Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Hands On Preview page 2

It's also worth addressing the notion that Bad Company 2 is a "sandbox shooter". While you do get a lot more freedom to attack your objectives than you might in a game like Modern Warfare, you can still feel the hand of the developer on your back. Because you're in a squad, and the squad's actions are scripted and trigger different events, you don't have a completely free run. An example: I was sitting pretty overlooking a village below me; my objective to get a vehicle. Instead of running around and down the side of the mountain on the path (which I knew would be heavily guarded), I opted to slide down the mountainside. The incline was fine, but as soon as I'd come off the path a warning message on the screen came up telling me I had to return to the battlefield.

 

Other than that, I was impressed with the single player preview and I was told by lead producer, Patrick Bach, that a lot more effort has gone into making the single player campaign more involving and entertaining.The single player campaign will be approximately 10 hours long, and with the return of B Company it'll be an interesting ride. It's a pretty hectic environment and I'm certainly looking forward to sinking more hours into the single player campaign when it gets to us, so keep your eyes peeled for our full review which will hopefully be with you sometime next month. But now I want to talk about the new multiplayer mode, Squad Rush...

Squad Rush sees two four-man teams fighting over M-COM stations. One team is tasked with setting the M-COM stations on fire, while the other team's job is to defend the stations. In this timing is everything, and luring the enemy out to the partly open battle areas is your best plan of action. There are two stations on the tight-quarters map, and it's the only game mode that sees infantry on infantry combat only, which is great because most vehicles would struggle to move in these maps. Because the focus is on these M-COM stations, you find that you're in constant communication with your squad, some pushing the attack, while others defend the stations you've already taken, making sure it goes up in flames. These levels are extremely intense and there's a real sense of achievement when you've destroyed or successfully defended a station. This is one of four game modes, the others being Conquest, Deathmatch and the everpopular Rush mode form the first game.

But if you're still finding it a little too easy taking on the other team in multiplayer modes, then you can employ the newest difficulty setting, "hardcore", which turns off the killcam, makes one-shot-one-kill a reality and turns on friendly fire for a more intense experience. Be warned, only do this if you really are up for a challenge, because it is punishingly hard.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 looks and feels great so far. We can't wait to get our hands on the full game, but if you want to see what the developers have to say, then you can check out our interview/video right here. And if you want to know more about the game, then click here, where you can find all the news, previews and content for BFBC2. For now though, you'll just have to watch our video for the latest in-game footage.

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