Battlefield Bad Company 2 Has the Longest Campaign at 8-12 Hours
As a long-time Battlefield gamer and content creator, I receive a frequent question – "what Battlefield game has the longest campaign"? So I decided to analyze the series‘ single player modes and uncover which truly stands out as the longest and most memorable.
The answer based on my expertise – 2010‘s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 without a doubt, weighing in at a meaty 8-12 hour playtime.
What Made Bad Company 2‘s Campaign Special?
Compelling Characters Bring Humor
Unlike the boring protagonists in most military shooters, Bad Company 2‘s titular squad of misfits like Sergeant Redford brought humor and uniqueness to the campaign. For example, their main motivation was to get rich off discovering a fabled city of gold. This ragtag characterization upended cliches and resonated strongly with gamers.
Grand, Spectacular Missions
Unleashing Battlefield‘s sandbox warfare, Bad Company 2 took players on a globe-spanning adventure ranging from snowy Russian mountains to South American jungles. The destructible environments kept combat interesting, like blowing holes in a mountain village to flank enemies. Missions felt more replayable than rival shooters at the time.
Emotional Story With Emphasis on Characters
Sure the plot about recovering a WMD device was standard fare – but surprisingly genuine drama between the main characters made the journey compelling. From Redford‘s PTSD to Sweetwater‘s innocence being lost – we grew attached to the squad.
Critics widely praised these gameplay, mission, and story elements – explaining Bad Company 2‘s status as the apex of Battlefield campaigns even today.
The Decline of Battlefield Single Player Modes
Game|Length|Metascore|Notes
—|—|—
Bad Company 2 | 8-12 hours | 88% | Peak of Battlefield Campaigns
Battlefield 3|6-8 hours|84%|Focused more on multiplayer
Battlefield 4|6-8 hours |81% | Forgettable characters and story
Battlefield 1 |6-8 hours |84%|War stories failed to form cohesive narrative
Battlefield V|6 hours| 73% | Extremely short, lacked content
As this table shows, Bad Company 2 still remains the critical darling while subsequent Battlefield entries failed to invest as heavily into the solo experiences.
Reviewers commonly criticized boring squad characters lacking personality as well as too much tonal dissonance. The earlier focus on character drama and emotional stakes declined. Stories felt disjointed across episodic war tales instead of grand adventures.
Public reception matched this critical take – while Bad Company 2‘s campaign had high completion rates, the next 3 Battlefield games saw increasing portions of players ignoring the story mode to focus exclusively on multiplayer.
What happened? Simply put – Battlefield lost sight of what made Bad Company 2‘s formula click. Later titles used campaign merely as a graphics showcase first, meaningful story second. They failed to balance multiplayer demands with crafting a memorable solo experience.
Is There Hope for Battlefield Single Player?
Bad Company 2 represents a golden but missed opportunity for Battlefield campaigns to rival franchises like Call of Duty. Unless developers recommit resources into this neglected game mode, solo play will remain an afterthought.
However, I speculate some hope based on Battlefield 2042‘s post-launch content direction:
- The recent addition of persistent servers and custom modes to Portal hints at more single player options
- Certain leaked details around story-focused co-op experiences makes me optimistic on their investment into PvE play.
As a passionate Battlefield gamer though, I will continue pushing for DICE to look to Bad Company 2‘s magic formula when developing any future story modes. That is how you create an iconic FPS campaign.
So in summary – Bad Company 2 still reigns supreme as having Battlefield‘s longest and fan-favorite solo campaign several years later. I hope this analysis provided some nostalgia and perhaps inspiration for the franchise to rediscover the ingredients that made those characters and missions so special.
