"Battlefield: Bad Company," ("BC") available as part of the Platinum Hits line for Xbox 360 (also available through the Xbox Live Marketplace as a demo version, which is recommended for people interested in playing either "Bad Company" game to make sure that the controls and pacing are sufficiently accessible), is a farcical, comical jaunt through a war zone, not unlike "Three Kings" or "Kelly’s Heroes." It’s satirical, it makes fun of itself and, through and through, it’s an enjoyable game which is perfect for people who love nothing more than going through an environment to see what they can shoot, smash, blow up, run over or otherwise destroy. The characters verge on being anti-heroes, acting out of semi-enlightened self-interest and the desire to find more gold bars, and occasionally, often almost inadvertently, help to fight a war that they would just as soon sneak out of. It’s also a lot of fun.

"Battlefield: Bad Company 2" ("BC2") catches up with the soldiers from "BC" after a seemingly short amount of time has passed – Sarge still wants to retire, Haggard still likes blowing things up, Sweetwater still knows stuff which he shares (whether anyone wanted him to), and Marlowe ... well, Marlowe is still a semi-detached, dispassionate observer who’s just trying to live to see another day. Unfortunately for Bad Company, a ground war against Russian forces which provided the setting for the first game is still going on and now there’s a leftover weapon of mass destruction from World War II which has resurfaced and threatens civilization as we know it. Of course, Bad Company is the only group of soldiers capable of taking on a mission like this due to the unorthodox solutions they demonstrated in "BC" ... even if players are left wondering what happened between the two games (and divulging any more information would likely constitute a spoiler).

In many ways, it’s almost impossible to review "BC2" without at least referring to and in many cases comparing it to its predecessor, as well as its current competition, "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" ("MW2"), if only because it differs significantly from the first game in the series, and both seems similar to and actually refers to its competition in game.

Foremost, "BC2" is absolutely worth playing – the first-person campaign is longer than the campaign in "BC" or in "MW2," the game play is more intense than it was in "BC," and "BC2" requires a wider variety of tactics and tasks than comparable games do – in one segment, the player has to run from shelter to shelter during a blizzard to avoid dying from hypothermia. It’s a nerve-wracking experience to find and open a door while the screen turns to white, knowing that it’s a matter of life and death just to find a fire. You’ll drive tanks, jeeps and ATVs. You’ll have to engage in stealth kills, snipe two enemies with one bullet, shoot moving targets from moving vehicles and so on. Furthermore, it’s usually very forgiving and seems to save after a major battle, and the checkpoints are fairly close to each other, meaning that even failed mission attempts are relatively easy to restart.

However, some elements of "BC2" are substantially different. "BC" was a largely open-world first-person shooter, offering extensive areas to explore and a wide variety of tactical options which could result in successful missions. Players could choose how they engaged the enemy, where they attacked from, whether they used a vehicle and many other options. "BC2" is a much more linear and directed game; instead of the vast open-world exploration of the last game (which, combined with vehicles, an almost completely destructible environment, and achievements for destroying things, was incredibly fun, especially considering the overall excellence in graphics), "BC2" still has a similar level of destructible environments, but frequently uses paths and bridges and riverbeds and other geographic features to funnel players toward their objective. Players may have to drive or fly or sprint from house to house, but that motion is always toward the end of the game.

Another difference between "BC" and "BC2" is that "BC" encouraged and rewarded exploration through gold bars and collectible weapons, both of which were often found in remote locations that were not part of any mission path. While "BC2" still features collectible weapons and satellite uplinks, called M-COMs (comparable to the gold bars), they are usually located very close to mission objectives (which, given the change from a more open-world setting to a more linear path, was necessary).

However, perhaps the most obvious difference in the single-player campaign is that "BC" was a comical game (if you appreciate dark comedies about conflict, like "Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb"); "BC2," while still possessing comic elements, is a much more serious game overall. Humor is in the eye of the beholder, but the light-hearted approach to a serious subject in "BC" captured the surreal paradox of war described in novels like "Catch-22." While the characters are better defined and display more emotional depth through the single-player campaign, the humor is greatly reduced in "BC2."

Furthermore, it’s very difficult to play "BC2" without feeling a sense of déjà vu if you have already played "MW2" – the two games feature a number of similar settings and tasks, including escaping enemies using stolen vehicles in a snowy, mountainous setting, fighting enemies in a South American favela, acting as a Humvee turret gunner ... the list goes on. There are also references to "MW2" scattered throughout the game, mostly in the form of snarky dialogue making fun of the competition.

Where "BC2," like its predecessor and like "MW2," really shines is in its online multiplayer modes. Instead of the custom classes in "MW2," "BC2" begins with four base classes – Assault, Engineer, Medic and Recon – which players can customize with unlockable equipment and weapons as they gain experience through online play. Some of the classes are a bit puzzling, most notably Engineer (which requires unlocking a repair tool) and Medic (which requires unlocking health packs) because they don’t start a player with what seems like basic equipment for the class, but even without those basic tools, these classes can help win games by equipping tracer dart guns to mark targets, providing suppressing fire with light machine guns (medics) and destroying enemy vehicles with rockets (engineers).

Online multiplayer in "BC2" seems much slower and more strategic than "MW2," which is frequently a frantic and hectic experience. Since the maps seem larger, often requiring vehicles to reach the most distant points, and the teams include more people (and divide them into squads for easier cooperation), "BC2" seems to lend itself to multiple styles of play in the same game and on the same team.

Players who are more comfortable with sniping can find nests to secure positions. Players who enjoy running and gunning can assault bases or capture points. Players who prefer to perform support tasks can repair or destroy enemy vehicles, or make sure that players holding a position are sufficiently supplied with health packs to hold off enemy advances. The vehicles in online multiplayer add another dimension. While it’s possible – and in some matches, even easy – for a single player to hold a point against multiple attackers, it is also possible for a single player to obtain an APC or tank and take a point from multiple defenders.

Respawning after death provides a number of advantages, including the ability to respawn at any point held by your team or on team members, making spawn killing much more difficult and instantly reinforcing bases or allies. Even more significant is the ability to select a different class at each respawn to instantly adjust a team’s balance and address any issues, like shooting down a helicopter or destroying an enemy tank.

And regardless of skill levels and rank, players can always assist their team – a starting piece of equipment is a tracer dart which allows players to mark targets and provides experience both for marking targets and assisting in a kill if the target is destroyed. Medics can drop health kits to heal teammates, Engineers can repair vehicles, Assault classes can drop ammunition boxes to refill weapons and Recon classes can call in mortar strikes. Naturally, some of these abilities require more experience, but the game provides ways for players of any level to assist their team.

As a final note, what feels most odd about both "MW2" and "BC2" is the reliance upon Russian Ground Forces as an enemy in a contemporary setting, especially in light of global political changes over the past couple of decades. While occasional conflicts and disagreements still exist at a diplomatic level, relations between the United States and Russia have improved to a point where it seems unthinkable that armed conflict between the two countries would occur. Furthermore, it’s not as though there is any shortage of hostile organizations trying to engage in similar activities, whether it’s expansive, organized cartels involved in drug trafficking, terrorist groups trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction, or another shadowy organization intent on gaining and holding power through terror.

Overall, a rewarding single player action and online multiplayer make "Bad Company 2" fun, but not accessible. While "BC2" offers some compelling accessibility accommodations, it is still a very problematic game for people with accessibility concerns.

Read our Accessibility Review for more information.