NA: June 23, 2008
EU: June 26, 2008
Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter video game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Part of the Battlefield series, it was released in North America on 23 June 2008, followed by a European release on 26 June. The game was hinted at just before the release of Battlefield 2, and announced sixteen months later. A direct sequel, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows on 2 March 2010. The player controls protagonist Private Preston Marlowe and his exploits to steal gold from mercenaries along with his squad, in the midst of a war between the United States and Russia.
Bad Company is unique in the series in that it was developed for consoles and features a full single player campaign with characters, as opposed to previous titles which were mostly released for Windows and featured warfare focused on multiplayer with large numbers of players. The game also emphasises squad-based combat, while retaining the vehicular and large scale warfare of the series in multiplayer. The game applies some new features to the franchise, including a highly destructible environment such as blowing walls through houses. DICE debuted its studio developed Frostbite engine with the game which allows for the high destructibility, and the engine has since been updated to run later titles.
Bad Company received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the story's humor and technical aspects such as sound, atmosphere and the game engine.