After Bad Company 2 came out, it immediately climbed to the top of the multiplayer charts, but lately, it’s been in a steady decline, at least according to gameplay statistics from Xbox Live. Why? According to GameInformer, it’s simply too easy to attain all the ranks and unlocks, leaving little left to play for after a month or two.

Unlike Battlefield 2, where it took a long, long time to get some of the ranks and awards, Bad Company 2 has eased up a lot since it’s also on consoles, and console gamers aren’t as hard core as their PC counterparts.

GameInformer points out that in some of the competing games, like Modern Warfare 2 and Call Of Duty: World At War, it takes a lot longer to get some of the ranks as opposed to Bad Company 2. Which is also the reason why both games are now more popular than Bad Company 2.

Ever wondered what the most effective way of leveling buildings to the ground with the least amount of C4? Well, check out the video above, which shows you how to destroy a two-story building with just 4 C4 packs. Yep, stick ‘em, camp it out until enemy floods the building, then blow ‘em all to kingdom come.

After a few weeks of unstable online gameplay, disconnects and server shut downs, EA has finally completed Bad Company 2 server maintenance, according to a Tweet from the official BC2 Twitter account. However, the official Battlefield blog states that some players may still experience stats issues, where stats of over the last few days are not updated accordingly.

EA says that from now on, online gameplay will be stable and ready to “serve your BC2 needs”. We sure hope so, as many gamers, including us, have been frustrated due to the lack of stability on the online front.

Bad Company 2 has been having server issues on all three platforms recently, either due to the sheer popularity of the game or DICE not being ready for so many players. The Xbox 360 multiplayer experience in particular was troublesome, and PC and PS3 users experience random disconnects as well. Either way, they’ve done some updates to the servers, here are DICE’s comments:

• X360 was severely impacted, and the service is being restarted. It should be back online and we are monitoring closely.
• PC had an outage, but the service is offline currently and the service is being restarted. It should be back online and we are monitoring closely.  We will then start checking the quality of the customer experience to determine possible next steps.
• PS3 appeared to have a brief outage, but has quickly recovered and the services is functioning properly at this time.

DICE reports that peak traffic was over 400% more than other Battlefield games, which can explain the unstable servers.

According to rumors at BFeditor.org, there were 12 map loading screens found in the PC beta files, which of course suggests that there might indeed be 12 maps.

However, the official word from DICE is that there are only 8 maps, as printed at the back of the box and featured in the new field manual. However, one DICE employee suggested as many as 16 maps (!) in an interview with IGN.

On the other hand, we also know that ESRB ratings suggested maps which include “WW2 settings”, namely, the maps from Battlefield 1943 — which could be released as DLC later on (DLC has already been confirmed). That would bring the total to 11 maps (8 + 3 DLC). The last one could very well be the rumored remake of Strike at Karkand, as we reported earlier.

Modern Warfare 2 is one of the biggest selling titles of all time, and has sold a reported 10 million copies since its release last November. The multiplayer portion of Modern Warfare 2 has in particular been hailed as one of the best multiplayer experiences available today.

But we don’t think so. In fact, we can think of a number of reasons why Battlefield Bad Company 2 is a lot better multiplayer experience than Modern Warfare 2. They are:

Teamwork, Squads

Battlefield has always been about teamwork, the different classes complement each other during battle. If you’re out of ammo, you get some from your teammates, if you’re on health, you get some from your teammate (and get revived when you’re dead). And if you’re in a squad, you can diversify between classes to balance things out and increase your chances of winning the battle.

Vehicles

Vehicles have always been a part of Battlefield, and that goes for Bad Company 2 as well. From Tanks, to APCs, to Quads and Helicopters, one of the biggest differences between BC2 and MW2 is the obvious inclusion of vehicles in BC2 — and even when in a tank or helicopter, teamwork is still crucial, as having a teammate as the gunner makes all the difference in battle.

Destruction

While Modern Warfare 2 features a generic static environment, everything in Bad Company 2 can be destroyed, walls can be torn down, covers blown up and entire buildings leveled. “Cover” is only cover until a rocket hits it, then you better run elsewhere. The destruction adds a whole new level to the gameplay.

More players, stats and awards

The Battlefield franchise has always relied on huge battlefields with lots of players — usually 64. For Bad Company 2, the limit is 24 (compared to 18 in MW2) on consoles and 32 on the PC. Granted, more players doesn’t always equal more fun, but when it comes to Battelfield, it usually does. In addition to more players, BC2 offers a ton of new awards, weapon unlocks and details statistics for each player.

Dedicated servers (PC)

PC gamers were disappointed when it turned out that dedicated servers were a no-go for the PC version of MW2, and likewise with the 18-player limit. By all accounts, the PC version is simply a port of the console version. Bad Company 2 however, has a bit more in store for PC owners, dedicated servers and more players being the first and obvious additions.