Joab’s written up his thoughts on Battlefield Bad Company 2’s beta already
here. But wait - there's more. Here’s some additional notes from yours truly. We’re going from the worst aspects to the best, because who doesn’t like a happy ending?
Be sure to let us know what you like - and what you'd want to see fixed - in the comments. EA does pay attention to this stuff, so you never know how far your brilliant suggestion could go.
The bad
The infernal server browser
The problem with making DICE the champions of dedicated server FPS is the server browser in BFBC2’s beta
blows. Sure, it will eventually work properly (we hope) – that’s what “beta” means – but being able to select by ping time would be nice. In the time we’ve played the beta there has been improvements – initially “play now” was your best option, seeing as manually selecting servers was apparently a crazy idea. That's been fixed, and if you're willing to hack with an .ini file, you can always make your own favourite list that works. Any more lo-fi and we'll be writing down server IPs on a piece of paper.
Glitched graphics (YMMV)
Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s my PC. Maybe it’s Windows 7. Maybe it’s-you get the picture. Weird texture issues, including flashing chunks of terrain is never fun. If DICE choose to send me into action via parachute drop – thus affording me a panoramic view of most of the map – it means any flaws get exposed right off the bat. A driver update or two later and I
still can’t shake the weird artefacts I get on the respawn/class select screen. Battlefield players with decent memories know how prone these kind of annoying issues are to end up in the retail version.
Arbitrary control foolishness
Your first steps in BFBC2 may not fill you with optimism. A quick ripple of the strafe keys while sprinting forwards reveals movement has been hampered somewhat – you can only sprint in a straight line and need to use the mouse to change your heading. It feels wierd. You can strafe all you like when moving at normal speed though.
The concept of toggle is for sissies, clearly, so if you want to stay crouched, you better be ready to hold down the key. If you want to go prone, you better start emailing DICE, because BFBC2 isn’t optimised for prone – presumably the last desperate act of a developer trying to stop dolphin diving players from flopping around in this game. It doesn't stop idiots from jumping around when you shoot at them however.
UI and other stuff you don't worry about
There's also a slight slap on the wrist to whoever designed the in-game menu logic. Call me crazy, but I'd rather filter servers in the browser *before* the game starts manically refreshing a massive server list. Also, when a map is finished it would be nice to have a big obvious option to disconnect and quit back to the game's main menu from the summary screen - rather than having to join the next game (or alt-F4) and exit that way. And yeah - when I'm quickly trying to hit up control options in the heat of battle, it would be great if sliders like mouse sensitivity responded sharply to me dragging them, rather than them sliding along in their own time. Quite a fiddly exercise when you're fine tuning..
Perhaps the option is there and I'm blind - but if it isn't and the game ships and people are forced to load a whole new map before being able to quit - that won't be pleasant.
Bad, but not DICE’s fault
Laggy server=death
Do yourself a favour – don’t even think of playing on an overseas server if you’re serious about enjoying the game. While BFBC2's current lack of a ping figure makes it hard to figure out which servers are fast and which aren’t (I ended up looking for ones that had my town’s name in them) you’ll know a good one when you find it. Everything seems smoother. The destructible terrain might have something to do with this as well. Not only is the game tracking the actions of all the players – their movement, their projectiles – now it’s also broadcasting information on the tree some guy in a tank just blew over as well.
Signs you’re on a bad pinging server: dropping frames at inexplicable times, inconsistent rego, and an even more horrendous than usual kill:death ratio.
BUT: we regard this as unavoidable. A wise man once said “You cannot change the laws of physics, Captain.” The alternative appears to be heavy client-side prediction a-la Modern Warfare 2 – which to be fair does a terrific job of concealing the fact you’ve connected to a host in Uzbekistan…until you notice they’re stabbing you in the face from 20 metres away. Try that in BFBC2 and you’ll quickly figure out you need to connect to a closer continent.
Your fellow players
Maybe it’s the honeymoon effect, but the players I’ve encountered in BFBC2’s beta have been pretty well behaved. However there's plenty of evidence of an impending clash of FPS cultures. In one corner are the BF vets, who take advantage of the 'join a squad' option in the loading screen and immediately race to the vehicles. Then there's the crowd more influenced by Modern Warfare or Counter-Strike. They'll normally opt for a sniper rifle and spend half the map on the blasted idiotic hill that has "SNIPER HERE" plastered across it, wondering why they keep dying. Or they might opt for the assault kit and spend half the map getting blasted by tanks or enemy snipers trying to rack up a few cheap frags with the grenade launcher (which is every bit as devastating as other games' noob tubes). However many battles this second kind of player wins, the war will usually go the other way.
For now, everything is relatively friendly, but the game could do with spelling it out for players used to big flashing arrows and waypoints. Yes - the game does put your objectives - as well as terms like "attack" or "hold" - on your HUD, but clearly the message isn't getting through. Expect a Darwinian process of elimination to take place, which is a shame as:
The good
This is a "real" Battlefield game
Don't be fooled by the existence of console versions or the name, this does justice to the steep learning curve and flexibility of Battlefield 2142/2/Vietnam and 1942. Get on a decent server, spend an hour or so acclimatising to the more sombre, no-nonsense way BFBC2 handles its business, and it grows on you. Crappy server browser, graphic flaws and odd menu logic can't stop this being a legit contender for hardcore FPS fans time in the next year or so.
Admittedly, I was spoiled somewhat. Within seconds of my first ever BFBC2 spawn, I saw an enemy plough a flaming chopper into the ground a stone's throw away from me. That's a pretty atmospheric reintroduction to the series.
Port Valdez
There’s an art to figuring out which map(s) you roll out in a beta. The map has to be memorable, it has to bring out the playing quality of the game, and show off the experience in a good light. It has to inspire. Gulf of Oman in Battlefield 2 did this. Many of us stood on that aircraft carrier deck watching planes scream overhead and knew we were watching FPS gaming taking a bold new step.
Trudging past the through the snow-capped bush of the beta map - Port Valdez - in BFBC2 doesn’t evoke the same feelings of awe, of unlimited possibility. Rather than the “holy crap it’s all happening” feeling, it’s more focused. Valdez grows on you though. The "Rush" game mode included within the game basically is like a control point tug-of-war, and the map works well in this regard. Its scope dwarfs your average Modern Warfare 2 outing, and you'll find the terrain and combat requirements change drastically depending on which part of the map is currently being contested.
Hardcore mode
Hey, I'll be the first to admit whenever I join a hardcore server my kill:death ratio plunges, but you have to love DICE for catering to truly hardcore FPS fans. No HUD and lethal weaponry make for a much more tense experience. Snipers have ample compensation for no prone mode, with the ability to pick off victims at crazy range. Of course, if you're bumbling about in open ground on a packed Hardcore-mode server, you're not going to live long enough to get within bull's roar of the enemy anyway.
Progress takes time - but is oh so worth it
The price you pay for the adrenalised nature to the likes of Modern Warfare 2 - where rank promotions come swiftly and often - is the unlockables usually look different, but perform only a few increments better - if not the same. BFBC2's unlocks take time. You're not going to hop on for a couple of hours and have beastmode gear.
The initial confusion soon wears away as you realise the focus is on grinding out unlocks and kit - not blitzing a few maps and being sorted for life. It's a refreshing change - just as Modern Warfare's speedy advancement was a refreshing change when slow progress was the norm.
That extra time you need to spend is needed too. In normal (not hardcore) mode you need to pour a seemingly endless amount of bullets into an enemy for a kill. If you’re using an assault rifle-class weapon, you’ll find the level of punishment taken by your foes to be bleeding into the “overcorrection” syndrome.
If you’ve ever had an enemy at short-medium range shooting at you while you shoot back, both of you strafing randomly trying to throw each other off – you’ll likely know what I mean. As those crucial moments tick by and your health steadily drops you have enough time to start overthinking your instinctive attempts at predicting where he/she is going to move. Invariably you jerk your aim too wide trying to anticipate a move that never comes, and get dusted. The longer an individual 1:1 combat sequence takes the more this seems to occur. It’s a fine balancing act, as we’re talking roughly one second difference – an extra beat that’s offputting until you get into the swing of things.
In summary
Playing the beta of BFBC2 – both in hardcore mode and in the ‘normal’ mode has me convinced DICE has been somewhat outmaneuvered by the likes of Infinity Ward - at least with the PC version. They’ve taken on the sky-high expectations of players who, feeling betrayed by Modern Warfare 2, have pinned all their hopes on this game. And while the honeymoon period will last for some time yet, no matter what technological or gameplay accomplishments DICE accomplish, it’s going to be impossible to meet some people’s expectations.
The biggest rap we'd level against BFBC2 - aside from technological issues which we can *hope* will be addressed at-or-post launch - is you need time with this game to appreciate how much it offers. And with gamer attention spans ever shortening, it would be a shame if only purists and hardcore punters got into the game. From what we've seen in the beta, there's so much depth in here shooter fans are doing themselves a disservice not to at the very least get hold of a beta key and
stick with it. If the masses put it in the 'too hard' or 'takes too long' basket, not only are they missing out on a classic Battlefield experience, they're sending arguably the wrong message to developers and publishers as well.
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