Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Bad Company 2 features a story-driven single-player campaign. For most of the narrative, the player takes control of Preston Marlowe, one of the members of the titular "Bad Company". The exception to this is the first mission, which is set prior to the rest of the campaign. Each mission is divided into a series of objectives, often interspersed with cutscenes which simulate the style of war films. While the other members of Bad Company will engage in combat, the game relies upon the player to complete the objectives and kill most of the enemies. Although the player's computer-controlled allies can never die, they cannot carry out objectives. Aside from infantry combat, the campaign contains several missions in which the player controls a vehicle, or mans a weapon turret while a teammate controls the vehicle.

Each weapon in the campaign is considered a collectible - the first time the player picks up that type of weapon, a "Collectable Unlocked" message appears. There are also sensor stations throughout the campaign which the player can find and destroy - this is also recorded in the campaign stats. "Supply Drop" crates are scattered throughout the missions, where the player can exchange weapons and replenish ammo. The Supply Drop crates will remember any weapon the player picks up and this weapon will then be available for the rest of the campaign.

Screenshot of Battlefield: Bad Company 2's multiplayer mode. The player is armed with an M249 light machine gun.

Multiplayer is class-based, with four classes: Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon. Each class has a variety of unique weapons and equipment, and serves a specific role in combat. There are also some weapons that can be used by any class, such as pistols and shotguns. Each class gains experience and levels up separately.

New items are unlocked by earning experience points, which are gained for performing actions conducive to the goals of the player's team, such as eliminating enemy players, healing teammates, or capturing or defending points of interest. These points count towards a total of 50 ranks. Bonuses to the base number of points can be awarded under certain circumstances (such as eliminating an enemy by means of a headshot).

Multiplayer mode features 15 vehicles, including new additions, such as the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, a quad bike, a four-man patrol boat, a personal watercraft, a ZU-23-2 mounted on a BMD-3 armoured personnel carrier, and a Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout, controlled via remote computer terminals. The available maps are set in various environments such as South America and Alaska, near the borders of Russia,[13] similar to those seen in the single-player.

A dog tag system, as seen in Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield: Bad Company, is also used, awarding players with their opponents' dog tags when they defeat them with a knife attack.[14] Players can use party chat for each game mode.[15] The game uses the PunkBuster anti-cheat program to protect from cheaters in online multiplayer matches.

Bad Company 2 features several game types:

Conquest: Features the classic gameplay of the Battlefield series. Players must capture and defend flags for as long as possible. If a base is taken, it can be recaptured, and the cycle can repeat until the game's end. Every kill depletes one ticket, and tickets gradually decrease when one team controls more than half of the flags on the map. Vehicles can spawn once a flag is captured. When one team's tickets are depleted, that team will lose the game. Lost tickets can be regained by reviving fallen teammates.

Onslaught: Tasks one squad of up to four players to capture certain points on the map, allowing the squad to advance. The game is won by capturing all the points. Unlike other modes, the only enemies are bots. This game mode features new lighting and time of day on existing maps, as well as new vehicles. It is available for Xbox 360 and PS3 only; a PC version was planned, but was cancelled.[16]

Rush: Players must defend or destroy pairs of M-COM stations until either the attackers run out of respawn tickets or all of the stations are destroyed. Lost tickets can be regained by reviving fallen teammates. An M-COM station can be destroyed by planting a charge, using explosive weapons or ballistics, or simply by demolishing the building in which it is located. However, not all M-COM stations exist in destructible buildings, forcing players to use a variety of methods to achieve the same goal. When a charge is planted by the attacking team, an alarm is activated and the defenders have a limited amount of time to get to the M-COM station and disarm the bomb before it detonates.

Squad Deathmatch: Features up to four squads, each fighting against the other. An infantry support vehicle is available for any squad to claim, giving a significant advantage. The first squad to score fifty kills wins the match.

Squad Rush: Similar to Rush, but consists of only two squads, one defending and the other attacking. The maps used for Squad Rush are smaller versions of those for both Conquest and Rush modes. There are only 2 M-COM stations in each round.

Bad Company 2 is set in the near future during the fictional Second Russo-American War between the United States and Russian Federation, the latter supporting the fictional Latin American Militia, a rebel group operating in South America.

The game begins in October 1944, as a group of US commandos infiltrate an Imperial Japanese Navy-controlled island in the Sea of Japan as part of "Operation Aurora." They secure a Japanese scientist who was working on a secret scalar weapon, and escape the island on a submarine. However, as foreshadowed by the scientist's warnings, the commandos witness the weapon firing and subsequently perish from the resulting tsunami, sparking a myth within the U.S. Army.

In the near future, Russia has invaded Europe and Alaska while supporting China's fight in Asia and arming a South American militia. Privates Preston Marlowe, Terrence Sweetwater, George Haggard and Sergeant Samuel Redford are fighting in Russia in an attempt to secure a scalar weapon device. Despite evading Russian soldiers and completing the mission successfully, the device is discovered to be a fake. Impressed with their previous activities, Army General Braidwood has the squad transferred into the Special Activities Division and assigns them a new mission; to contact Agent James Wyatt (called Aguire in-game), much to the disappointment of Redford, who had hoped to retire after the previous mission.

The squad travels to Bolivia in search of the agent, and after many firefights, they eventually save Aguire. He sends them to retrieve his scalar technology intelligence from a French weather satellite that can be controlled from a base in the Andes. Sweetwater lands the satellite and the squad successfully thwart a Russian attempt to destroy it. Marlowe locates the data server and proceeds to descend the mountain during a blizzard while dodging Russian patrols. He survives, and is extracted by the others.

During extraction, Aguire briefs the squad about the man responsible for rebuilding scalar weaponry; Arkady Kirilenko, a Russian Army colonel the squad encountered in Russia. Kirilenko is hoping to use scalar weaponry to disable America's power grid and pave the way for a Russian invasion. He is believed to be hiding in Chile. The squad head there, aided by US forces, and find Kirilenko, who escapes again. Left with only Kirilenko's papers, Sweetwater discovers there is a shipping manifest for an abandoned ship called the Sangre Del Toro. Aided by the rest of the squad, Marlowe finds the ship and retrieves a compound essential to the use of the weapon, while also discovering the truth behind Operation Aurora - the US military knew it was a suicide mission, and the operation was planned in order to learn more about the weapon's capabilities.

While attempting to meet Aguire in Ecuador, the squad's helicopter is shot down and they are separated. Along with their helicopter pilot, Flynn (Eric Loren), they regroup and escape the local militia. Redford gives Aguire the compound before finding out that Aguire has double-crossed them by allying himself with Kirilenko. Aguire reveals that he wants revenge against the United States for what happened to his father, Thomas Wyatt (one of the commandos killed in 1944 during Operation Aurora). Despite this, Kirilenko betrays Aguire and kills him. Before he can kill the squad, however, Flynn intervenes and saves them at the cost of his own life.

While the squad is mourning Flynn, they hear Kirilenko talking through a guard's radio. Marlowe knifes the guard and the squad proceeds toward the city of Quito. Here, after battling squads of South American and Russian troops, they find a large An-124 cargo aircraft that is believed to house the scalar weapon. This is confirmed as a powerful electromagnetic pulse is suddenly released, disabling all electronic equipment in the city except the aircraft. Haggard and Sweetwater become disheartened, with Haggard going so far as suggesting the squad abort the mission. Angry at his allies for giving up, Marlowe is about to continue the mission alone before Redford stops him and then convinces the rest to continue. They then infiltrate the aircraft as it takes off. After a firefight to reach the cockpit, they find it empty. They return to the cargo bay to find Kirilenko attempting to fire the scalar weapon again, this time high over the southern United States. With the help of explosives from the plane's armory, they access and destroy the scalar weapon.

The explosion sends the aircraft plummeting, forcing the squad to bail out, but Kirilenko grabs the last parachute before Marlowe. In free fall, Marlowe kills Kirilenko, and is then saved by Sweetwater who hands Marlowe the parachute that was stolen by Kirilenko. The squad lands in Texas, Haggard's home state. Shortly after, General Braidwood arrives to inform them that they are to aid the US Army against an incoming Russian invasion that is coming through Alaska, much to the squad's disappointment.

The game uses Dolby Digital and Frostbite's High Definition Audio Range technology.[23] The score was composed by Mikael Karlsson (composer) and is featured on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Official Soundtrack, which was released on February 2, 2010.[1]

As a pre-order promotion, EA offered the "Limited Edition" of Bad Company 2 at normal pricing. By pre-ordering the Limited Edition, buyers of the PC version were given early access to the closed beta from January 28 to February 25.[24] Owners of the Limited Edition on all systems were also given early access to numerous weapons and vehicle perks, which included the M1A1 Thompson and an M1911 pistol, as well as four vehicle perks.[25]

In addition to the six upgrades offered by EA on all pre-orders of the Limited Edition, select retailers offered their own incentives. Copies pre-ordered at GameStop, for example, came with an additional code, unlocking the AKS-74U carbine and giving access to the Squad Rush game mode 30 days early (North America only). All six Limited Edition upgrades, as well as the AKS-74U, are also available to owners of the Standard Edition of the game, but they must be acquired by accumulating points in-game.

The "Ultimate Edition" was released on August 31, 2010, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The package includes Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Battlefield 1943, "Onslaught" mode, and immediate access to four vehicle upgrades and two weapon unlocks from purchase, a bonus originally included only in the Limited Edition.[26]

As part of a program designed to encourage game purchases and reward the community, EA and DICE confirmed that they would periodically release additional "VIP" content for Bad Company 2. On Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, this content is available free to "VIP" players who purchase a new copy of the game. Owners of used copies will be able to purchase a VIP code for an additional cost from their respective system's online store. Owners of the PC version will receive this content for free regardless of ownership status.[27]

On May 30, 2013, the VIP pass was made free for all Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users.[28]

As part of the "Battlefield Veterans" program, players gain access to the M1 Garand rifle if they have registered two or more Battlefield games with EA, or if they have joined the "EA Gun Club".[29]

Bad Company 2: Vietnam is an expansion pack for Bad Company 2 which takes place during the Vietnam War. It was released on December 18, 2010, for Microsoft Windows and on December 21 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is available as a retail package and via download. The retail package, however, only includes product key for internet activation. The expansion has received positive reviews, with praise for its "fun, close encounters" and use of licensed music tracks from the Vietnam war era.

The expansion pack contains 5 new maps, 6 new vehicles, and 15 new weapons. The fifth map, Operation Hastings, was originally set to be unlocked when the playing community reached 69,000,000 team play actions (revives, resupplies, assists etc.) on each platform.[42] While it was unlocked for PC on December 30, 2010,[43] the map was released early on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as a "new year's gift" from DICE.[44] It also includes 49 contemporary music tracks which can be listened to via an in-game radio, as well as new voiceovers for both American and Vietnamese forces, based on authentic communication from the Vietnam war. Ten new Xbox Live achievements/PlayStation Network trophies are also available to unlock.[45]

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam received generally positive reviews, with scores from Metacritic of 88 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions,[46][47] and 86 for the PC version,[48] and scores from GameRankings of 88.80% for the PlayStation 3 version,[49] 88.00% for the Xbox 360 version,[50] and 84.27% for the PC version.[51] Most critics agreed that the expansion is worth buying for users who already enjoy the game's multiplayer component. IGN praised it as being one of the best multiplayer offerings of the year, scoring it 9.5 out of 10.[52] Destructoid gave it 9 out of 10, calling it a "no brainer" for active Battlefield fans.[53] GameSpot gave it 8.5 out of 10, praising the maps, atmosphere and the new vehicles and weapons, but criticizing the online stat-tracking and the reduced emphasis on player progression.[54] Joystiq stated that it plays differently from the original game, but called it a success nevertheless, awarding it 4 out of 5 stars.[55]

Bad Company 2 became the fourth best-selling title in March 2010 with 2.3 million copies sold in Europe and North America.[71][72][73][74][75] By May 2010, it had sold more than 5 million copies,[76] which had grown to "almost 6 million" by November. As of June 30, 2011, over 9 million copies of the game have been sold across all platforms. As of March 2012, this number had increased to over 12 million.[77]