Battlefield: Bad Company

As Preston Marlow, you fight alongside your team you in an effort to kill lots of terrorists/Russians and find some Gold in the process (Three Kings acts as an excellent synopsis). While the whole story is nothing epic, it does provide the basis for what Bad Company excels at - the characters. So well scripted are the characters and, for a change, so well acted, that it is impossible to dislike them. Which all aids the movie-like feel of the game, easily setting it apart from other standard shooters. As for the gameplay itself, while not wholly revolutionary, there is a fairly solid shooter here. Sprawling landscapes stretch for miles, filled with little towns and farms in which to fight and destroy. Which is the other nice little touch - all buildings can be (and usually are) destroyed, meaning that there is nowhere to hide. Not for long anyway. In an effort to make the gameplay as hectic and gung-ho as possible, the developers have introduced two fatal flaws: one is a massive abundance of ammo; secondly, probably again to keep you rushing in, you are effectively immortal - you have a magic stick of health, which never runs out. But if you do somehow 'die', you respawn with all the death and destruction you just dealt still in place. Which is a huge shame. Bad Company is an excellent game otherwise, well written and good looking, and the whole shooting bit does work solidly. It's just a bit of a shame that the experience isn't quite as compelling as you would hope for. [Josh Wilson]