BATTLEFIELD : BAD COMPANY 2 - VIETNAM

PLATFORMS: PS3, XBOX 360 AND PC

GENRE: FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Processor: Quadcore
Main memory: 2GB
Graphics card: GeForce GTX 260
Graphics memory: 512MB
OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7
Free HDD space: 15GB for Digital Version, 10GB for Disc Version (BFBC2)

DICE released what I consider the best multiplayer shooter of 2010 with Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Somehow, while pumping out a steady stream of free content updates to Bad Company 2 proper, developing a co-operative add-on for the game, and creating the multiplayer component for Medal of Honor from scratch for EA studio mates Danger Close, DICE has found the time to deliver Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - Vietnam, and with it, what might be their best multiplayer experience for the year 2010.

    Rather than adding a few new maps and shoving it out the door, DICE has created a complementary but separate experience to Bad Company 2. Bad Company 2 - Vietnam is set apart from Bad Company 2's original multiplayer mode in the menu - it even has its own separate title screen. The expansion winds back the clock and places players in the midst of the Vietnam conflict amidst recognizable battles and period specific music. Black Ops this isn't; Bad Company 2 - Vietnam feels like it takes place more than 40 years before the main game, and there aren't any weird anachronistic pieces of future tech around to break the illusion. 

   The underlying mechanics are the same as Bad Company 2 - the squad based dynamics, the vehicles - but some seemingly minor changes result in an experience that feels distinctive. DICE has taken thematic elements of the Vietnam War in popular fiction - trenches, tunnels, bush hiding spots, rice paddies, and the like - and used them to make Bad Company 2 feel and play differently. 

Anyone who played much Bad Company 2 was likely made quite familiar with the sniper-like accuracy of medics with long-range scopes attached to their machine guns, and I'll admit to being aggressive from across the map as an engineer with the aid of a red dot sight. In the absence of these weapon tweaks, the combat dynamic has changed considerably from Bad Company 2. Fights are closer and more vicious more often, which is assisted by environments and level design that break up most long lines of sight and which provide a ton of hiding places. 

   Whether you're new to Bad Company 2 or have been repairing, healing, and blowing up other players since March of this year, Bad Company 2 -Vietnam is among the best multiplayer experiences this year. The ability to contribute and succeed and unlock additional levels in ways that don't have to include shooting other players and the reliance on strategy over twitch gameplay clicks just as well in Bad Company 2 - Vietnam. Meanwhile, the re-balancing of character classes and level variety might actually trump Bad Company 2 proper. Battlefield fans will probably argue over whether to play Bad Company 2 or its expansion in the months to come. But when it comes to choosing between arguably the best multiplayer game of the year and its excellent expansion, that seems like a good problem to have.