Video Game Vintage Title: Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter developed by EA DICE for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and part of the Battlefield series. It was released in North America on June 23, 2008, followed by a European release on June 26. The game was hinted at just before the release of Battlefield 2, and then announced sixteen months later. A direct sequel, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 2, 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 of America and the Russian Federation.

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 PC 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.

Battlefield: Bad Company Plot
Setting
The game is set in a near future war between the Russian Federation and the United States. It follows a four man squad 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 is the game's protagonist, newly transferred to the company. The more intelligent but nervous Private Terrence Sweetwater serves as a foil to Private George Gordon Haggard, Jr., a pyromaniac and the comic relief of the story. Sergeant Samuel D. Redford is the leader of the squad. 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 Caucasus country of Serdaristan, and a fictional Middle Eastern city called Sadiz near the Caspian Sea.

Story
Preston Marlowe is transferred to Bad Company and embarks on his first mission with his new squad. 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, 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 US 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. Haggard, however, excitedly runs after the trucks for gold, 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 calls Redford, stating that he would be subject to a court martial for Haggard's offense, as well as raising his service time. Seeing as they have no other choice but to run, Redford suggests that they pursue the gold even further to a harbour and a ship that is loaded with gold. The group fight their way there only to get caught by U.S. forces. A deal is made that the squad will have their charges dropped if they investigate Serdaristan, since the squad is officially AWOL, removing U.S. liability. The squad's orders are to capture the eccentric dictator of Serdaristan, Zavomir Serdar. 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 that they must find a way out on their own. 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 and join the convoy. The squad happily obliges, but elope out of the convoy with their gold filled truck. Meanwhile at the Ka-52 crash site, The Legionnaire rises from the burning wreckage with a vengeful expression, seemingly unhurt.