Developer : Dice
Release date : June 26, 2008
Synopsis :
Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter developed by DICE for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and part of the Battlefield series. It was released in North America on 23 June 2008, followed by a European release on 26 June. The game was hinted at just before the release of Battlefield 2, and announced sixteen months later. A direct sequel, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows on 2 March 2010. The player controls protagonist Private Preston Marlowe and his exploits to steal gold from mercenaries along with his squad, in the midst of a war between the United States and Russia.
Bad Company is unique in the series in that it was developed for consoles and features a full single player campaign with characters, as opposed to previous titles which were mostly released for Windows and featured warfare focused on multiplayer with large numbers of players. The game also emphasises squad-based combat, while retaining the vehicular and large scale warfare of the series in multiplayer. The game applies some new features to the franchise, including a highly destructible environment such as blowing walls through houses. DICE debuted its studio developed Frostbite engine with the game which allows for the high destructibility, and the engine has since been updated to run later titles.
Bad Company received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the story’s humor and technical aspects such as sound, atmosphere and the game engine.
The game is set in the near future and focuses on the fictional First Russo-American War between the United States and Russian Federation, mainly in the fictional country of Serdaristan. It follows a four-man fireteam from “B” Company of the 222nd Army battalion, commonly called “Bad Company”, composed of troublemakers whose use in the battlefield is limited to the role of cannon fodder. Private Preston Marlowe (David Menkin) is the game’s protagonist, newly transferred to the company. The more intelligent but nervous Private Terrence Sweetwater (Richard Lynson) serves as a foil to Private George Gordon Haggard Jr. (Nigel Whitmey), a pyromaniac and the comic relief of the story. Sergeant Samuel D. Redford (Bruce Johnson) is the leader of the team. He is the first ever to volunteer for his position, in exchange for shortening his term of service and has only three days left to serve. The campaign takes place in the fictional Caucasian country of Serdaristan, and a fictional Middle Eastern city called Sadiz near the Caspian Sea.
Preston Marlowe is a U.S. soldier transferred to Bad Company and embarks on his first mission with his new squad. After a rather informal introduction to fellow squadmates, Redford, Sweetwater and Haggard, they begin by seizing Russian artillery positions and turning the guns on advancing enemy armor. Proceeding to knock out several anti-air batteries, clearing the way for advancing armor and taking control of the city of Zabograd, the group stumble upon a Legionnaire encampment: mercenaries whose leader is The Legionnaire (Nathan Osgood), a ruthless commander. The Legionnaires are possibly the deadliest army in the world, according to Sweetwater, who also mentions how each is paid in solid gold bars. Transported to a dock farther away from the U.S. Army, they spot more Legionnaires loading a supply truck with gold. The truck ends up driving past the border into nearby Serdaristan, a neutral state in the conflict. Despite Redford ordering the squad to withdraw from the area, Haggard, excited over the prospect of getting gold, runs after the trucks, single-handedly invading a neutral country.
The squad pursues Haggard to stop him from causing further damage. When they find him, mission coordinator Mike-One-Juliet (Jennifer Woodward) calls Redford, stating that he would be subject to a court martial for Haggard’s offense, as well as raising his service time. Since they have no other choice but to run, Redford flippantly suggests that they pursue the gold even further to a harbor and a ship that is loaded with gold. The group fight their way there only to get caught by U.S. forces. The Army agrees that the squad will have their charges dropped if they investigate Serdaristan, since they are officially AWOL, removing U.S. liability. The squad’s orders are to capture the eccentric dictator of Serdaristan, Zavomir Serdar (Stefan Ashton Frank). Soon Serdaristan is considered at war after shooting down the squad’s UH-60 Black Hawk transport helicopter, and the group advance to the dictator’s palace by way of his personal golf course, where he tells them that the Legionnaires had invaded in order to pay for his bill. As they attempt to escape, they are informed that the U.S. Army is severing all ties with them and they must find their own way out. The squad escapes with Serdar on his golden Mil Mi-24 helicopter, pursued by the Legionnaires.
Serdar reluctantly directs them to Serdaristan’s military nexus, where the helicopter is used to destroy an oil refinery and the country’s internet service station. After a long flight, the helicopter is shot down by a black Ka-52 helicopter in Russia. Preston wakes up alone and, with help from Mike-One-Juliet, is reunited with his squad at a monastery. Serdar, however, was captured and the squad saves him from execution by the Legionnaires. Escaping in a boat, they leave Serdar on a small, isolated island as the exile he was seeking and arrive in Sadiz, a city under construction somewhere on the Caspian Sea. On the beach, the squad spots the ship they saw earlier in Serdaristan. Advancing past resistance, they learn that the U.S. Army is also mounting an offensive there and fear competition for the gold. They then make a deal to share some of the gold with Mike-One-Juliet in exchange for mission support.
After slowing down the U.S. Army’s offensive by blowing up two bridges, the squad reaches a gold-filled garage but is attacked by the Legionnaire leader in his personal Ka-52, the same helicopter from before. Preston manages to shoot down The Legionnaire and the squad returns to the gold, only to find the U.S. Army loading it into supply trucks. Presuming defeat, they are spotted by the commanding officer. Preston convinces him that they are Army operatives, and the officer orders them to take a truck of the gold and join the convoy. The squad happily obliges, but sneak out of the convoy with their truck. Meanwhile, at the Ka-52 crash site, The Legionnaire rises from the burning wreckage, seemingly unhurt, with a vengeful expression.
Source : Wikipedia
