We just wrapped up a detailed comparison between the single player campaign experience for Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. After completing both games, we crowned MW2 as the clear winner. We now move onto the multiplayer experience. BFBC2 has stirred up some controversy as the multiplayer beta experience had been hit or miss for some people. After some hands on game playing with the final copy of the game, we can now definitely say whether DICE delivers another killer Battlefield game.

As I laid out yesterday, here are a couple of things you should keep in mind - I have a final reviewable copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and have been playing it all weekend long. I also clocked in some good hours with Modern Warfare 2 already. I have no particular beefs with Activision or EA, so I'm not particular tainted when it comes to the need to bash either company. That being said, this doesn't make me totally immune to bias, as humans are inherently biased, based on our life experiences and social influences. So I'm not going to claim that I'm Judge Judy here, and my word is law, and it's fair. What I will say is that I wanted to be walk away with one clear winner in mind.

Multiplayer Comparison

There is good reason why Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer experience is considered one of the best around. The game is feature rich, and has one of the best carrot on the stick mechanics around with the perks system. You can still find tons of matches online, and it remains the game of choice for many online combatants.

However, Modern Warfare 2 ultimately suffers from some gameplay imbalances, and design choices that make the game very difficult to enjoy unless you are among the most dedicated of players. While the perks system creates a compelling reason to invest the time and energy in building up your character, the reality is that it starts to feel like a grind trying to level up, because you start the game with such a minimal set of weapons and options, that you are limited in ways you can engage combat. Unfortunately, until you are leveled up, the game is frustrating to experience. Now, I'm not too bad when it comes to online FPS combat. I typically score more kills than deaths, and can hold my own in any game once I master it. And the key word is master. Like any player who wants to be respected, you have to master the mechanics of combat, and also master the level layouts.

Oddly, trying to master MW2 was not a fun experience. That "hump" as I'll call it, is brutal for most gamers. There are several reasons for this. The game was designed to emphasize individual achievements. If you are really good at the game, you can power through it, not giving a whit about your team. So really good players can often times dominate the match. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, it's simply a design choice that was made. However, compounding this issue was how the the match making system puts newbs and FPS elites into the same match, which only guarantees that the match becomes very onesided. Funny thing is, it's not like the veterans like this set up either, because after all the easy killing is done, all the attention goes toward all the dumb moves newbs make. There just isn't much incentive for the vets to want to play with newbs, despite that they are forced to play together.

Some will say that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 already has a leg up simply because it launched later than MW2, and had time to copy a number of key gameplay features, like the perks concept. But considering that this same logic could have been used for the single player campaign, and Modern Warfare 2's storyline still being king, there's no guarantee that if you crib someone else's concept that you will do it better. But in this case, I will say that BFBC2's multiplayer structure is simply a more refined version of MW2's already very well designed game.

I wouldn't say that BFBC2's upgrade system is better, it's just different. There's more planning that goes into it, as it uses something similar to a skill tree for each class. It's because of these distinct classes that add more variety in the way you play the game.

The game encourages stronger team cooperation. Various design features push players to help teammates out more, and also gives people more clear roles on the team, instead of just having people all be either snipers or fire-at-will soldiers. BFBC2's multiplayer implement draws more inspiration from Team Fortress 2. You can play more of a support function like a medic, or you can play as someone who is great at taking out vehicles. Best of all, each role is important, unlike some games where playing a medic feels like work, and is trivial to the battle situation. This approach forces players to be more deliberate in their approach to combat, and makes the game more enjoyable.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 also introduces a new Squad Mode for multiplayer, where you have 4 teams of 4 players, fighting to dominate a map. What's great about this mode is that it encourages players to coordinate and pick the right mix of classes. In addition, BFBC2 allows players to respawn near their teammates. This completely eliminates one of my biggest gripes with MW2, which is respawning all by your lonesome, and not knowing where to run to meet up with your team. You are a fish in a barrel as enemies often times just take you out the minute you respawn. This approach to pushing people to function as a squad facilitates the stronger players to protect other players.

One other design choice made in BFBC2 that addresses the big discrepancy between vets vs beginners is the destructible environments. The ability to lob a grenade at a wall, and create a new path or camping spots forces players to constantly stay on their toes, and create new strategies on the go. So even a newb can change the way a battle situation goes.

There are some other touches which stand out for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The variety of vehicles are noteworthy, and have always been one of the highlights for Battlefield games, as they allow players to quickly get back into combat from far distances, and change the tide of battle. In addition, now when you die, you see an aerial view of certain sections of the map, which allows you to pick up on any enemy movement that you can hone in on once you jump back into battle. There are all these little touches which help you enjoy the game more.

Before I share my final verdict, which I'm sure by now you've already figured out, I will throw out two caveats. Because I'm playing on the Xbox 360 before the game is widely released, there aren't as many people online, and thus, I wasn't able to play every map and mode in equal amounts. Unlike certain maps in Modern Warfare 2 which create environments that all look the same, the map designs in BFBC2 have distinct landmarks around which makes it much easier to orient yourself. In addition, I am discounting the impact of exploits, bugs, and cheats. The reason is because there just hasn't been enough time for people to find them all on BFBC2 yet. And rest assured, there will be problems. And yes, you can also be sure that people will complain how the developers take too long to fix them. I'm going to make the assumption that for AAA games like MW2 and BFBC2, the developers will do what they can to address any outstanding things. This may skew an opinion in the end, since my BFBC2 experience has been relatively cheat free so far, but I do feel like what I enjoyed about the game already stands out way above potential issues.

So when it comes down to it, DICE has delivered another genre defining round of online FPS action, and I believe Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is going to quickly become the game of choice for online combatants. It has pretty much all the key features of Modern Warfare 2, refined and expanded upon to an impressive degree. In addition, all the hallmark Battlefield features are here, from destructible environments, to vehicles, to big yet distinctive maps. DICE has done a great job in creating ways for seasoned players to play along with newer players, and several new features make teamwork much more fun. While BFBC2's single player experience is still top notch (though Modern Warfare 2 is still the king), it's clear that multiplayer is going to be the talk of the town for a long time to come.

Today is officially the last day I will fire up an online match for Modern Warfare 2, as I now am a Battlefield: Bad Company 2 convert.

[Edited By Moderator]

If you were to gauge internet chatter these days, you'd swear that the rivalry between Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2 was bigger than the 16-bit console wars, or the classic Celtics vs Bulls rivalry. Or even bigger than a Democrats vs Republicans showdown. People have clearly taken sides, and aren't shy about sharing their views, despite that most people haven't even played BFBC2 yet. So I went into playing BFBC2 with one clear intention - to determine if EA's game could actually be better than Activision's game. So which one came out on top when it comes down to the single player campaign?

Before I jump into the details, I should provide a backdrop to this comparison. I have a final copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and have been playing it all weekend long. I also clocked in some good hours with Modern Warfare 2 already. I also have no particular beefs with Activision or EA, so I'm not particular tainted when it comes to the need to bash either company. And I also play both single player and multiplayer gaming regularly, so I don't lean heavily on one mode or the other. That being said, this doesn't make me totally immune to bias, as humans are inherently biased, based on our life experiences and social influences. So I'm not going to claim that I'm Judge Judy here, and my word is law, and it's fair. What I will say is that there could only be one clear winner.

I originally was planning to do a straight up comparison of the whole game, but after playing both games extensively now, I feel like it's worth going into more detail on both the single player and multiplayer. So for this first piece, we'll focus on the single player experience.

Single Player Campaign Comparison

What has made the Modern Warfare iterations in the Call of Duty franchise so compelling has been the cinematic presentation in the single-player campaign. I don't want to say "story" because the reality is, I still feel like the story needs work. The plot only served to introduce new locations, whether you are jaunting off to some random ice frozen mountains or an airplane junkyard. There was no rhyme or reason why we needed to hop all over the world, except to prove that the developers can shove in more exotic locations into one experience than the last 5 James Bond movies combined (though to be fair, BFBC2 does the same thing.) In addition, while you deeply cared about what happened to your character in the end, there were no real sense of character development for the people you interacted with, as much of the story was told through brief commentary between levels.

But what Modern Warfare 2 does exceptionally well is creating great cinematic moments. You'll be thrust into an intense battle, with the world blowing up around you, and then the game gives you a moment to rest, as you drive through crowded middle eastern streets. You know it's going to get hairy soon, as suspect characters peep around the corner of a building, yet you are told not to engage in combat til, well, til you get shot at. The tension is enough to make your heart race. Then, there is the controversial level where you have infiltrated the enemy's ranks, and are told to wipe out innocents in an airport. The level is gut wrenching and even feels surreal, as there bits of slo mo moments, and you experience an out of body sensation, leaving you questioning whether you are doing the right thing. Modern Warfare has done an amazing job in bringing those memorable moments to life, and makes you feel like you are actually part of this brutal war going on. The way the game paces the combat with emotional moments is far and above what most game developers have done today.

On the flipside, it seems like DICE was determined to one up the cinematic experience of Modern Warfare 2, but in that process, they have moved away from what made the first Bad Company game stand out. BFBC2 infuses a more serious tone to the overarching storyline as it progresses, as we are dealing with some world domination plans. It starts off with the right tone - The B Company squad of misfits are stuck doing guard duty, until they stumble upon a plan for a secret weapon which can lead to world domination by the Russians. Once the story went in that direction, you just didn't care what happened next, because we seen this scenario played out in a million games, movies, and etc.

In addition, while the characters you loved are back, their personalities start to feel too one-dimensional, as opposed to being fleshed out more with back stories, motives, and such. It just feels like an afternoon with your good-for-nothing poker buddies who just waste away the day drinking beer and trading jabs at each other. It's entertaining, but you seen all this before... last week... and the week before. What made these characters shine in the first game was the situation they were in. Your band of misfits didn't give two sh*ts about the war, no doubt earning a badge of honor as simply being cannon fodder. So instead of fighting some save the world mission, they embark on a get rich quick scheme by hunting down a pot of gold at the end of a war torn rainbow. You played on because you want to see what actually happens in the end. And because of the rather odd ball story, the characters seem to fit right in with the situation. For BFBC2, it just feels like the plot didn't match up very well with these types of characters you have gotten to know over two games now. These guys have grown up, and are now actually trying to save the world.

The gameplay in singleplayer mode for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is thrilling. There are some great battles to be had, especially the opening sequence. Or for that matter, most of the game. Throughout the campaign you will feel like a one man army taking on hordes or enemies, using quick strategy in blowing holes into builds to create new ways to approach the battle. Not to say that you are alone, because your battling battalion are right there with you and do a good job of covering your butt. However, the intensity of combat is turned up to 11 throughout much of the single player campaign, and there aren't many moments except between missions, when it actually lets up. The more thoughtful moments in the game just don't hold up as well as the combat moments, unlike Modern Warfare 2. In MW2, the moments between the big battles actually are just as memorable, because they had tension, and weight. MW2 feels like a roller coaster ride, where you have that long ominous climb to the top of the first hill, and then the intense free fall afterwards. BFBC2's battles feel more like a session in Lazer Tag, where the battle just happens nonstop, coming at you from all directions, til time runs out. Now this difference is mainly because of the game design choices made. Some may argue that MW2 feels extremely linear because it tries to force you down a path to create the ideal cinematic moments, but I would argue that, it worked wonders.

Both campaigns are downright short, as you'll complete both in an afternoon. In addition, there aren't too many incentives to going back and play the game over again, though BFBC2 does allow you to tackle missions in different ways, thanks to its more open ended mission structure and the fact that you can blow holes into just about anything. If either game only shipped with a just a single player campaign, you would have felt like the Modern Warfare 2 experience was worthwhile, while for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, you might have felt like there was a bit of "been there, done that" sensation.

In the end, Modern Warfare 2 wins for having a better single player experience, despite that I actually liked the characters more in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Even the ending sequence, and final credits in Modern Warfare 2 are something to behold (we picked the ending sequence to be the best of the year in our 2009 year end awards.)   The production values for both games are top notch, so ultimately it comes down to which game experience you will remember and talk about for years to come. I would say the Modern Warfare games are still the ones to beat.

Click here to read our comparison between the multiplayer modes!

The revival of the NBA Jam franchise has been getting a lot of attention. Unfortunately, it's been mostly the attention of Nintendo Wii owners as that has been the only platform that EA has announced they are currently supporting. Which is downright disappointing because we all want to go online with our XBox Live or PSN accounts for some one on one, right?

While there still is no official confirmation that the game is coming out on Xbox 360 or PS3, we have stumbled across a resume of an EA Programmer, who happens to list that she is working on NBA Jam. In addition to having the game listed for the Wii, Andrea also happens to mentions Xbox 360 and PS3. Hopefully Andrea doesn't get in trouble for this, as her profile on Linkedin is public for the world to see. So while I won't quite classify this rumor, I will say that EA likely will make some sort of announcement about it at their upcoming EA Sports event to be held at GDC.

So why would EA only announce it for the Nintendo Wii so far? It is likely because of the coverage deal they secured with Nintendo Power, which recently got the first exclusive cover story for the game, and also another big follow up Q&A with Mark Turmell who is leading the development of the game. Mark happens to also happens to have worked on the original NBA Jam game as well.

If you are only just hopping on the boat, the NBA Jam is being developed by EA. Sadly, Midway was the original creator of the game, and Acclaim was the original console publisher. Both publishers are now kaput.

[Source: Linkedin]

I was one of those latecomers when it came to jumping on board the whole Half Life 2 bandwagon. I got the Orange Box when it was marked down to $9.99, and finally got to enjoy the game that everyone was buzzing about 3 years ago. But then the big shocker was that after I beat the game, and Portal, I ended up playing Team Fortress 2 for another 40 hours. The game was that good.

But it wasn't just the great multiplayer deathmatches, it was the whole style of the game. The art direction, the character design, and the audio work has such colorful flare. And I was thinking to myself, it would cool if this was actually made into a cartoon. Lo and behold...

This cartoon rocks all sorts of amazingness. It's the creation of Andrew Kepple, a Kiwi from Zealand, who is a triple threat with talent (that's what he says on his website!) He writes music, draws comics, and also does flash animation.

What's great about this cartoon is that I can actually see this become a great ongoing series on Adult Swim. It has to appeal to a more mature audience, as we don't want something that Nickelodeon might air. It brought back memories of the classic Road Runner and Wyle E Coyote cartoons, mixed with liberal doses of Happy Tree Friends, and facial reactions out of Ren and Stimpy. Then out of nowhere, Benny Hill music comes blaring in, cameos by Luigi, a Portal reference, etc. Man, Andrew is one gaming nut. And make sure you watch all the way through. It gets strange.

[Edited By Moderator]

While having lunch today at EA's HQ, I had the pleasure of partaking in a special game launch lunch. We're talking about a hellish meal gussied up with Dante's Inferno trappings. Clever idea, though I did wish they took the whole theme further, and serve everything up that is blood red, or cooked over a big flame.

What did I have? The bowels of hell pork loin, tender like the meat of human flesh, served on a bed of crawling maggots. I'm pretty sure on any other at EA, it would have just been called Pork loin and Orzo.

Absolve your Sins Shrimp Bisque

The Damnation Salad Selection

The Treachery Special. Ramen with beef.

I will say this about the EA cafeteria. They serve up some wickedly good eating.

[Edited By Moderator]