Battlefield Bad Company 2; misstep or flanking maneuver?

So two strangers walking across a desert meet and decide they'll walk the next hundred miles or so together to the nearest town. The both have plenty of water for the trip but one is carrying a car door. The two men talk about a variety of topics for about an hour when they finally run out of conversation.

After about twenty minutes of silence, one man turns to the other carrying the car door and says, "Listen, I've been meaning to ask you, whats the deal with carrying the car door?"

Without blinking he replies, "If it gets too hot in here, I'll roll down the window."

Stupid joke, but with a point. Is something really something because we're told it is.

DICE, the company developing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 appeared to jump on the complaints from PC gamers over Infinity Ward's decision to exclude dedicated servers and instead build in a matchmaking system for Modern Warfare 2.

Don't worry DICE said, our game will have dedicated servers and players can continue to enjoy the legacy of the Battlefield series.

Although it was the battle call against Infinity Ward, the multiplayer portion only headlined a list of complaints from the serious wing of first person shooter fans which included; an omission of leaning and being able to heal thyself from bullet wounds simply by ducking out of the battle for a minute or so. None of these appeared to adjustable in the options menu.

Now the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta/demo has come out and while the promise of dedicated servers is still on the table, there appears to be no opportunity to lean or go prone, both of which were in previous titles in the series.

Will the dedicated servers be enough of an incentive for players to look past such shortcomings? Maybe the further enhancement of a destructable environment will help players along the map to forgiveness.

Then again, there are those players that find the smallest thing to complain about in forums and swear to never buy another game from the development company concerned.

Let the gaming soap opera begin.

Deserved criticism, surprised praise

Finally picked up the February issue of PC Gamer this weekend.

All the excitement has been sucked out of going to the bookstore to buy a gaming magazine. It was but three years ago (maybe) two or three titles would dot the rack, all with their own sneaks, previews and different takes on the PC gaming universe.

Sure we all complained about the hype and the occassional bias apparently given for those behind the scene stories, but at least there were choices between reviews and articles. Best of all, there was a lot to help with that gaming fix.

Now its just PC Gamer, and while its a good magazine staffed by people who obviously love PC games, its a title produced between the British and American offices with no clear line between who is who.

Some Sanity, At Last
Affirmation can come in many forms, mine came with the PC Gamer review of Modern Warfare 2. One would think with all the unquestionable praise from its base of PC players the game would get an 'Editors Choice' moniker. There are no dedicated servers but the ingenuity of the limited mutliplayer and revolutionary single player help overlook any shortcomings, the fans claim.

Not according to Tom Francis.

'You can duck behind cover and wait for the bullet wounds to wear off, just like in a real war. Its fun for a while but not indefinitely. When MW2 tries for an atmosphere of explosive pendemonium, it absolutely nails it-but at the expense of any tactical freedom, space to think or choice about where to go.'

Although Francis liked some of the set pieces, such as the much talked about coop play with the AC-130 gunship, the game wasn't everything the forums had claimed. For something that screamed off the shelves in record numbers, it only reached 80% in the final opinion of PC Gamer.

The reviewer could have been publishing my opinions about Modern Warfare with this same review. I bought MW on sale at Steam with the sole purpose to see if I was missing out on anything as MW2 made headlines in conventional newpapers such as USA Today. I had previously dropped out of the Call of Duty series some time back feeling the same that I felt aftter playing MW; Great linear play with some exciting moments, but pretty much leaving an empty feeling afterwards.

In complete contrast, when I finished Dead Space it took all the willpower, as well as a stack of unplayed games, not to dive right back in and play through it again.

Modern Warfare hasn't been booted up since my first play through.

World War 2, but in a good way
What did catch my eye in the current issue of PC Gamer was the review for Saboteur. The open world, GTA-style game has the player sneaking, killing and blowing up his way through Germany-occupied Paris.

This much lesser known title snuck away with a rating of 86% with the gameplay sounding much more like Thief than any GTA game. The graphics look good from the pictures and website, gameplay appears consistent and the voice acting is spot on, according to the review.

Once I get through the multitide of titles that have downloaded themselves onto my hardrive, I'll have to look at Saboteur. Who knows, maybe by then it'll be on sale!

Pre-order of Battlefield: Bad Company promises unlocks and beta access

With modern pc game releases developers have to 'have game' before they sell their game.

As digital distribution has taken off so has the early marketing of new titles. Case in point. Battlefied: Bad Company has both Steam and Direct 2 Drive offering six unlocked talents as well as access to the beta at the end of January.

Yes, my fellow gamer, if you plunk down your $50 now, you can be a beta tester for EA on January 28th.

The ironic twist to this tactic is that its not really needed. Battlefield: Bad Company has caused quite a stir among the FPS fans. It has the heritage of following a long line of illustrious Battlefield titles (well if we exclude Battlefields Vietnam and 2142) and even becoming a standard to which other games would strive for.

How many times were gamers told a new title would have the same playability of battlefield?

In that sense, fans who were going to buy the game anyway end up with a bonus pack of sorts.

The six unlocks are;

Improved Vehicle Armor: An up-armor package is mounted on all vehicle types, decreasing the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability.

Supreme Vehicle Firepower: Additional weapon packages are mounted for the driver of all armored vehicles, greatly expanding the range of targets the vehicle can successfully engage and destroy.
 
Vehicle Motion Sensor: Use this electronics warfare package to locate enemy units in direct proximity to the vehicle.

Tracer Dart Pistol: This magnetic dart attaches to any vehicle surface, allowing squad members to track, lock on, and fire rockets onto moving targets even beyond line of sight.
 
M1A1 Sub-machine Gun: Reliable but heavy this classic weapon is a powerful force in the hands of any Battlefield veteran.
 
M1911 Pistol: Highly customized M1911 are favoured for its dependability and the power of its large .45 caliber round.

The latest incarnation of Battlefield will bring a new dimension to the game however such as the Frostbite-enabled Destruction 2.0 system, allowing players to take down entire buildings, creating custom fire points by blasting holes through cover. Also sure to bring teamplay back into the online shooter, the match which pits four-player teams in two squad-only game modes.
 
And the Infinity Ward's last minute exclusion of dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2 has guaranteed B: BC will have flexible multiplayer abilities.
 
While MW2 took the world by storm with massive sales and non-pc praise, B:BC could have many saying MW who? by summer.