Well, despite being skeptical about purchasing Bad Company 2, I did buy it yesterday and played it for a few hours. Here are my thoughts.
Graphics
All I can say is, for the lag I get, the graphics are not that amazing. Being completely honest, I run games that look twice as good as Bad Company 2 extremely smoothly, while I only get about 30 fps in BC2. It's still playable, but for how it looks I really think it should run better - and yes, that's with all of the config tweaks. With that said, some aspects of the game do look extremely nice, especially explosions. Taking down the side of a building with an M203, even on low detail, still looks awesome. Finally, I really think that the maps are too shiny. I've turned bloom off, but the maps still seem to almost glow, and it is really unappealing sometimes.
Map Design
Maps are hit and miss. While I'm currently drawing a blank on the names, some are very well done, while others just seem like a complete mess. Furthermore, with the way the uncaps work, baserape is extremely common and easy. Other maps, however, offer players a variety of routes to a flag, and while the maps don't offer players the freedom that previous titles offered, it's not [always] Call of Duty-sized maps. In general, I absolutely hate the winter maps. To me they look terrible and lack color (White Pass being my main example) while the desert/urban maps looks much better.
Gameplay
Most of the time that I've spent playing has been spent with a couple of my Call of Duty 4 teammates, so we're extremely used to working with eachother. Being able to coordinate attacks on different flags and ensure that we're always stocked up on ammo and med kits is absolutely amazing. One thing I like about the game is that [without bandolier] players have very limited ammunition, so it requires cooperation to make sure that everybody is armed. While teamwork is encouraged, the squad system is very, very poor in my opinion. While players are rewarded an extra few points for attacking the targeted flag or resupplying/healing squadmates, the system just seems very shallow. If a player joins our squad before we can lock it we are unable to kick them, we can't put move markers, it just feels very basic coming from Battlefield 2 and 2142.
Furthermore, the spotting system is hit and miss as well. It's nice to be able to quickly tap Q to spot an enemy, but sometimes it fails to spot. Also, I miss the comma-rose that players had in BF2, where you could call for ammo/repairs/etc. without having to search for a nearby player with the required kit. Speaking of which, what exactly is the point of the medic class having a health pack when there's regenerating health? Along with that, I wish that the game would turn black and white and/or blurry when you're incapacitated - rather than switching to another screen only to be revived. It's very awkward to be looking at the map when all of the sudden you're alive again - until you're completely dead, you should remain in your first person view.
The infantry combat seems a bit clumsy, but that's not a complete negative. This allows you to get the full experience of moving from cover to cover as you try to spot and eliminate the enemy while not being immediately picked off. This might change a bit over time, but the weapons are much weaker than those that I'm used to in Call of Duty, which as I said is good and bad - bad when you put 4+ rounds into somebody only to have them run up and knife you.
In general, I'm glad that the game promotes teamwork, especially with certain gadgets such as the tracer dart and recon drone. While I've never ban a fan of ranks and points, the rewards for repairing friendly vehicles and resupplying teammates are big enough to promote players to work as a team - even if it's not for the right reasons.
Sound
The sound is pretty mediocre. I'm not sure if it's BC2 not properly recognizing my surround sound headphones or if it's just me being spoiled with CoD4's impeccable sound, but I find it difficult to discern the direction of shots and vehicle sounds. Granted, I'm currently playing on headphone quality to improve my FPS, but even when I had it on Hifi and Home Cinema I really didn't notice much change.
Vehicles
I must say, I'm very impressed with the vehicles - at least most of them. The ATV's suspensions is absolutely amazing, and it's incredibly fun to drive around with a teammate on the back. The tanks and APC's feel powerful, but I'm not a fan of how quickly the cannons overheat. Unless you have a gun you're pretty much useless against infantry, and that seems absurd. As for the choppers, I had a chance to fly and gun with a teammate (The apache and it's counterpart for the OpFor) and I must say - the flying is absolute garbage. If anybody can help me invert the Y controls, please explain how - because it's ridiculous. The choppers feel extremely slow, clunky, and are terribly difficult to maneuver. While the cannon is quite powerful, it doesn't make up for the poor flying mechanics.
Overall impressions
Despite all my criticisms, the game is still extremely fun. Playing with a bunch of friends is very rewarding - to be assaulting a base and call out a sniper up top where a teammate decimates the wall is very entertaining. And while the server browser and punkbuster are complete fail, when you end up finding a good server the gameplay makes up for it. I give it an 8.5/10
Some gameplay footage (sorry for the video kinda failing, I lag and my mic doesn't work when I record!)
Lunchboxes!
Your friendly neighborhood jihaders:
Graphics
All I can say is, for the lag I get, the graphics are not that amazing. Being completely honest, I run games that look twice as good as Bad Company 2 extremely smoothly, while I only get about 30 fps in BC2. It's still playable, but for how it looks I really think it should run better - and yes, that's with all of the config tweaks. With that said, some aspects of the game do look extremely nice, especially explosions. Taking down the side of a building with an M203, even on low detail, still looks awesome. Finally, I really think that the maps are too shiny. I've turned bloom off, but the maps still seem to almost glow, and it is really unappealing sometimes.
Map Design
Maps are hit and miss. While I'm currently drawing a blank on the names, some are very well done, while others just seem like a complete mess. Furthermore, with the way the uncaps work, baserape is extremely common and easy. Other maps, however, offer players a variety of routes to a flag, and while the maps don't offer players the freedom that previous titles offered, it's not [always] Call of Duty-sized maps. In general, I absolutely hate the winter maps. To me they look terrible and lack color (White Pass being my main example) while the desert/urban maps looks much better.
Gameplay
Most of the time that I've spent playing has been spent with a couple of my Call of Duty 4 teammates, so we're extremely used to working with eachother. Being able to coordinate attacks on different flags and ensure that we're always stocked up on ammo and med kits is absolutely amazing. One thing I like about the game is that [without bandolier] players have very limited ammunition, so it requires cooperation to make sure that everybody is armed. While teamwork is encouraged, the squad system is very, very poor in my opinion. While players are rewarded an extra few points for attacking the targeted flag or resupplying/healing squadmates, the system just seems very shallow. If a player joins our squad before we can lock it we are unable to kick them, we can't put move markers, it just feels very basic coming from Battlefield 2 and 2142.
Furthermore, the spotting system is hit and miss as well. It's nice to be able to quickly tap Q to spot an enemy, but sometimes it fails to spot. Also, I miss the comma-rose that players had in BF2, where you could call for ammo/repairs/etc. without having to search for a nearby player with the required kit. Speaking of which, what exactly is the point of the medic class having a health pack when there's regenerating health? Along with that, I wish that the game would turn black and white and/or blurry when you're incapacitated - rather than switching to another screen only to be revived. It's very awkward to be looking at the map when all of the sudden you're alive again - until you're completely dead, you should remain in your first person view.
The infantry combat seems a bit clumsy, but that's not a complete negative. This allows you to get the full experience of moving from cover to cover as you try to spot and eliminate the enemy while not being immediately picked off. This might change a bit over time, but the weapons are much weaker than those that I'm used to in Call of Duty, which as I said is good and bad - bad when you put 4+ rounds into somebody only to have them run up and knife you.
In general, I'm glad that the game promotes teamwork, especially with certain gadgets such as the tracer dart and recon drone. While I've never ban a fan of ranks and points, the rewards for repairing friendly vehicles and resupplying teammates are big enough to promote players to work as a team - even if it's not for the right reasons.
Sound
The sound is pretty mediocre. I'm not sure if it's BC2 not properly recognizing my surround sound headphones or if it's just me being spoiled with CoD4's impeccable sound, but I find it difficult to discern the direction of shots and vehicle sounds. Granted, I'm currently playing on headphone quality to improve my FPS, but even when I had it on Hifi and Home Cinema I really didn't notice much change.
Vehicles
I must say, I'm very impressed with the vehicles - at least most of them. The ATV's suspensions is absolutely amazing, and it's incredibly fun to drive around with a teammate on the back. The tanks and APC's feel powerful, but I'm not a fan of how quickly the cannons overheat. Unless you have a gun you're pretty much useless against infantry, and that seems absurd. As for the choppers, I had a chance to fly and gun with a teammate (The apache and it's counterpart for the OpFor) and I must say - the flying is absolute garbage. If anybody can help me invert the Y controls, please explain how - because it's ridiculous. The choppers feel extremely slow, clunky, and are terribly difficult to maneuver. While the cannon is quite powerful, it doesn't make up for the poor flying mechanics.
Overall impressions
Despite all my criticisms, the game is still extremely fun. Playing with a bunch of friends is very rewarding - to be assaulting a base and call out a sniper up top where a teammate decimates the wall is very entertaining. And while the server browser and punkbuster are complete fail, when you end up finding a good server the gameplay makes up for it. I give it an 8.5/10
Some gameplay footage (sorry for the video kinda failing, I lag and my mic doesn't work when I record!)
Lunchboxes!
Your friendly neighborhood jihaders:
Comment