It was a cool day in San Francisco when I arrived for the Battlefield: Bad Company Community Day event with EA and DICE last week.  A day that featured a massive wave of college women and the first hand’s on time of the single campaign in Bad Company.  Needless to say it was a perfect mix for me.  Jamie Keen, Producer on Bad Company, was there from Sweden to walk everyone through some exclusive play on both a single campaign level and a new multiplayer map, Harvest Day.

The brief mission we were allowed to do was pretty intense.  The Frostbite technology was in full swing as I left a path of destruction everywhere I went.  It wasn’t mission critical but it was just so much damn fun that I went on a destruction spree.  It may have been because all of the weapons and devices were unlocked for us to play with.  And there were a lot of kick ass weapons from plastic explosives to rocket launchers to marking devices.  The stage started off with the rookie (you) and the rest of the team including Sarge, Sweetwater and Haggard.  I was the sacrificial lamb to charge into each mission over land and sea doing a variety of objectives.  I drove tanks, boats and all kinds of vehicles just parked around.  I’m really going to miss the unlimited health injections though.

As stated above, the multiplayer action involved a new map, Harvest Day, a tournament and a variety of Swedish treats for the top players on the map.  I’d love to say that the treats that DICE brought were tasty but I haven’t gotten around to eating any of it.  I did win 3 treats though so at least I represented well.  Harvest Day featured a lot of fields, roads, buildings and hills that you must manage.  Teams alternated between Attackers and Defenders after each round.  To those of you wondering, the multiplayer setup is such that you’ll keep your teams in tact after each match.  Yay for that. 

One interesting thing I found out was that there would be only one multiplayer mode in Bad Company.  Capture/Defend the gold (Gold Rush) is the only mode in the game’s multiplayer.  There will be no team deathmatch, deathmatch or anything else.  Those of you playing the beta should be used to it and those of you who haven’t, it’s really a lot of fun especially if you have a team of friends.

I did get some cool news during my fragfest.  There will be a demo of Bad Company before the game ships according to DICE.  So if you weren’t lucky enough to get into the beta, you’ll still get a chance for some action before the game ships.  After playing one of the campaign missions and the new map, I’m looking forward to more.  I just had this adrenaline rush knowing that I couldn’t hide behind anything and I could blow up everything.

I got Jamie to sign one of the Bad Company signs which just so happens to be the very same one I’ll be giving out to a lucky fan of the game right here on U360!  I’ll also throw in a cool Bad Company poster and a DICE ink pen.  Stay tuned for that giveaway.  Big shot out to the boys at EA and DICE for inviting me out for a good time with Battlefield: Bad Company.  Deacon likes.