Battlefield Report: October 22, 2009
Editorial
Company, always on the run
Destiny, and the rising sun
I was born...six gun in my hand
Behind the gun, I make my final stand
That's why they call me:
Bad company,
I can't deny
Bad company
'Til the day I die
-- "Bad Company", by Bad Company, 1974
Can you guess which game I'm covering? Okay, here's a hint...
Sorry, rookie. No co-op possibilities here. Ignore the AI characters.
Just in case you happen to be completely dense: this month we're going back to the Battlefield series, this time with a different take. As you probably already know, Battlefield: Bad Company was the last full-retail title to hit consoles. Although it chronicled a quartet of characters, only one was playable; this, of course, eliminated campaign co-op. It's always sad to see a fun game skip co-op, and even more so when said fun game features friendly AI characters that could easily become the template for a co-op buddy.
So now that we've established that Bad Company missed an important element (and we're sad about it), let's move on to what it got right: good ol' gameplay. The game is easy to get into, and a stunning experience. One of the facets of Bad Company's team-based multiplayer that I don't care for, though, is the audio: it sounds to me like the foley team went nuts with a super-sensitive microphone, and the sound director accepted a wad of mooch cash in return for cranking the foley volume way up in the final mix. Confused? Me, too. In short: it's too sharp. The clicks and slides of reloading...idling engines that overbear the 120mm-freakin'-cannon on the tanks...the radio squeal every time you get too close to a mortar blast.
"Hey, man, turn the radio up! I love that tune!"
At any rate, there's always the option to plug in a flash drive with some jams, and I tend to do just that when playing Battlefield: Bad Company. On the Xbox 360, the game itself doesn't support custom soundtracks, but it's easy enough to turn the effects down and let them blend into the music. "Bad Company", Led Zeppelin's "Moby Dick", and even "Commotion" by Creedence Clearwater Revival give a nice rhythm to the game that I can get behind. Oh, no disrespect mean to DICE, as I believe they've crafted a fine piece o' entertainment software...I just perform better and enjoy myself more when my ears don't constantly ring.
If I were a game designer or programmer, I'd have jams playing nigh constantly. I'm sure quite a few DICE employees draw inspiration from their favorite songs when designing games for the Battlefield series, and it's not hard to imagine the song that share its title with the series -- "Bad Company" -- being a pillar in the creative process. Why they chose to go with that original, annoying jangle at the multiplayer menu boggles me.
Boooooom!! *squeeeeee*
For lack of more interesting banter, I'd like the Co-Optimus community to round out this month's Battlefield Report by posting your favorite songs to listen to when playing competitive games.
What gives you the groove?
Total Comments: 3
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Not to pick a fight with Co-Optimus's most heavily armed contributor, but I thought the music was one of the best parts of the game. I can't explain it, but when I'm making a stealthy, snipey assault on an enemy fortification while the radio in my open-framed dune buggy (with guns!) plays jangling surf guitar, I can't help but grin. It fits perfectly with the absurdist tone of the game.
For that matter, the most glaring flaw-- the lack of campaign co-op-- fits with the tone of the game, or something like that. It would have lost something to have every character playable. Haggard's personality ("Is that a silencer?! ...those are for girls!") demands that he carry a shotgun and a rocket launcher. Maybe if they'd made Redford playable while leaving the demolitionist and the support gunner to the AI, a la Gears of War.
Fun game, overall. I didn't care much for the one-size-fits-all multiplayer, but the writing and voice work in the campaign were spectacular. My inner pacifist likes the refreshing lack of jingoism, while my inner gun nut could watch Preston reload his Barrett M95 all day.