Story/Single Player:
The single player campaign isn’t the best out there, but then again it’s not necessarily meant to be. The Battlefield franchise has always been about multiplayer. The story takes place with a small handful of soldiers that find out it’s up to them to pretty much save the world (sound familiar?) The voice acting is done very well I will say and there are times you will get immersed into the circumstances you find the characters in. But it’s too short and has too many gaps in the story line where you may find yourself wanting to know what else is happening.

Graphics:
The graphics in Bad Company 2 are definitely above average. The character models are impressive; the facial details really stand out and the animations of how they move are some of the best I’ve seen to date. What really impressed me; was how gorgeous the landscapes and maps are, especially the maps with dense vegetation. The way the lights shine through the foliage is simply breath taking. On that note, the way the designers laid out the plant-life gives you the feel that it was naturally random. There’s no particular pattern that I could tell and that allowed me to be immersed in it that much more.
The vehicle design I don’t have much of an opinion on. They looked great; they had good detail and an authentic animation. Then again, these days most vehicles in most games have a pretty solid detail to them so it’s hard to give the vehicle graphics a rating. The only gripe I really had about them graphics wise; was the lack of visual damage. It would have been cool to see scratches and dents from splash damage from a rocket or running through buildings or over other smaller vehicles.
Though the graphics in their entirety were pretty solid, I do have a few minor annoyances with them. One of those annoyances is the lack of facial randomization. Every medic pretty much looks the same, every assaulter looks the same, every sniper looks the same (outside of the ghillie suit of course.) and to me, it kind of takes the immersion down a notch.

Controls:
Ah yes… The controls… Now, I am not one to complain a bunch, but I have a few gripes with the controls. I will however, begin with the positives. When it comes shooting, the controls are very responsive. As a lefty, I always end up changing the control schemes to my liking in any game I’ve ever played so I cannot really say whether the original lay out was a good one or not. I will say that the “amount” of binds was just perfect. There isn’t a plethora of keys to be memorized or categorized and I believe that helps with the gameplay a tad.
The player movement on the other hand leaves much to be desired for. Sure, you have your typical first person shooter controls but there is something missing in the feel of it. It almost seems there is a super small delay between you pressing the button and your character moving. It doesn’t do this all the time, but sometimes in the midst of a heavy firefight, I’ve felt as if I should have gotten out of harm’s way faster.
The only thing that you may find confusing, is remembering the vehicle controls. Be prepared to crash the helicopter a lot at first unless you are used to the other Battlefield games. My only gripe on the vehicle controls is that I feel it could have been more intuitively designed. Other than that, the vehicle movements are fluid and maneuvering through the battlefield comes off as second nature.

Sound:
The sound in Bad Company 2 is your typical modern war game. With bullets buzzing by your head; ricocheting off of walls or the sound of a bullet hitting sand or water. It can be pretty engaging when you are perched on the top of a hill as a sniper and you hear the distinct sound of a bullet hitting the ground a mere foot away from you. There’s also a nice touch in multiplayer where if you get killed, you can hear your killer mocking you with random sayings—mostly involving profanity, which is always fun to hear in a game.
The vehicle sounds are what’s to be expected. But the game does a good job in measuring the distance between you and the vehicle you are hearing. The only thing they could have worked on, is making the actual “direction” of the vehicle more evident. There were times when I was expecting a humvee to ramp over a hill in front of me, only to have it run me over from behind.
I personally didn’t care for the music, but then again; I am a stickler for musical ambience in a game. It’s always difficult to fit an appropriate score to a war game and still retain the same immersion you want while pumping a clip of rounds into your enemy.

Game Mechanics:
I will possibly come off a little negative here. But I’d like to reiterate that I greatly enjoy this game. But there’s a compilation of things that tend to get under my skin…
Firstly, I’d like to start off with the fact that you cannot go prone in this game…WAT? How could you not have that option? 9 out of every 10 war-style shooters that have come out in the last 10 years give you that option. That really disappointed me, especially since my favorite characters to play are snipers. Another is the bullet fall, for those of you who aren’t familiar with that term. Bullet fall is a way of implementing gravity to a gunfight. After a while, a bullet is going to drop as it progresses in distance. You as a player have to compensate for this, especially as a sniper.
This is both a good and bad thing, good being that it reduces the amount of snipers in a game since it definitely makes things a little more complex when it comes to long distance killing. Bad because it seems snipers are really the only class that suffer for it.
With the beginning weapons, it can often be frustrating trying to get a kill in close quarters combat. There are times where it will look like you unloaded a clip on a baddie, only to find him turn around and kill you with a couple bullets or a swift stab to the neck.

Multiplayer:
I have a few mixed opinions on multiplayer. I will start off by saying that it’s incredibly fun. There are just a few issues when it comes to balance and team play. To start off, there are surprisingly very little people who utilize voice chat (in my experience, mind you.) This doesn’t help with tactics and team play…and on that topic…there are very little pub games here you actually sort out tactics and strategy to win the game. For the most part it seems that most players just run amuck with no sense of direction.
At the time of me writing, I’d also like to point out that the classes are unbalanced. There are many different opinions on this, but in my opinion when you have a M95 sniper rifle and you drive a bullet into someone’s chest, they aren’t going anywhere. In this game however, you have to pump a few rounds into them unless you get a headshot. On the other hand…if you play a medic and have a red dot scoped M60 you can go on a rampage killing anyone at nearly any distance, not to mention being able to run around at full speed and turn on a dime.
Another thing with the medic class…they can revive teammates. Now, I agree that this is a great thing to work to unlock. But on the other hand, it needs to be toned down. When you get shot in the face at point blank range with a combat shotgun, there’s no medical technology that is going to revive you, even if you reside on the Starship Enterprise. So in my opinion, there is no reason for a medic to be able to revive a teammate with a couple bandages and defib unit. I have personally never played a medic for this reason.
The assault class is relatively well balanced, except for the few players that drop ammo boxes in a hidden area and do nothing but noob tube the level.
Other than those little gripes, the multiplayer is very well done and you certainly get that authentic “warfare” feel but it’s not going to be as fast paced as other shooters out there, mainly due to the distance you have to run at times between checkpoints.

Bottom Line:
Bad Company 2 is a very welcome addition to the Battlefield franchise. From the lush landscapes and maps, to the multiplayer mayhem. If you can get over a few of the quarks that it has, you will find yourself engaged in a great shooter experience.