The Bad Company in question are a bunch of eight soldiers born and bred just to blast baddies. The baddies that need destroying this time are a load of insectoids who are inhabiting four worlds - four worlds that we want to inhabit, so they have to go, and the Bad Company have been called in to 'persuade' them.
It is a one or two player shoot em up with its roots firmly based in Space Harrier (that is, your character is at the front of the display and all the buddies run from the back of the screen towards him). Before starting out, you first have to decide which of the eight you would like to be, as each character has abilities that are peculiar to him; so he can carry heavy weapons but are none too agile whereas others can move around swiftly, but are not strong enough to lug the big weapons about.
Once you have decided on the character, you can then choose which of the four planets you want to start on and you are beamed down. From here on in it is just a case of running along, blasting absolutely anything that comes towards you and trying not to take too many hits because each one leaves a chunk missing from your health meter.
Once the meter reaches bottom you lose one of your four lives. Fortunately, your health will repair itself gradually, but the way things go you are often unable to sit around waiting for it to recover before you are thrown into the fray again.
You guessed it, there are tougher-than-average baddies to be encountered along the way and the best way to deal with these is to pick up the extra weapons that are dopped down from the orbiting mother ship - you start the game with two weapons, which can be switched between at the touch of a button. Clear the planet of aliens and you can then move onto a tougher one, with a bigger points bonus should you manage to survive it.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Everything is smoothly animated and fast, but the sprites are not particularly well drawn: they look a lot better when they explode. The backgrounds and the floor are fine, but a little dull. Sound is OK as far as it goes: you get a couple of jaunty tunes and some nice spot effects.
LASTING INTEREST
Pure blasting fun - best in two player mode. It does not have the impulsiveness of Operation Thunderbolt and it lacks variety too. It is quite tough, though, so it will certainly take you quite a while to complete.
JUDGEMENT
Simple blasting fare that is fun for a while but soon becomes tedious. It is addictive at first, however, and although it is not as much fun as something like Operation Thunderbolt or Space Harrier, it will nonetheless keep you entertained and playing for a reasonable while.
Paul: Bad Company consists of the sort of people who say 'mutha' instead of 'mother' and will need no second invitation to drop their trousers and show you their battle scars. Yeuch.