‘Battlefield’ fun only as solo mission

The moment when I gave up playing "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" online is when I repeatedly shot a rival soldier in his body with a humongo, T88 LMG machine gun (which holds 200-bullet clips) and he didn't die.

Instead, he turned around and shot me to death.

In fact, when I was riddling the guy with bullets, the cross hairs feature popped up to indicate I was indeed landing many bullets. Still, he no die. Me die. I hate that.

Let's see, what else do I hate about "Bad Company 2"?

I hate about half of the battlefield maps in this war game. They're beautifully drawn. But some battlefields have very few and narrow entry points.

That means, if you're attacking an enemy's military base, you often enter that base through severe bottlenecks. So the other team can just sit back with sniper rifles and pick you off as you come over the bottleneck. That's boring.

And when you're defending your own military bases, your teammates often just camp out, too, and snipe at rivals through those same bottlenecks. That's boring.

That's right. "Bad Company 2" is a sniper's paradise. If you're one of those gamers who loves to camp out on top of a building and snipe guys from 300 yards away, this game might make your heart sing.

If, however, you don't enjoy being sniped over and over, then you might hate this game with the heat of an iron stove on fire.

Caveat: There are sneaky ways for you to jog around these bottlenecks. But that's no fun, either, because battlefields are so sprawling, it takes several minutes of mindless running to pull off. Borrring.

Well, you could skip the running, and drive a tank, ATV, boat or helicopter to speed up your attack against a rival's military base. But the driving mechanism seems swishy.

Plus, every time you die, the camera angle turns sideways and drops to the ground, giving me a headache and a neck ache. I hate that.

Oh, and the scoring system stinks. I have had matches where I've saved bases, and blown up tanks and helicopters, but I ended up with itsy-bitsy points. What's up with that?

Oh, and the detritus is too sticky. I've gotten my foot caught on a fence, on a piece of concrete foundation while crouching under a house, and on a tiny board on the ground. Each time, I couldn't move, was shot and re-spawned to life elsewhere.

Another time, a dislodged cannon from a tank got stuck on my leg, and everywhere I ran, this big cannon dragged along with me, as if it were merely a gigantic shoestring.

Oh, and I hate how long it takes to pull out your combat knife.

The solo game inside "Bad Company 2" is pretty good, and lasts (I think) about 10 hours. Basically, the United States is fighting Russia, and you run across big battlefields shooting Russians. That's where the game gets most of its three-out-of-four stars.

The end.

("Battlefield: Bad Company 2" by EA retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3; $50 for PC -- Plays fairly fun as a solo mission offline; frustrating as an online multiplayer. Looks great. Moderately challenging. Rated "M" for blood, strong language and violence. Three stars out of four.)

Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.