I’ve been playing the Battlefield: Bad Company Beta for the last day or so and thought I would offer up my opinions on the game.

First off, let me say that I’ve never played any of the Battlefield games before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. And honestly, I’m not too excited now that I’ve played it.

The big draw to this game has been the dynamic environment destructibility and it, for the most, delivers. Everything can be shot, destroyed, shredded, etc. and it’s pulled off pretty convincingly. Buildings aren’t entirely destructible, however, and will stay standing (the corners of each room and the roofs can’t be destroyed). While this may disappoint some, it keeps the game from becoming a rocket, grenade, and explosion/destruction-fest. What results is a reasonably fun, balanced game that probably won’t make me leave my current wife, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, anytime soon.

Graphically, its pretty strong. But still doesn’t compare to COD4. Explosions look great and the character models are nice, if not somewhat cartoony. I don’t mind this, but I’m sure some will.

Most of you that have played it (or tried to play it) over the last day or so have probably noticed the lag and server issues. While annoying, it is somewhat understandable. Seems like DICE and EA underestimated the toll it would take on their servers. Hopefully they fix this ASAP. After a few rounds this morning, I was too annoyed to continue playing because the lag was so bad. And no it’s not my connection.

The sole game type included, Gold Rush, is fun. But got old pretty quickly. I (and others, as I have noticed) have resorted to playing it like team deathmatch, just focusing on killing the other team, instead of playing like a squad and taking the objective. There also seemed to be a lack of voice chat, although I’m not sure if that’s because people don’t like to talk or if they’ve disabled it. I’m assuming it has to do with the many socially challenged individuals on XBL, but I could be wrong.

A few other things that bothered me were the lack of a grenade or melee button. Instead of hitting a button to throw a grenade, you have to switch to your grenades (with RB) and then throw it. Same goes for melee. Instead of having a button, you have to hit the Y button to switch to your knife, then pull the right trigger to actually knife someone. Both of these end up being somewhat clunky and frustrating.

I plan on giving it some time, hoping that some of the issues will be resolved when they get the servers settled down.