About 4 months after Modern Warfare 2 released, I sold it to a friend of mine. This was about half the time I owned Call of Duty 4, and I simply sold that game for its age. I was sick and tired of the constant killstreaks in the air. Sure I can shoot them down with stinger missiles, but playing pick up with strangers and watching them act as kill fodder doesn't help things.
I was tired of chopper gunners, noob tubers, knife monkeys, and quick scopers.
Then I got Bad Company 2 as a reward for taking part in a play test for an EA game.
Like any completionist, I plowed through the single player campaign reluctantly because it was pretty bad. I don't care about the B-Company and I found my character rather boring. He wasn't named after a bug, he wasn't bossed around constantly like Ramirez, and he didn't have a funny name like Soap. Single player was not a great primer in BC2.
Than came mulitplayer and it was a slow but rewarding experience.
I had bought tons of Dr. Pepper Cherry in my time to take advantage of their EA cross promotion with DLC codes under the cap, so I had some of the nicer guns unlocked from the get go. I went into my first game with a fairly standard MW2 mentality: spring in some random direction, looking for trouble to fill with lead. This was either rather boring or would lead to a respawn timer.
I then figured out that while there are two teams, each team of 24 is divided into 6 teams of 4 players and that I can spawn on top of any living squadmates. While I find out later that this set up prevent me from communicating through mics to other allies, I came to the realization that the squad set up is easily my favorite feature over MW2.
The squad mechanic encourages teamwork and class balance in a way MW2 cannot. If I die, I can roll over my partners and see what class are they playing. So I have two engineers and a medic? Might as well play assault and resupply them with ammo and hope the medic covers us with health packs. Is one recon? Don't spawn on him then because he probably wants to be alone.
BC2 also has a spotting system. The back button or select button on your controller can call for help from medics or assaults but it also lets you mark enemy units. See a tank? Spot it and everyone knows where it is and how to avoid it unless they're an engineer, which they can destroy. See a sniper but he's out of range? Spot him and everyone knows to stay out of his line of sight until someone counter-snipes him.
Teamwork is easier to accomplish in BC2 and it rewards you to do so too so most medics you'll see will heal you because they get points for it.
Most people agree that higher level people have a powerful advantage over newer players with better weapons and perks and even if you run into someone in a seeming 50/50 situation, whoever's a higher level has the scales tipped in their favor. But despite being at a disadvantage in one-on-one, the easier teamplay balances out this level balance. That level 30 player might kill you, but it'll work out in the end as the medic behind you avenges you than revives you.
It's been slow going, but after hitting level 6, I feel like I've hit a good stride. It takes much longer to level up but after you unlock your favorite class's core tools like an engis repair tool or the medics defib, it should be easier to get points over time with your class's support options.
So give BC2 a try, if at least in between breaks of MW2. It might be slower, but the teamwork is a refreshing change of pace.
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