The current installment of the Battlefield series, Battlefield: Bad Company, brings some changes to the series while keeping the essence of the original that fans enjoyed so much.  You start off the game with a monologue from your character Private Preston Marlow, who has been transferred to a squad in "B" Company in the 222nd Army battalion, which is more commonly referred to as Bad Company. Once your chopper lands you meet the rest of your squad.  The squad leader is Sergeant Redford and volunteered to be in Bad Company so the Army would shorten his term of service. Private Haggard is a demolitions expert and was transferred to Bad Company for blowing up a weapons cache. Private Sweetwater is your standard soldier and was transferred to Bad Company for uploading a virus onto the military network.

     You get sent on your first mission to help out Army forces by going in first and removing gun positions and radar jammers.  At the end of the first mission you come across a mercenary that is carrying some gold on him.  During their second mission they come across trucks with mercenary gold and see it cross into Serdaristan. Once the squad learns of this they go in search of the mercenary gold.  With this a proper and solid storyline has begun, something that has not truly been seen in Battlefield games before this. The story certainly isn’t the best that has ever been seen in a video game but does help with keeping the single-player fun and interesting.

     The controls in the game are very fluid and very similar to many other first person shooters. Moving around the controls is very simple and is picked up easily during your first mission. You can only have one primary weapon at a time, and there mainly weapons dropped by enemies that just have to be used.  The character has access to two support devices. One that stays with you all the time is the health injection, which can be used to bring you character to full health. Although it does take a little bit to recharge to be used again, some levels will make you feel like a junky injecting yourself every 30 seconds to keep from dying. Rotating through all these items is done through the use of the bumpers and allows for quick changes and keeps the game moving along.

     The gameplay in this installment is similar to others in the series, with the major addition of the Frostbite engine, which allows for almost fully destructible environments. You will find yourself at times on your way to the next checkpoint and will just stop to blow down trees or blow holes in the buildings.  It is thoroughly satisfying to see the destruction you caused appear from the smoke and explosions. However much fun it is to destroy everything you can, this ability can also be utilized by the enemies. You will retreat for cover inside a building and the next thing you know the wall you were hiding behind is gone.  It changes the way you think about cover and strategy for your assault on an enemy compound.

     The multiplayer aspect of Bad Company is where it truly comes to life. With the Battlefield series mainly being known for its excellent multiplayer, Bad Company doesn’t disappoint.  With games allowing up to 24 players and different game play modes, there will never be a reason to get bored.  The use of vehicles inside of multiplayer is still something to love.  Different trinkets that you have available during single-player, like the health injector, have to be unlocked through ranking up on online matches.

     With the addition of an actual story-line and the next-gen graphics, Battlefield: Bad company is a first-person shooter that delivers on everything that it promises.  The graphics are beautiful and the controls are not distracting from the gameplay at all.  This is a must pick-up for any fan of shooters. Also, the 3 teaser trailers they did parodying Metal Gear Solid, Rainbow Six, and Gears of War are highly entertaining and are a must watch.