Best Games of 2010

Again I contributed to this piece on what was best multiplayer game of the year. I chose Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I can't love it enough.
Best Multiplayer: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

It was just after dawn when we parachuted in.

The hot sun beats down and absorbs all of the moisture from the ground. Dust and dirt are unavoidable and sting my eyes. I reach for my C-4 charges and place them around the foundation of a forgotten structure. My squad mate, known only as The Spaniard, takes his position. After I set the explosives, I take a defensive position across the street. We are defending position on the map known as C.

My headset squeals with life. “You realize you’ve set these charges to the building I am using for cover, right?”

“Just being cautious, sit tight. We are going to have to destroy their options if we are going to keep this position.”

As we wait an armored troop transport filled with our guys rolls through towards position B. We only need to hold this position for a little while longer before we get our orders that we have stopped in insurgents.

My headset comes to life, it is The Spaniard again, “I am picking up tangos coming from position B moving into C. Spotting now. They should show up on your HUD.”

With motion sensors locally around my position no one will be sneaking up on me anytime soon. However I can’t say the same for my squad mate.

“Spaniard, you have two tangos going into the first floor of the building be advised.”
I can see insurgent troops move past a window on the first floor.

“I can hear them,” whispers The Spaniard, “they are coming up stairs. I can take them.”

From across the street I can see one of their soldiers looking out the window. He knows we are here. He knows we are close. Two figures now appear in the window. The Spaniard silently takes down the solider with his knife. I see a kill register on my HUD. Three more insurgents move into the building through the lower levels. Red dots fill the HUD now. They are on to him.

“Get out of there! Get out of there now. More soldiers are coming in on the first floor! I am going to blow the building!”

“Wait, I can get them. Don’t blow the building.” A few seconds pass. “OK, forget it they are on to me. I am out of here.”

I see a sand colored ghillie suit leap from the second story of the building. The Spaniard runs toward the clearing, as two more insurgents rush into the building, they don’t see him leave. No one ever has. I can see on my HUD all enemy troops are in the building. Two I can see from my vantage point are at the second floor and see The Spaniard move for cover.

I hit the detonator and the six pieces of strategically placed Compression 4 ignite like a symphony. The multi-floor explosion blows out the walls and what is left of the windows like snow. The building collapses onto itself leaving only rubble.

I have yet to have multiplayer experiences in other games like I do with Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The success of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 comes down to two words, “destructible environments.”

If you don’t have a destructible environment you might as well be playing a child’s game. I am looking at you Call of Duty, air strikes where building don’t fall down? Give me a break. I truly enjoy playing Halo: Reach multiplayer with work friends on a weekly basis. In its defense maybe the building are made of a space age polymer of the future that doesn’t ever get damaged. I guess the trees are made of that same stuff too.

If you want a combat experience that isn’t based on how many newbies you can pwn look no further than Battlefield: Bad Company 2, now featuring the Vietnam expansion pack. The choice is simple. BF: BC2, all day. (Charles Francis Moran VI)