Leveling Down

Battlefield Bad Company may look like any other FPS, but it tends to play a bit slower and more realistic

Took a while, but I finally got around to getting through a playthrough of Battlefield: Bad Company on solo and racked up 15 hours so far with multiplayer. This should be enough for me to give my thoughts on the game, even if I do need to go back through the single player to tie up some loose ends (remaining Achievements). Of course, I’ll be playing the multiplayer for the next several weeks or even months to come. Read on for my thoughts on this game that I original had trouble with but now I enjoy. While the multiplayer mechanics aren’t as smooth as Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3, the stat tracking and trophy/badge system makes multiplayer a lot of fun.

The Good:
- great presentation of graphics and sound
- very satisfying stat tracking and medal system for online play
- functional party system for online group play (for up to 4 friends)

The Bad:
- control takes a while to get used to (sluggish and not as intuitive as other FPS games)
- single player campaign ends too abruptly without any real resolution in storyline
- online squad system is poorly implemented
More »

Players will probably spend half their time playing online and the other half just creating characters

I ended up picking up Soulcalibur IV last Thursday and sank several hours into it this past weekend. The thing about fighting games are that they’re simple enough in content that I can write a review for them without “completing” everything in the game. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would get the game or not because I wasn’t quite happy with the single player feature. Against my better judgment (I guess the hype and advertising got to me), I ended up picking up the game and have been disappointed. For those of you that are more competitive with fighting games, you’ll appreciate the online play but I think I’ve turned into a casual fighting game fan at best. There isn’t enough for me to do in the long run with the game but maybe play it online against my brother from time to time. Still, worth a look if you’re interested but check out my review to be sure.

The Good:
- excellent presentation
- functional online play
- character customization system

The Bad:
- not enough of an update to feel like a true sequel
- boring bare-bones single player
- character customization system feels comprehensive yet constrained at the same time

More »