Battlefield: Bad Company 2/Gameplay

Battlefield first got its start when Refraction Games, maker of Codename Eagle (November 1999), merged with EA Digital Illustrations CE (also known as DICE) to produce Battlefield 1942, which release in September of 2002. In Battlefield 1942, players had the choice of five classes (Scout, Assault, Anti-Tank, Medic, and Engineer) and had the ability to command various instruments of war, like aircraft, ships, submarines, tanks, jeeps, and mounted guns. Each new Battlefield release brought something new to the table, but still kept the basics from the original Battlefield.

Eight years from the release of Battlefield came Battlefield: Bad Company 2; EA's sixteenth installment to the series for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows. Players were able to choose between four classes (Assault, Engineer, Medic, and Recon) and are able to jump, crouch, and sprint, carry two primary weapons (only in single player; multiplayer has one primary weapon and a pistol), grenades and other equipment, as well as controlling tanks, helicopters, watercraft, and mounted guns. A regeneration system is used to restore health opposed to giving the player a set amount of health points. When hit, a player will notice blood and dirt surrounding their screen (Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield Vietnam are the only two installments thus far to show blood); the darker the blood and dirt get, the more heavily wounded the player is and must take cover to avoid getting shot while their health regenerates.

The game also features the Frostbite gaming engine that was present in Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company. This engine, created also by DICE, boasted the ability to create, break, and destroy environments; gunshots can shatter fences and explosives can crumble buildings.

Gameplay
There are two game modes: singleplayer and multiplayer. Singleplayer features a storyline with three levels of difficulty:


 * Easy - "Recommended for new shooter players or content tourists."
 * Normal - "The recommended setting. Challenging enemies that will test your abilities."
 * Hard - "The recommended setting. Challenging enemies that will test your abilities."

Singleplayer features the story of a squad in Bad Company, the 222ed Army battalion consisting of a group of rejects, is where soldiers are generally placed out of punishment. You, as the player, are Preston Marlowe: Bad Company's newest recruit. Your squadmates consist of Sergeant Samuel D. Redford, Private George Gordon Haggard, Jr., and Private Terrence Sweetwater.

Interface
The game's interface is similar in both multiplayer and in singleplayer. The HUD, or heads up display, is simple with few things to consider, but each aspect is critical in your survival.

Reticle
Better known as your weapon's crosshairs. Located in the middle of the screen, these little lines provide you with the aiming point for your weapon. Some weapons, however, like the sniper rifle, do not have reticles and players must look through their weapon's scope in order to gain accuracy. Reticles can differ depending on the weapon.

Minimap
Located in the bottom left portion of your screen, this map provides you with a top-down view of the surrounding area. As you change direction and move about the battlefield, the minimap will change to accommodate your location. In addition to showing terrain and your location, the minimap will show your squadmates, objectives, enemies, vehicles (enemy or friendly), mounted guns (enemy or friendly), weapons, resupply crates, and ammo drops. The darker areas of a minimap indicate the out of bounds area. If you step into it, you have ten seconds to return to the field. If you don't make it in time, you'll be instantly killed by enemy artillery.

Below are a list of icons that appear on the minimap. Friendlies will always display as blue, while enemies will always appear as red. In multiplayer, squadmates will appear as green.

Objective Marker
The objective marker, seen as a red diamond, assists in pointing you in the direction to keep the story moving. As you turn and move about the battlefield, the marker will move as well. The objective marker can also be seen on the minimap (again, as a red diamond). If the objective marker is not visible, two red arrows will point you in the proper direction.

Ammo Count
Located in the bottom right corner, there is a series of three numbers all corresponding to the amount of ammo you have at any given time. The number in larger font to the left represents how much ammo you have in your magazine; in simpler terms, it's how many bullets (or grenades if you're using a grenade launcher) you have left before you reload.

The number to the right of the / represents how much ammo you have on reserve; in simpler terms, it's how many bullets (or grenades if you're using a grenade launcher) you have left before you're completely out. As you reload, you'll notice that the ammo reserve number will go down, but the magazine ammo number will increase. The number on top of the magazine count represents the number of grenades you have left to throw.

When your ammo count gets low, the game will remind you to reload your weapon. Reloading your weapon will bring ammunition from your reserve directly to your weapon; ammunition in your current clip is not lost, so reload as often as you'd like to.

Contextual Actions
From time to time, you'll have the opportunity to interact with your environment. These instructions will pop up on the screen when you're close enough to interact with the item, and will be located just under where the reticle is displayed along with an icon of the item you're choosing to interact with.

If you've the option to "enter" a vehicle or stationary weapon, and have done so, more instructions will generally appear to the lower right half of your screen in a shaded gray box. Entering a vehicle like a tank, quad bike, or humvee are contextual actions, as is picking up fallen players' kits in multiplayer and collectable weapons in single player.

Health
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, there isn't a health meter on your screen. Instead, when you're shot (a red crescent-shape will appear on the outside of your reticle indicating the direction at which you were hit from, blood and dirt will appear around the perimeter of the HUD and your vision will become blurry. The darker the coloring of the blood, the more wounded you are.  When this happens, it's best to seek cover and wait a few moments until you can clearly see your surroundings with no blood around the perimeter of your screen.  It takes longer for a player to heal when in multiplayer, which makes a Medic's medkit very useful when wounded, so it's best to find one quickly to speed up the healing process.

Combat
Moving around the battlefield is only part of your mission because it's sole purpose is to help place you in the perfect position to eliminate your enemy and still provide cover for yourself. Controlling weapons is simple

Weapons
The reticle, located in the middle of your screen, or HUD, is the aiming point for almost every weapon. For most weapons, it's as simple as lining up your reticle and firing. Semi-automatic guns, pistols, and sniper rifles don't have a reticle; they require you to use a scope or a sight. Automatic weapons, like submachine guns, assault rifles, and light machine guns will fire continuously until their magazine is empty. Semi-automatic and single-shot weapons will only fire once each time the fire button is pressed, no matter how long the button is held down.

Sights and Scopes
When simply using the reticle to aim, you're firing from your hip. While inaccurate, it's useful at close range. To increase accuracy, zooming in is essential using the zoom button. This will bring up the weapons sight or scope (either or depending on the weapon). These sights and scopes will not only let you see the enemy closer, it'll greatly increase accuracy. For even more precise shots, a player should crouch and remain stationary.

Grenades and Grenade Launchers
Grenades require a little bit more skill (and maybe some luck) to use. Grenades, even though they can be launched from the barrel of a gun, are affected more by gravity than a bullet. Grenades, when thrown or launched, follow an arc shape. The further from a target, the higher you need to aim. The reticle for a grenade launcher is different than that of any other weapon; to account for gravity, the reticle of a grenade launcher features several horizontal lines.

Grenades from a grenade launcher explode on impact. Hand grenades are thrown, so they don't have a reticle. However, the longer you hold the fire button for the grenade, the further the grenade will travel (guaranteed you're not aiming at your feet). Again, the further your target, the higher you should aim. Hand grenades feature a five-second fuse and are useful for tossing into buildings or rolling down a hill.