So I bought Special Forces today...

[WarGimp]

And since I'm such a forum whore, I thought I'd share my first thoughts.

Those people who have been complaining so bitterly about vehicles should definatly check it out. On all the maps I've played tonight, infantry Rule. Yeah, capital R Rule.

I'm amazed at some of the potential elements in the SF maps. Get a functional squad going with spec opps, an assualt, and well supported and you can go anywhere on a map... and quickly!

Takes teamwork tho. The assualt guy can throw hooks 'n get off the ground right away. The whole squad can get up right away! Then the spec opps fires off a zip-line while Mr. Assault get's resuplied.

There's been some thought put into this.
I'm shocked.

UNFORTUNATLY

The complexity of the maps puts an extra load on my sub-standared equipment. The reports of it causing a preformance hit are true. If you're running BF2 fine, you might have to drop the graphics in order to maintain FPS.

I haven't come up against a bug yet... not one that wasn't native to BF2 anyway. The install sucked. A lot. The way the use disk space during install is very strange.

I'm not sure if I am too fond of some the maps for the same reason that I think it will appeal to anti-vehicle people. It really does feel more "CSy" to me. Lots more run and gun. Fun in it's own style, but I started to crave that other element that vehicles add.

I did get my first ATV kill. That was cool.

Other than that, I only have on thing left to say (for now):

I F:censored:king HATE night maps!!!!!

I was expecting this, so it's no great suprise. Purely personal taste, but it need to be said. :p

[WarGimp]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

Oh!
Do I think it's worth my money?
Honestly, I think it's most worth it because it adds elements that can be built on. I'm gonna have some fun with that F2000 (sorry, but it truely is a fun weapon).

Bottom line: It was worth it if it's going to help support the franchise (and comunity).

[Flipya54]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

DUDE, YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE BEST PART OF SF!!!!!






LMAO

[18Zulukiller]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

Nice to read your post ive also got special forces today well sort of the mrs bought it for christmas for me. Here's a little trick for you though i learned from Americas Army that might help you try messing around with your visual settings if you get them just right you wont need to use night vision hardly ever. Well it worked in AA it might work in bf2 special forces. Hmmm try this as well if someone throws a flashbang at you try turning into a wall to minimise the effects

[Sneaky Assassin]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

If you set your gamma to high to try and see in dark it reduces the view distance.

[Kayback]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

Well I've just nabbed SF, and I must say I am sorely dissapoined. They could have done SO much with this, yet it seems like they slapped it together to put it on the shelves as soon as possible, and then they still made the game less real and more cartoony.

My biggest disapointment was the Mi -24 Hind. I believe they used a Hind E model in the game, the one with the steerable rotary cannon. Basically they have given you a big Mi -28. The Hind's shole claim to fame is the fact it is a gunship AND a troop carrier. Oh that would make it more powerful than the American helicopters ? Really? Guess what, IT IS!

I personally would have preffered a Hind F model in the game. Not quite as useful as the D/ E, but listen for a second. The Hind F doesn't have a steerable nose cannon. What does it have you ask? 2 hull mounted 30mm cannons that can only point where the helicopter points.

Think about this. Pilot gets the 30mm cannon. The gunner gets his TV guided Spiral missiles, and the unguided missile pods. What does this do? It seriously alters the dynamics of the helicopter. Oh no, people would have a new learning curve I hear you say? Well isn't that part the fun? Without the steerable cannon the helocpter will have to be flown more dynamically, they can't hover and rape a flag. They'd have to use their squad to go capture the flag. Oh the horror!

The pilot and gunner would have to learn a new way of working together. BUT NO! Heaves why should we do something revolutionary. Lets make another attack helicopter thats 100% like the others.

If they wanted to even things up, they could have included the AH-60L attack Hawk.

Then we get onto the wonderful things like the Gasmask and the NVGs. What is the point of the Gasmasks? Personally I just drop my mask on and play. You don't lose much if any peripheral vision, so why not? I've nerv been gasses in the entire time I've played SF (Both minutes of it:) )

And whats with putting the mask on in a vehicle. THe LAV, M1A1, T90 and the like are all sealed. Whats with the lets wear our gasmasks inside an NCB sealed vehicle. I do understand wearing when you get OUT, but why couldn't they just animate that?

Then they have flashbangs causing more blindness to guys wearing NVGs. Like they will intensify any light you see regardless. My Cobra civilian NVG's are only second gen and they have auto cut outs for bright light. I'm fairly sure a military set which is 3rd gen will also have this. They do go all black, but that's cos they turn off, and then turn on again almost instantly once the light source has gone away.

And whoever thought up the new badges nees a smack. Lets rename them your "Flashbang spammers" badge. Wow. YOu nanaged to fire 10 whole flashbangs. Congratulations. You are 1337 now.

The maps are also too small and too linear. IMHO there was always an element of running around the enemy and taking ground off them from behind. The new maps seem very restrictive in where you can go before youre leaving the battlefield soldier!

I haven't seen too much of the new vehicles. The new 3 SAW armed ATV seems pretty good, nice one Israel. The single person ATV's are a GL gunners dream come true. A single 40mm will not only kill the driver, but blow up the ATV as well.

I personally also think the G36K, G36E, G36M and whatever else they used on the G36 was a major cop out. They all look like the orignal G36C with some extra bits skinned on.

And overall I wasn't impressed with the weapon skins anyway. They all look rushed, unfinished and totally unimpressive. Even on like 1024x768 with everything on high.

KBK

[Kayback]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

Halpin pointed out that secret underage shoppers were turned down 56 percent of the time — nearly three times the number rejected in a 2000 study.

[Kayback]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

Well I've just nabbed SF, and I must say I am sorely dissapoined. They could have done SO much with this, yet it seems like they slapped it together to put it on the shelves as soon as possible, and then they still made the game less real and more cartoony.

My biggest disapointment was the Mi -24 Hind. I believe they used a Hind E model in the game, the one with the steerable rotary cannon. Basically they have given you a big Mi -28. The Hind's shole claim to fame is the fact it is a gunship AND a troop carrier. Oh that would make it more powerful than the American helicopters ? Really? Guess what, IT IS!

I personally would have preffered a Hind F model in the game. Not quite as useful as the D/ E, but listen for a second. The Hind F doesn't have a steerable nose cannon. What does it have you ask? 2 hull mounted 30mm cannons that can only point where the helicopter points.

Think about this. Pilot gets the 30mm cannon. The gunner gets his TV guided Spiral missiles, and the unguided missile pods. What does this do? It seriously alters the dynamics of the helicopter. Oh no, people would have a new learning curve I hear you say? Well isn't that part the fun? Without the steerable cannon the helocpter will have to be flown more dynamically, they can't hover and rape a flag. They'd have to use their squad to go capture the flag. Oh the horror!

The pilot and gunner would have to learn a new way of working together. BUT NO! Heaves why should we do something revolutionary. Lets make another attack helicopter thats 100% like the others.

If they wanted to even things up, they could have included the AH-60L attack Hawk.

Then we get onto the wonderful things like the Gasmask and the NVGs. What is the point of the Gasmasks? Personally I just drop my mask on and play. You don't lose much if any peripheral vision, so why not? I've nerv been gasses in the entire time I've played SF (Both minutes of it:) )

And whats with putting the mask on in a vehicle. THe LAV, M1A1, T90 and the like are all sealed. Whats with the lets wear our gasmasks inside an NCB sealed vehicle. I do understand wearing when you get OUT, but why couldn't they just animate that?

Then they have flashbangs causing more blindness to guys wearing NVGs. Like they will intensify any light you see regardless. My Cobra civilian NVG's are only second gen and they have auto cut outs for bright light. I'm fairly sure a military set which is 3rd gen will also have this. They do go all black, but that's cos they turn off, and then turn on again almost instantly once the light source has gone away.

And whatever idiot thought up the new badges needs his head read. Lets just call it the "Flashbang Spammer Award". 'Tards.
Oooh, so you can throw 10 flashbangs in a round. Good for you.

The maps are also too small and too linear. IMHO there was always an element of running around the enemy and taking ground off them from behind. The new maps seem very restrictive in where you can go before youre leaving the battlefield soldier!

KBK

[imported_Rafterman]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

I agree, I've been very pleased with SF. The intensity of the matches is far and above anything I've experienced with BF2.

As far as the comment about the maps being too linear - my experience has been just the opposite. I found the vanilla maps to be very linear -- you always know where the threat will be coming from. In SF, because there's so much water, ziplines, adn grapples, guys can come at you from any direction at any time. Hell, one time I was guarding a flag and an entire squad ziplined in on me from 5 different directions.

All in all, very satisfied and I would recommend it to anyone.

[Wild_Wokman]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

I bought BF2:SF last night(11/30/05), and I really like it. I got it on sale at Best Buy for $24.99. The night maps are cool. You can't see crap until you are right on top of people and that is how it is in real life. On the high settings, the game really looks cool. I really like the grapple hook which will stop some of the bottle necks in some maps, and allow for surprise attacks or ambushs. The AI on single player seems to be a little better too.

[Auto-ER-]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

Kayback, did you think for a second that the new G36 family guns all look like the G36C because....they are? Did you whine because all the AK's look the same, or the M16's?

RL MA1's, LAV, and APCs are nopt sealed, as a matter of fact they have internal NBC systems inside them in case of chemical attacks.

An no our NVGs didn't have any "autocut out"

The textures are the same.

It's a good expansion.

[livilaNic]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

SF pWnZ! I wrote alot more but it signed me out. So..............

[sleazell]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

SF is great especially for infantry. You don't have to worry about fly boys dropping bombs on you for starters. It is not linear at all. With the zip lines and grappling hooks you can make your own path towards the flag. All the maps are good which you can't say about BF2. Iron Gator may be difficult for the MEC SF but once you cap a flag on the ship it is a great battle. The night vision takes some time getting use to but its great when you do. you just have to get use to flipping it on and off quickly (change the default key from 7 cuz it sucks having it that far away). Its worth the 30 bucks.

[chimptits]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

i just got it yesterday too

i think its super fun

counterstrike on crack :), i love it

[Jesse]

Re: So I bought Special Forces today...

DUDE, YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE BEST PART OF SF!!!!!


(Removed insanely large picture from quote because....it's an insanely large picture, go look at the post I quoted from to see the pic)



LMAO

Hey look, it's a reskinned station wagon that SHIPPED WITH BF2 VANILLA! Although I agree, that would probably be the best part of SF to me. Can't say how much fun I had with Lada's in Desert Combat...ok, so I had those serverside modded to have the speed and handling of a rally car, but that's beside the point. :p

As for the thread, an honest opinion. The whole concept of BF2 all has a lot of potential, there's no denying this engine COULD do many more things. It just takes so many circumstances for some to come together, some aren't even implemented at all yet the engine leaves the potential, which I believe mods will explore this to the fullest (no way EA is going to do that until about the 5th expansion or so, they have to save some of their original ideas from BF2 to make more expansions :P). The system requirements don't surprise me. From the screenshots I've seen, you have what...10 times the static objects or more just laying around? Definately a performance issue there on all systems, especially in an engine that isn't terribly optimized. The maps being infantry-ish, I think it's kind of cheap they are taking away the notion that makes Battlefield the series it is: Vehicles. Yeah, other games have them, but it's one of the main points in the game since the beginning of 1942. If you see a vehicle, you can get in it, and it has been an integral part up until now it seems. Guess that's to appeal to the CS-style players. But if I wanted flashbangs and junk, I'd go buy SWAT 4.