I just got the Bad Company demo last night (pre-orders get it a week early), and I'm impressed with a console shooter for the first time in a very long time. It's split between single-player and multi-player, and both are pretty damned fun. The Frostbite engine's ability to let you blow holes in buildings and create craters (to name a few) affects the gameplay in a really cool way.

For example, in the multi-player portion, I played as a specialist and used my C4 to create big holes in the ground. Then one of my demolition buddy threw anti-tank mines into said holes, so that they were basically invisible, destroying anyone who drove over a crater. Another time my buddy and I were trying to clear a street so our tank could move up, but there was a sniper and a demo-man destroying anything coming down the street. I managed to get close their position on the top floor of a building. I then hear my buddy yell "top floor front-side, and a rocket flew over my head, blowing a hole in the building, leaving the sniper and demo exposed long enough for me to take them out.

One of the game's touted new features, the new sound engine is incredible as well. If you have a good sound system, this is the game to warrant that purchase, as every gunshot and explosion sounds powerful and crystal clear. It's awesome to hear cannons in the distance (Did I mention sounds are distance-based? I can't describe it, you have to play it to get it), then hear the incoming whistle of the shells as they tear a house apart, listening to the wood and stone as it flies off the structure.

There are some problems with the demo, though. Unless you're lucky or invite friends, you're not going to find too many people who will talk on their mics. To compound that, you can only talk to your own squad, so it's depressing to be in a squad of base-campers while you're watching another squad working together to win the match (You can't switch over squads or switch teams either). There's also a glitch where you don't receive points to unlock weapons and items when you level up. Also, while the single-player is much improved over every Battlefield game (it's no longer a glorified bot multiplayer match), the level they implemented is pretty short and boring.

Beyond those problems, it's a really fun game, and I recommend that you should try it out when it's made available for everyone this Thursday.