''Battlefield: Bad Company 2'' is a 2010 first-person shooter game developed by

DICE A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

and

Kindle Fire The Amazon Fire, formerly called the Kindle Fire, is a line of tablet computers developed by Amazon. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was first released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS tech ...

systems. It is a direct

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to '' Battlefield: Bad Company'' and is part of the ''

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troop ...

'' game series. It was released worldwide in March 2010. The iOS port was released on the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

on December 16, 2010. The Android and Kindle Fire versions were released in June 2012. The game is primarily a

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

-level first-person shooter based in a contemporary

modern warfare Modern warfare is warfare that diverges notably from previous military concepts, methods, and technology, emphasizing how combatants must modernize to preserve their battle worthiness. As such, it is an evolving subject, seen differently in dif ...

setting. Additionally, the game includes a

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

campaign, where the player re-assumes the role of Preston Marlowe, the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of the original game, and his squad as they attempt to stop a Russian super-weapon. The game's Frostbite 1.5 engine allows for destructible environments.

Multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

maps, which allow for five different game modes, contain a wide selection of vehicles, aircraft and emplacements. The game was met with positive reception from critics, garnering a

mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

of 88 from aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, and 87 for the PC version. It became a commercial success, selling more than twelve million units since its initial release. Seven VIP map packs, as well as a

downloadable In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...

game mode, were added after launch; an expansion pack, '' Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam'' (centered on the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

), released on December 21, 2010. A standalone sequel, ''

Battlefield 3 ''Battlefield 3'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sixth main installment in the '' Battlefield'' series and a follow-up to '' Battlefield 2'' (2005). The game was released on Micr ...

'', was released in October 2011.

Gameplay

While ''Bad Company 2'' is primarily a first-person shooter, it follows other games in the series by allowing the player to control certain vehicles, including

ATVs ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television broadcaster * Andorra Televisió * Anguilla Television * Ayna TV, Afghanistan * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbo ...

, APCs, tanks, and helicopters. On foot, players are given access to a variety of real-world small arms such as

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

s and machine guns. Players can also jump, crouch, and sprint. They can carry one primary weapon and a

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

in multiplayer, or two primary weapons in single-player, as well as

grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

s and other equipment. Players can fire "from the hip", but zooming in and using

iron sight Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons such as firearms, airguns, crossbows, and bows, or less commonly as a primitive finder sight for optical telescope ...

s, reflex sights, or

telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate p ...

s (depending on the weapon) will provide much better accuracy when shooting. ''Bad Company 2'' heavily emphasizes destructible environments. Large sections of most buildings can be destroyed by explosives, and some walls and fences break down under barrages of bullets, with the game's

physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, typically classical dynamics, including rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics. I ...

realistically simulating the destruction. The game utilizes a " regenerating health" system, rather than giving players

health points Health is a video game or tabletop game quality that determines the maximum amount of damage or fatigue something takes before leaving the main game. In role-playing games, this typically takes the form of hit points (HP), a numerical attribute ...

as older games in the ''Battlefield'' series have done. To accommodate this in multiplayer, the "Medic" equipment now accelerates health regeneration rather than directly restoring the player's health. If the player is wounded, they must take cover and avoid damage in order to regain health. A heavily wounded player will see dirt and blood around the edges of the screen, as an illustration of injury.

Single-player

''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

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s which simulate the style of

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

s. 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 Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

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.

Multiplayer

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

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

s. Each class gains experience and levels up separately. New items are unlocked by earning

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

s, 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 The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS ...

, a

quad bike An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike or quad (if it has four wheels), as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, has a seat ...

, a four-man

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

, a personal

watercraft A watercraft or waterborne vessel is any vehicle designed for travel across or through water bodies, such as a boat, ship, hovercraft, submersible or submarine. Types Historically, watercraft have been divided into two main categories. *Raf ...

, a

ZU-23-2 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Develo ...

mounted on a

BMD-3 The BMD-3 (''Boyevaya Mashina Desanta '', ) is a light infantry fighting vehicle originating in the Soviet Union that is fully amphibious and air-droppable with crew inside. It is intended to be used by airborne and air assault units. It is no ...

armoured personnel carrier, and a

Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Armed Forces. The Fire Scout is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support ...

, controlled via remote computer terminals. The available maps are set in various environments such as

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, near the borders of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, similar to those seen in the single-player. A

dog tag Dog tag is an informal but common term for a specific type of identification tag worn by military personnel. The tags' primary use is for the identification of casualties; they have information about the individual written on them, including ...

system, as seen in ''

Battlefield 2142 ''Battlefield 2142'' is a 2006 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the fourth game in the ''Battlefield'' series. ''Battlefield 2142'' is set in 2142, depicting a war known as "The Cold War of t ...

'' and ''Battlefield: Bad Company'', is also used, awarding players with their opponents' dog tags when they defeat them with a knife attack. Players can use party chat for each game mode. The game uses the

PunkBuster PunkBuster is a computer program that is designed to detect software used for cheating in online games. It does this by scanning the memory contents of the local machine. A computer identified as using cheats may be banned from connecting to pro ...

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 The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...

. 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. Rush: Players must defend or destroy pairs of M-COM stations until either the attackers run out of

respawn Spawning in video games refers to the process by which entities, such as player characters, non-player characters, enemies or items, are generated and placed into the game world. Closely related concepts include respawning, which involves reint ...

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.

Synopsis

Setting

''Bad Company 2'' is set in the near future during the fictional Second Russo-American War between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, the latter supporting the fictional Latin American Militia, a rebel group operating in

Plot

The game begins in October 1944, as a group of U.S.

commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

s infiltrate an Imperial Japanese Naval Landing Forces-controlled island in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

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 A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

, sparking a myth within the U.S. Army. In the present, Russia has invaded

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

while supporting

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

'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 top-secret device, a scalar weapon. 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 The Special Activities Center (SAC) is the center of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to a 2015 reorganization. Within SAC there are at le ...

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 Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

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 A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...

that can be controlled from a base in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. Sweetwater lands the satellite, and the squad successfully thwarts 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 team encountered in Russia. Kirilenko is hoping to use scalar weaponry to disable America's

power grid ''Power Grid'' is the English-language version of the second edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'', designed by Friedemann Friese and first released in 2004. ''Power Grid'' was released by Rio Grande Games. I ...

and pave the way for a Russian

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

. He is believed to be hiding in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. The squad heads there, aided by U.S. forces, and finds Kirilenko, who escapes again. Left with only Kirilenko's papers, Sweetwater discovers 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 U.S. military knew it was a suicide mission, and the operation was planned to learn more about the weapon's capabilities. While attempting to meet Aguire in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, the squad's helicopter is shot down, and they are separated. Along with their helicopter pilot, Flynn (

Eric Loren Eric Loren is an American film and television actor, and author. He has appeared on many TV shows and films. His most notable film roles are as Deputy Ryan in The Fourth Kind, as well as appearing in small roles in Red Lights and Green Zone. H ...

), they regroup and escape the local militia. Redford gives Aguire the compound before discovering 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, taking the scalar weapon with 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 Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. Here, after battling squads of South American and Russian troops, they find a large

An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (; ; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (USSR). The An-124 is the ...

cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft generally feature one or more large door ...

that is believed to house the scalar weapon. This is confirmed as a powerful

electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also referred to as a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. The origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic field, as an ...

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 In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in case o ...

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 In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a physical object, body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word ...

, Marlowe kills Kirilenko and is then saved by Sweetwater, who hands Marlowe the parachute that Kirilenko stole. The squad lands in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, Haggard's home state. Shortly after, General Braidwood arrives to inform them that they are to aid the U.S. Army against an incoming Russian invasion that is coming through

, much to the squad's disappointment.

Development

The game was first announced in February 2009. On October 19, game developer DICE posted a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

announcement stating the game will have

dedicated server A dedicated hosting service, dedicated server, or managed hosting service is a type of Internet hosting in which the client leases an entire server not shared with anyone else. This is more flexible than shared hosting, as organizations have ...

support. This was in response to

Infinity Ward Infinity Ward, Inc. is an American video game developer. They developed the video game '' Call of Duty'', along with seven other installments in the ''Call of Duty'' series. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West established Infinity W ...

's announcement on October 17 that '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'' would not support dedicated servers. A PS3 version of the

beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; or ) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive . In Modern Greek, it represe ...

began development on November 19, while the PC version was pushed back until February 2010 because of difficulties with PC varieties. The online multiplayer demo for the Xbox 360 and the

closed beta The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...

for the PC were released on January 28, 2010, and

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

s ran until February 25. The demo was released on the PS3 on February 4, 2010, in Europe and North America and February 11, 2010, in Asia. The PS3 beta featured the map "Arica Harbor", while the PC beta, Xbox 360 demo, and PS3 demo featured the map "Port Valdez". During an interview with GameZone's Dakota Grabowski in March 2010, Senior Producer Patrick Bach revealed that following the negative feedback from PC gamers after the first ''Battlefield: Bad Company'' was not released on the PC, Electronic Arts and DICE had a separate dedicated team working on the PC version of ''Bad Company 2''. Bach stated "We see it as very, very hardcore and important part of our customers. So we put a lot of effort into making sure that everything worked perfect." Bach also commented on the use of peripherals such as a mouse and keyboard on consoles, saying "I don't think that we have any special connections to peripherals to the consoles ..The biggest problem with peripherals for consoles is that the console itself is a level playground. It's even and you know the consumer has the same technology and have the same peripherals and same controls – which makes it easier for us to create a game that feels fair. By catering to a mouse and keyboard for the consoles, it would maybe skew the even playground." The PC version of the game was co-developed with fellow Swedish developer Coldwood Interactive. On March 21, 2023, it was announced that the game would be delisted from digital storefronts on April 28, along with its predecessor and ''

Battlefield 1943 ''Battlefield 1943'' is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 through digital distribution. It takes place in the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II. A Mic ...

''. The servers were shut down on the 8th of December 2023

Audio

The game uses

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...

and Frostbite's High Definition Audio Range technology. The score was composed by Mikael Karlsson and is featured on the ''Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Official Soundtrack'', which was released on February 2, 2010.

Marketing and release

Editions

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. 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 The Colt M1911 (also known as 1911, Colt 1911, Colt .45, or Colt Government in the case of Colt-produced models) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered primarily for the .45 ACP cartridge. History Early histo ...

, as well as four vehicle perks. 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 GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). The brand is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operated 3,203 stor ...

, for example, came with an additional code, unlocking the

AKS-74U The AK-74 (Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974') is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974 as a successor to the AKM. While primarily a ...

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and ligh ...

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'', ''

'', "Onslaught" mode, and immediate access to four vehicle upgrades and two weapon unlocks from purchase, a bonus originally included only in the Limited Edition.

VIP

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

Veterans

As part of the "Battlefield Veterans" program, players gain access to the

M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the United States Army, U.S. ...

rifle if they have registered two or more ''Battlefield'' games with EA, or if they have joined the "EA Gun Club".

Discontinuation

On March 21, 2023, it was announced that the game will be removed from digital storefronts along with its predecessor and ''

'', though its single-player campaign will remain playable. Despite this, the games' modding community will provide further support for online play for existing owners of the game through the use of "Project Rome", only for the

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

version.

Downloadable content

Several map packs have been released for the game. "Map Pack 1" was released on March 2, 2010, as "Day One Map Pack". It added two new maps:

Nelson Bay Nelson Bay may refer to: *Nelson Bay, New South Wales Nelson Bay is a significant township of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on a bay of the same name on the southern ...

for Rush mode and Laguna Alta for Conquest. "Map Pack 2" was released on March 30, and added two new maps: Laguna Presa for Rush and Arica Harbour for Conquest. "Map Pack 3" was released on June 9 for consoles, and June 30 for PC. The Laguna Alta map was made available for Squad Rush, and the Nelson Bay map was made available for Squad Deathmatch. "Map Pack 4" was released on July 7. The

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...

map was made available for Rush and the Port Valdez map for Conquest. "Map Pack 5" was released on July 28. The White Pass map was made available for Rush and the Nelson Bay map for Conquest. "Map Pack 6" was released on August 18. The

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

map was made available for Squad Deathmatch and the Laguna Presa map for Squad Rush. "Map Pack 7" was released on December 1, and includes two maps ported from the first ''Bad Company'' game; "Oasis" and "Harvest Day", both of which are playable in all game modes. As well as these, two maps from the single-player campaign were ported to multiplayer; "Cold War" was made available for Rush, Squad Rush and Squad Deathmatch while "Heavy Metal" was made available for Conquest and Squad Deathmatch. Kit upgrades were released on April 21, 2010, for the Xbox 360, May 12 for the PlayStation 3 and December 1 for PC. Residents of the United States can retrieve unlock codes for the upgrades on the Xbox 360 by purchasing specially marked

Dr Pepper Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. Dr Pepper was created in the 1880s by the American pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper in t ...

bottles. The kit upgrades include two additional pins and one additional award for each class, as well as unique camouflage upgrades. Kit shortcuts were released on June 16 for consoles. The shortcuts are available for purchase for each separate class, or in a bundle pack for all four classes. Upon installation, the shortcuts will unlock all primary weapons, gadgets and specialisations for their respective class. A new mode, "Onslaught", was released on June 22 and 24 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 respectively. In Onslaught, up to four players co-operatively face endless waves of computer controlled enemies. ''Bad Company 2'' senior producer Patrick Bach said that DICE would "consistently support the fans playing ''Bad Company 2'' with new ways to get into multiplayer." He also said that the mode would "challenge the elite players with new experiences to improve their performance online."

''Vietnam''

''Bad Company 2: Vietnam'' is an

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

for ''Bad Company 2'' which takes place during the

. 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. While it was unlocked for PC on December 30, 2010, the map was released early on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as a "new year's gift" from DICE. 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 The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

achievements/

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

trophies are also available to unlock. ''Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam'' received generally positive reviews, with scores from Metacritic of 88 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, and 86 for the PC version, and scores from GameRankings of 88.80% for the PlayStation 3 version, 88.00% for the Xbox 360 version, and 84.27% for the PC version. 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.

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...

gave it 9 out of 10, calling it a "no brainer" for active ''Battlefield'' fans.

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

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.

Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog which was part of the Weblogs, Inc. family later owned by AOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongside ''Engadget'' and sister blogs such ...

stated that it plays differently from the original game, but called it a success nevertheless, awarding it 4 out of 5 stars.

Reception

''Battlefield: Bad Company 2'' received mostly positive reviews from game critics. Aggregating review website

have the PlayStation 3 version at 88/100, the Xbox 360 version at 88/100, and the PC version at 87/100. The iOS version received generally poorer reviews and holds a score of 64/100. ''GameZone'' Steven Hopper gave the game 9.25/10, saying, "Even though the single-player campaign still isn't where it needs to be, ''Bad Company 2'' is definitely a great sequel that builds on its predecessor in every way, making for one that no shooter fan will want to miss, especially if you go online for your gaming." ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' gave the game 9.5 out of 10, praising the improvements made over the first ''Bad Company''. ''

GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...

'' gave the game 9.1 out of 10, praising its use of an intertwining multiplayer in which "Purists will appreciate that you must earn every kill." Level design was also commended; "''Bad Company 2'' features sprawling, densely populated environments with an excellent level of detail." However, they referred to the single-player mode as "predictable." ''

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

'' reviewer Anthony Gallegos gave the game 4.5 stars out of 5, describing the single-player campaign as "a blast" and concluding that "the staying power for BFBC2 lies in its multiplayer." Dan Whitehead from ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...

'' reviewed the game and gave it a score of 9/10, describing it as an "open challenge" to

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

's market leader, ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'', and calling ''Bad Company 2'' a "way superior game" when compared to ''Modern Warfare 2''. Whitehead also commented that it had "immediately evident" improvements over the previous game in the series, and concluded that ''Bad Company 2'' is "the online shooter at its most streamlined, most thoughtful, most exhilarating." ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' gave the game 8.9 out of 10, praising the visuals as being "near-photo realistic" and calling it "one of the best looking games around." During the

14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 14th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2010. The awards were arranged by the Academy of I ...

, the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

nominated ''Bad Company 2'' for " Action Game of the Year", " Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay", and " Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design".

Sales

''Bad Company 2'' became the fourth best-selling title in March 2010 with 2.3 million copies sold in Europe and North America. By May 2010, it had sold more than 5 million copies, 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.

Notes

References

External links