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First (honest) Impressions, SP and MP
ok, I played the first game on consoles, SP was fun but not addictive, MP was fun but not quite the BF experience.
That stated: This game rocks. Rocks like KISS when they rocked.
My expectations were the usual stuff back before installing the beta. It's a DICE game right? It's going to be fun but it's going to have a ton of bugs, it's gonna be patched late, it's going to be fun then they are going to release a patch that will break the game completely without solving bugs present from the beta.
Boy I was wrong.
Say what you want; that the beta wasn't perfect, that it wasn't really a beta, that the game doesn't show anything new and is dumbed down, etc. Compared to past PC games DICE has released it's as perfect as you going to get.
The PC beta had issues like any other game, and every other DICE game. DICE has always seemed to me like the kind of developer that goes "Ok, you are all good in your not so constructive griticism, I ama let oyu finish ranting; but we want to do the game one way: our way" and goes and does it.
Most of the time is fun, sometimes it gets irritating that they neglect to fix blatant shortcomings in their code. there are the dolphin dive and air superiority issues as prime examples.
Now, BF Bad Company 2 multiplayer beta. RC1 was almost as good, if not better; than BF2142 patch 1.50 in terms of stability and overall performance, very hard to judge; you could see it was incomplete, but the potential was there all the way to RC4.
Now on release post day 1 patch: It's simply awesome; performance is still sketchy since the game works better when you play it on higher settings; my meager E8400 on 2 GB of value ram and an aging GF7950GT are capable of running this thing at steady 30 fps; it's not perfect, but for a newly released game, on a new engine; getting this framerate is amazing. Antialiasing is more of a luxury and not a necessity if you are playing on HD resolutions; the equivalent computer from the early BF2 days didn't give this performance on that game; I had to upgrade twice during BF2 lifetime to get acceptable framerates while playing; here I am looking at a complete computer upgrade, but only to future proof for BF3whenever.
Single player so far is fun, haven't finished it mostly because I went and sunk aw hole night on multiplayer; but it continues the sillyness of the first game and the main characters are as funny as ever; plenty of jabs at other gaming genres, and FPS competitors. It's like they are aware they are in a generic FPS, and run with it for all it's worth.
and the star of the show, Multiplayer: I can tell you this, DICe has everything already to bring on the next generation Battlefield to PC and consoles, and no other developer will be able to compete. CoD would have to completely overhaul its mechanics and get a new graphical engine, MoH is simply another spec of dust in the market after this, I can't picture the new MoH stealing any player from BC2 in the near future, much less in the long run.
It's certainly not the traditional BF experience, but it's not dumbed down, it's not simplified. I'd say it's streamlined.
If they just added 32 more players, and jets following the new balance paradigm; they could get away with calling it BF3 and sell a funkton of copies on day one.
Even with the current lagfest that is the ranked servers from EA, hit reg is as good as on the best BF2 days; not as good as on console demo, but better than past BFs over the internet. Very seldomly will you find yourself blaming the engine for not killing the guy you clearly saw aiming at you; it's down to each player ability, no more rage over dust shots; going 10/12 kdr on 250 ping is reasonable I guess.
One thing refreshing to see, is full map rotation. If admins are looking for the next karkand, please, keep looking for at least a year beacuse playing all themaps is real fun. Highlights to Laguna Alta, Ataca desert on conquest (my guess as the favorite conquest server for 32 players; you get 4 tanks and 2 choppers, tough not blackhawks)
Maps on the pictures look real small; but on practice they allow for a lot of flanking maneuvers; the fact they were designed for 24 players and not 32 shows through sometimes, but it's not a deal breaker. When you get past the 64 player fragfest nostalgia and start comparing them to 32 player maps on BF2 instead of the 64 version, you'll stop raging and start enjoying. The desert map is the one with the most "useless" space but it's good since it has a lot of armor.
At least for PC DICE can at any time design and release bigger maps; the balance of distances is good, you never feel you are just walking around with no real goal, but it doesn't feel cramped up in one place either.
I certainly hope that all coming patches are just for content and performance tweaking. So far weapons feel balanced out, a couple of people already has "end game" weapons and perks; and you never get the feeling they have an unfair advantage. I have almost finished unlocking the assault tree, but kept playing with the starter rifle and have never said "well once I get the good guns, I'll do better".
I have yet to try Squad deathmatch, but I don't think it's a game mode that lends itself for pubbing. with guildmates or friends it should be a blast.
Vehicular gameplay is amazing; all vehicles repond fast, handle well and facilitate teamwork with good players. Vehicles with no support are going to be death traps, but even random support can extend your life expectancy and team superiority greatly. focused, planned support will lead to victories for sure. Now more than ever, don't leave base without an engie. If you can't get friends or clannies, forego the extra weapons and choose armor enhancement for the time being; the machine gun is not going to save you from a ton of RPG volleys.
I'd recommend if you are going to call in old guildmates to this game: go in with no preconceived notions, relearn the game, try to enjoy it as a different game and pretend it's the first battlefield you play. you can pub around effectively and still pull a win from time to time, but this game shines when you have a cohesive unit of players; a single squad can turn around the tide of battle.
Minor complaint: DICE hurry the hell up and release a ten dollar booster mod of 2142 with Titan, or start working on BF3 already but keep it like this; if somebody were to ever condone a developer slapping a couple features on a game and call it a sequel, this is the time. This just needs jets, comrose and 64 players on somewhat bigger maps; and you can put the 3 after Battlefield, and no one will complain.
PS: if you can't work around prone; you can leave it out; no one is missing it after choosing war tapes from the sound options.
That stated: This game rocks. Rocks like KISS when they rocked.
My expectations were the usual stuff back before installing the beta. It's a DICE game right? It's going to be fun but it's going to have a ton of bugs, it's gonna be patched late, it's going to be fun then they are going to release a patch that will break the game completely without solving bugs present from the beta.
Boy I was wrong.
Say what you want; that the beta wasn't perfect, that it wasn't really a beta, that the game doesn't show anything new and is dumbed down, etc. Compared to past PC games DICE has released it's as perfect as you going to get.
The PC beta had issues like any other game, and every other DICE game. DICE has always seemed to me like the kind of developer that goes "Ok, you are all good in your not so constructive griticism, I ama let oyu finish ranting; but we want to do the game one way: our way" and goes and does it.
Most of the time is fun, sometimes it gets irritating that they neglect to fix blatant shortcomings in their code. there are the dolphin dive and air superiority issues as prime examples.
Now, BF Bad Company 2 multiplayer beta. RC1 was almost as good, if not better; than BF2142 patch 1.50 in terms of stability and overall performance, very hard to judge; you could see it was incomplete, but the potential was there all the way to RC4.
Now on release post day 1 patch: It's simply awesome; performance is still sketchy since the game works better when you play it on higher settings; my meager E8400 on 2 GB of value ram and an aging GF7950GT are capable of running this thing at steady 30 fps; it's not perfect, but for a newly released game, on a new engine; getting this framerate is amazing. Antialiasing is more of a luxury and not a necessity if you are playing on HD resolutions; the equivalent computer from the early BF2 days didn't give this performance on that game; I had to upgrade twice during BF2 lifetime to get acceptable framerates while playing; here I am looking at a complete computer upgrade, but only to future proof for BF3whenever.
Single player so far is fun, haven't finished it mostly because I went and sunk aw hole night on multiplayer; but it continues the sillyness of the first game and the main characters are as funny as ever; plenty of jabs at other gaming genres, and FPS competitors. It's like they are aware they are in a generic FPS, and run with it for all it's worth.
and the star of the show, Multiplayer: I can tell you this, DICe has everything already to bring on the next generation Battlefield to PC and consoles, and no other developer will be able to compete. CoD would have to completely overhaul its mechanics and get a new graphical engine, MoH is simply another spec of dust in the market after this, I can't picture the new MoH stealing any player from BC2 in the near future, much less in the long run.
It's certainly not the traditional BF experience, but it's not dumbed down, it's not simplified. I'd say it's streamlined.
If they just added 32 more players, and jets following the new balance paradigm; they could get away with calling it BF3 and sell a funkton of copies on day one.
Even with the current lagfest that is the ranked servers from EA, hit reg is as good as on the best BF2 days; not as good as on console demo, but better than past BFs over the internet. Very seldomly will you find yourself blaming the engine for not killing the guy you clearly saw aiming at you; it's down to each player ability, no more rage over dust shots; going 10/12 kdr on 250 ping is reasonable I guess.
One thing refreshing to see, is full map rotation. If admins are looking for the next karkand, please, keep looking for at least a year beacuse playing all themaps is real fun. Highlights to Laguna Alta, Ataca desert on conquest (my guess as the favorite conquest server for 32 players; you get 4 tanks and 2 choppers, tough not blackhawks)
Maps on the pictures look real small; but on practice they allow for a lot of flanking maneuvers; the fact they were designed for 24 players and not 32 shows through sometimes, but it's not a deal breaker. When you get past the 64 player fragfest nostalgia and start comparing them to 32 player maps on BF2 instead of the 64 version, you'll stop raging and start enjoying. The desert map is the one with the most "useless" space but it's good since it has a lot of armor.
At least for PC DICE can at any time design and release bigger maps; the balance of distances is good, you never feel you are just walking around with no real goal, but it doesn't feel cramped up in one place either.
I certainly hope that all coming patches are just for content and performance tweaking. So far weapons feel balanced out, a couple of people already has "end game" weapons and perks; and you never get the feeling they have an unfair advantage. I have almost finished unlocking the assault tree, but kept playing with the starter rifle and have never said "well once I get the good guns, I'll do better".
I have yet to try Squad deathmatch, but I don't think it's a game mode that lends itself for pubbing. with guildmates or friends it should be a blast.
Vehicular gameplay is amazing; all vehicles repond fast, handle well and facilitate teamwork with good players. Vehicles with no support are going to be death traps, but even random support can extend your life expectancy and team superiority greatly. focused, planned support will lead to victories for sure. Now more than ever, don't leave base without an engie. If you can't get friends or clannies, forego the extra weapons and choose armor enhancement for the time being; the machine gun is not going to save you from a ton of RPG volleys.
I'd recommend if you are going to call in old guildmates to this game: go in with no preconceived notions, relearn the game, try to enjoy it as a different game and pretend it's the first battlefield you play. you can pub around effectively and still pull a win from time to time, but this game shines when you have a cohesive unit of players; a single squad can turn around the tide of battle.
Minor complaint: DICE hurry the hell up and release a ten dollar booster mod of 2142 with Titan, or start working on BF3 already but keep it like this; if somebody were to ever condone a developer slapping a couple features on a game and call it a sequel, this is the time. This just needs jets, comrose and 64 players on somewhat bigger maps; and you can put the 3 after Battlefield, and no one will complain.
PS: if you can't work around prone; you can leave it out; no one is missing it after choosing war tapes from the sound options.
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--->:hmm:-->:|:--->(ohno)-->:rawr--->:facepalm:
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