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An alternative to what you may consider to be Modern Warfare.

DICE brings the pain with another foray into their Battlefield series. Appropriately titled Battlefield Bad Company 2, this game is the sequel to obviously the first Battlefield Bad Company. The infamous B squad is called into duty (yes I went there) while they are stuck on guard detail on the Russian-American demarcation line in Alaska. As with any good story, things don't remain slow and steady and all hell breaks loose when they discover a secret shipment that the Russians are using to build a fully functional weapon that can ultimately lead to war. This brings the single player action to new parts of North and South America that have yet to be surveyed in a war style video game. The action is frantic, the storyline is hilarious, and the visuals and presentation are top notch. Let's not forget that this game offers a fantastic multiplayer for you online fans, but more on that later.

Visually BC2 is very strong and can easily hold its own with Infinity Ward's big guns. The lighting, textures, environments, and even player models are richly detailed and provide a realistic and believable world that is just begging to be soaked with blood and shell casings. The diversity of the levels also help to keep the game fresh from level to level as one minute you'll be on the high seas, followed by taking over an enemy base, to even scaling over snow capped regions. The framerate remains rock solid even with tons of enemies, vehicles, and explosions filling your screen with only a slight bit of screen tearing to mention during cut scenes while looking about during conversations, but I digress, as it strangely never happens during game play so who cares right? Toss in some destructible environments to have your way with and you have yourself a smoking good time.

All's fair in love and war, or in this case war as the game has an amazingly aggressive, yet not overly pushy AI that will make each level a white knuckled thrill ride. The controls are admittedly your proto typical gun play you've played a hundred times over, and everything is just as tight and responsive as the best shooters out there, so no need to really bore you with semantics. Just know that each level not only provides a unique experience, but that you won't feel cheated or that the developers took short cuts by using tactics like defending an area for 20 minutes while a chopper is on the way to substitute for real action packed levels... I'm talking to you COD. While there are some nameless reviewers out there who shun the game's length, yet nut up to COD, the campaign, while not much longer than COD, is longer by roughly an hour, so why the hate guys?

Of course the moment most of you really give two s**ts about is the multiplayer and how it fares to the endless supply of other war shooters out there. While I can't claim king of the hill for everyone out there, I would like to say that the multiplayer is the real deal and does provide modes, vehicles, and a better sense of fair play and accomplishment than some others. What other game provides fantastic squad game play that even has a 4 squads of 4 deathmatches, and also allows you to take on others using ATVs, helicopters, and other vehicles? You can do it alone in conquest mode or join up with buds in co-op and squad rush modes so no matter your taste in how you prove your bravery, you can have it your way like a Burger King sandwich.

All in all, just when you thought it was safe to finally stop playing war shooters, DICE pulls you back in with this highly addicting and energetic title that is satisfying in single and multiplayer. There will still be many gamers who feel like if you can't "prestige" in a game it isn't worth playing. Bad Company 2 really gives a strong reason to step outside the box of the multimillion dollar franchise and step in the boots of another soldier for once.