.
The game unexpectedly starts off in 1944 during a secret mission called Operation Aurora. Special forces troops travel to a remote island in the Pacific bent on stopping the Japanese from using a scalar weapon, a device that releases an energy wave capable of killing anything in a citywide radius.
After the squad successfully infiltrates the island and steals a sub, they are killed in action losing the weapon in the process. Fast-forward decades later and Bad Company ends up in a mission that puts them on the trail of this mysterious bomb. Under the supervision of the Special Activities Division, the squad hopscotches throughout South America fighting the Russians and gathering clues to its location.
In this adventure, the environments are more varied. They’re a mix of lush jungle, frigid mountains and dry desert. But wherever the squad winds up, it has the ability to destroy buildings and barriers. This is “Bad Company 2’s” selling point. The destructible environment adds a new strategy unavailable in other games.
When fighting in urban combat, players can make their own doors and fight room to room or they can blow up enemies’ potential cover. When scouting from afar, the sniper rifle becomes deadly and a tad overpowered as fans, playing as the protagonist Preston Marlowe, can shoot soldiers atop platforms or blast exploding barrels that can knock down buildings.
Unfortunately, DICE fails to use this strategy enough or creatively in a campaign partially filled with dull siege missions. I wish DICE borrowed some ideas from “Red Faction: Guerrilla” and found more clever ways to use the engine. Occasionally, there are some inspired moments such as running and gunning from shelter to shelter in a blizzard but these are few and far between.
But what the game does well is vehicles, and “Bad Company 2” excels in its set-piece sequences with tanks and ATVs. And they dovetail right into the story. It’s good training for the multiplayer mode, where the real game begins.
Before the “Bad Company” series, “Battlefield” was known for its online play. This sequel is no different. DICE continues to build on its fantastic multiplayer heritage and borrows a book from Infinity Ward. In this follow-up, players can level up four different classes — assault, medic, engineer and recon — gaining new weapons and perks.
But what’s different about “Bad Company 2” is the focus on the squad. DICE encourages the idea of playing in four-man teams, making it easier for those who work together. On top of that, “Bad Company 2’s” multiplayer always feels more relaxed and loose than its rival. It’s fun without the feeling of cutthroat competition.
And that’s perhaps its greatest strength and makes “Bad Company 2” a worthy rival.
Contact Gieson Cacho at gcacho@bayareanews group.com. Read his blog at http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei.
