This looks bad. I've just been spotted and a tank is zeroing in on my location. All around me I hear spotters shouting my position and movements over the radio. By now I'll be a bright red blip on everybody's radar. Darting down an alley, I find a second to stop and heal before five enemy troops charge around the corner. Trapped against a brick wall I do the only thing I can - pull out a grenade, roll it into the corner and duck. Dust and shards of masonry bounce off my helmet as I barrel through the hole that was once a supporting wall and out into the sunshine again. I'm safe. That is, until some cheap camping sniper takes me out. Oh well, five seconds to the next respawn.

No, I haven't finally succumbed to shellshock after endless hours of storming virtual beaches and dodging digitised bullets - I've been playing DICE's latest Battlefield release, the console-exclusive Bad Company, which aims at bringing the series' esteemed multiplayer action into the living room. The game is split into two modes - single and multiplayer - and most fans of the series will be pleased to know that the strongest aspect of Bad Company is still its online multiplayer. It is here that you can fight it out with twenty-three other players as either the defenders of between two and four gold-filled crates or as the attackers after the riches. While there is a wide range of maps and character classes, this Gold Rush mode is the only one currently available. DICE has confirmed, however, that more modes will become available to download for free in the near future, including the land-capture Conquest missions. Multiplayer is also the place to level up your profile and acquire new weapons through a points system, while special items and weapons can be won by downloading and completing the demo, owning a previous Battlefield game and registering for various newsletters and offers on EA's website. It's good to see that, for now, micro-transactions aren't available, as these can unbalance a game by allowing players with more money than skill to load up on superior kit and exploit the system.

The single player mode can be seen as more of a seven-hour training module for the multiplayer side of things, introducing you to the gameplay basics that you need to master before you can put up a decent fight against real enemies. The extremely realistic shooting mechanic is the most important element to get to grips with; shooting from the hip simply will not work. Unless you're lucky or happen to be carrying a shotgun, you won't be able to dispatch an enemy who suddenly appears up close without unloading an entire clip. While only a few hits can be deadly, without precision aiming most shots will miss. With ammo as scarce as it is in some sections, the patience to size up foes from a distance, crouch, aim and fire is essential, especially in larger firefights.

The storyline employs a theme that's currently very popular - what happens when soldiers decide to go private? Bad Company follows a squad as they become disillusioned with the attitudes and practices of their commanders and break away when presented with the temptation of gold. Truckloads of gold. It's not the best written scenario but, compared to the force feeding of questionable ethics in games such as the disappointing bravado of Army of Two, it gets the job done and smoothly links the various battles together. You control Private Preston Marlow, a recent transfer to the US army's embarrassing B-Company. Whenever a soldier messes up (highlights include inadvertently uploading a computer virus to the military's servers when looking for porn and accidentally blowing up US government property), he gets sent to the Bad Company. Stuck with a black mark on his record, Marlow is thrown into the squad alongside his reluctant, slightly clichéd, two-days-from-retirement, gruff sergeant, a smart mouthed misfit, and a bomb crazy demolition expert. While these characters sound all too familiar, their personalities are developed enough to make them endearing and the banter between teammates is some of the best since Bungie let the Red vs. Blue team into the Halo 3 cut scenes. Even in death, the last thing you hear before it all goes dark is a smirk-inducing quip about your situation. While such familiarity may not be the most desirable thing on actual battlefields, it's a more than welcome addition to the game.

Also, while we're on the cheery subject of death, I was elated to learn that Battlefield: Bad Company uses an actual health meter. If you get shot then you take damage and it doesn't recover if you run away and hide like a coward for a minute; instead you can top up your health by jamming a syringe into your chest, which never runs out but it does take a few seconds to recharge. Unfortunately, in the single player campaign this does, at times, make things too easy, especially when coupled with a BioShock style respawn system; when you die you are returned to a pre-designated spot on the map whilst all enemies (and the damage they've taken) remain the same. This life system, while thankfully not present in the multiplayer, removes any fear of death in-game by not punishing you when you fail. It does remove the monotony of more difficult sections, however, so it's at least fulfilling its intended function, preventing unnecessary replays of challenging missions. You can't be invincible, after all.

While it's clear that the environments in Bad Company are specifically designed for player verses player action, not a lot of thought has been put into the enemy AI to give the campaign mode that same feel. Opposing soldiers generally remain rooted to one spot unless you smoke them out with a grenade and they always know where you are. With every shot coming at you with pinpoint accuracy, these supposedly 'human' opponents are more reminiscent of the sentry guns from Alien vs. Predator: deadly, accurate and single minded. The one exception in their killing prowess appears to be reserved for the grenades and rockets that they hurl at you; unless you are unlucky enough to be standing right on top of one, when any explosives go off the splash damage is infinitesimally small. This is carried over to the multiplayer matches, where grenades and high explosives, unless used for destroying vehicles, have only one other function - blowing a path through any obstacle in your way.

DICE claim that their new Frostbite engines makes 90% every environment is destructible. The only structures and features that cannot be destroyed are fortified buildings, large boulders/rocky outcrops and the rock beneath the topsoil. Now, destructible environments have been around since the release of Red Faction in the wake of the launch of the PS2 and they often fail to live up to their promise. When given free reign to obliterate everything around you, there inevitably comes a point where you can destroy no more. With Red Faction this was about an inch into any surface (save for a few strategically relevant brick walls). Thankfully, Bad Company's environmental damage is as thorough as it can be without detracting from the gaming experience. You learn early on that there is no action button, commonly used to open doors etc. When you're in Bad Company, the only thing you need in order to enter (or exit) a building is a grenade, rocket or brick of C4. Making your own path through a level opens up a wide range of options, similar to the multiple entry points of the Rainbow Six series. Of course, stealth isn't an issue here - but being able to reduce the side of a house to rubble makes for a stylish and memorable escape.

The temporary nature of the buildings also shifts the usual dynamic of duck, cover and shoot. When up against an enemy, be it a lone troop or a rocket-packing tank, you're never safe when the wall next to you fails to form an impenetrable barrier of protection and explodes into powder, accompanied by a deafening squawk of radio feedback and a blinding cloud of dust. The frustration of trees blocking a shot can also be solved by a quick flurry of machine gun fire. In a barrage of tree-busting bullets that would make Al Gore cry, you can shear through whole forests in order to uncover a cheeky sniper hiding out amongst the branches. In multiplayer this enhancement adds to the tension of the battlefield; no one is safe and every vantage point is also a potential death-trap, as all it takes is one well aimed rocket to bring the entire top floor of a building crashing down. This system does have its limits, though; you can't man a turret and dig your way under the level and the structural frames of buildings cannot be destroyed. While noticeable when trying to blow up all you see (laughing like a maniac along the way, of course) this isn't disappointing when you think about the effort that goes into designing a level. In the furious action of a deathmatch it's not even something you'll dwell on as masonry and bullets rain down.

Frostbite does a great job of rendering this all in fantastic detail as well. While Bad Company isn't quite up to the level of Call of Duty 4, it holds its own and, thankfully, doesn't fall into the trap of colouring every texture a different shade of brown and piling on the bloom. You get lush meadows, dense woods, beautiful architecture and some really unique urban locations to... well... you'll mostly be blowing them up. While the graphics are good but not outstanding, the sound surpasses anything encountered before. The voice acting is believable and strikes just the right tone for a game that, without the humour, could run the risk of being another generic war shooter. The sound designers didn't miss a trick either; fire a gun outside and you get a satisfyingly powerful crack as each round explodes out of the barrel. Take things inside and it gets really good; empty rooms echo convincingly and every shot is deafening. The high pitched screech of radio feedback followed by the moment of deafness I mentioned earlier also provides a truly immersing, disorientating experience when you get too close to the action. The in-game music adds to the light, humorous mood carried through the game too, with touches of smooth jazz, surf music and classic bluegrass. While the choice of radio stations isn't anywhere near the level of those found in GTA IV, you can still find a tune to suit your mood for some good road music.

Before passing final judgement on Bad Company, one thing remains to comment on; it wouldn't be a Battlefield game without a vast plethora of vehicles and this latest title does not disappoint. Through the course of single player and on every multiplayer map you'll travel by land, air and sea on anything from a golf cart to a tank to a gigantic attack helicopter. The controls for these are, once mastered, very smooth, and there are plenty of view options and different seats to choose from. Being able to change from driver to gunner at the press of a button also saves a lot of hassle and arguments - no more fighting over who sits where and no mad dashes to your chosen seat! You can easily form the whole crew of a vehicle single-handedly too, smoothly jumping from movement to shooting without having to leave the vehicle.

As a single player experience, Battlefield: Bad Company has some nice touches. The story, whilst not epic, is enough to keep you entertained and make you care about what you're doing. As a multiplayer, it's truly fantastic, despite having only one game type available at the moment. In fact, even if Bad Company had been released as online only, as happened with the phenomenal Warhawk, it would still be well worth checking out. Indeed, it's a worthy addition for anyone who has ever enjoyed blowing up their fellow men, both online and off.

Reviewed by Henry Osadzinski for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).