Battlefield Bad Company 2

[ezee ryder]

Just finished the single player on the 360 version that I forgot to cancel from Amazon, figured I might aswell before I trade it in for Yakuza 3 on Friday.

Back to Bad Company 2 though, yeah the single player is pretty good and (as I always have said) a huge improvement on the original. It almost ranks up there with the likes of Modern Warfare 1 and 2, almost.

Some annoyances/flaws hinder it from joining the best of the best. For instance, the effects (smoke, dust, snowy winds and so on) are fantastic and all but they really do get in the way during some of the shoot-outs. Your view gets obscured and you end up dying through no fault of your own. These sections could of been designed alot better. By all means show off the lovely effects but for sections with fewer enemies so the player actually has a chance to survive with poor visibility. Being bombarded with rockets, sniper shots and machine gun fire when you can't see much isn't fun.

Also I didn't like the fact that your team-mates don't really seem to get many kills. Now, I don't want them to do all the work for me but to kill a few enemies when I'm trying to recover some health would be nice. On quite a few occasions I left my squad to deal with just one or two enemies while I recovered or went searching for ammo, only to return and see the enemy (or enemies) were still alive. I even tested out my theory a couple of times by just standing there and not shooting at all, same result. It seems like they only killed enemies during "scripted" moments. A few reviews have also mentioned this, so it's not just me!

That said though, overall the single player is very much enjoyable. The gunplay is great fun, mainly down to the fact that the weapons themselves seem to have real weight to them. The on-rails sections are fun too, even if they are not too challenging. Visually the game is stunning at times thanks to some really nice lighting and the sound is just amazing, probably the best I have heard in a FPS. The

->Open Spoiler<-

ending suggests an inevitable sequel too

, should be interesting to see what DICE do with that. For now, it's back to the PC multiplayer.

[Eight Rooks]

I didn't mind being blinded when it was in the house-to-house fighting. Makes you actually think before you shoot. And it wasn't too bad in the desert or up the mountains, either - my problem was more the bloom seemed about ten times brighter than it ought to be. I certainly can't see anything through a choking cloud of dust when there seems to be a bank of arc lights on the other side.

You have to punish the player sometimes, though. Just tough balancing it, is all. I admit the constant restarting on the mountain chase was ludicrous, but Christ, when I pulled a long stretch of that off it was glorious fun.

[FelixofMars]

MP was down for a bit last night and the night before, this has been my only issue with the MP. It is pretty stable considering BF1943 was unplayable for the first 2 weeks due to server connections.

I've not had any problems really bar the connection errors last night. The uk servers have been perfect and most of the time games are very even.

My only irk with it is probably the one that lots of people have commented on already, you start off very poorly equipped, even as a medic class you have no med kits or revives until you've levelled it up a fair bit. It only takes s few round to get them but still, it seems a little silly to me.

Anybody who is struggling online , here is a tip, never play on your own. Always join a squad so you can spawn next to any of it's members and they can spawn near you for backup, it really makes a massive difference and stops you having to traverse the entire map on each death. Also you earn more points for assisting your squad in different ways.

[Uli]

[QUOTE=ezee ryder;1665515
Back to Bad Company 2 though, yeah the single player is pretty good and (as I always have said) a huge improvement on the original. It almost ranks up there with the likes of Modern Warfare 1 and 2, almost.
[/QUOTE]

huge improvements?

[ezee ryder]

Yes, you might not see it that way but I do. I found the first one (single player wise) to be extremely dull and boring, didn't enjoy it at all. I remember returning it to Gamestation the very next day. The fact that I finished the sequel is a testament to how much of an improvement I think this is over the original.

I guess you want me to explain what I think has improved though?! AI, general gunplay, overall design and variety would just be a few things that I think DICE have improved. Going by your question/confusion I get the feeling you don't agree, but hey that's your prerogative.

[MJ]

Sniping feels more gratifying this time round and like how I started with BC online, I seem to be doing better as the Recon class initially.

[Uli]

Yes, you might not see it that way but I do. I found the first one (single player wise) to be extremely dull and boring, didn't enjoy it at all. I remember returning it to Gamestation the very next day. The fact that I finished the sequel is a testament to how much of an improvement I think this is over the original.

I guess you want me to explain what I think has improved though?! AI, general gunplay, overall design and variety would just be a few things that I think DICE have improved. Going by your question/confusion I get the feeling you don't agree, but hey that's your prerogative.

well, i am still at mission 3 in the campaign so i better do no judge about AI and gunplay so early. so far not too much has changed here for me, except from getting used to lots of dying but maybe i just have to realize that this game is more Modern Warfare than Bad Company.

all i can say is that i miss the more open environments and the humour which were kind of a trademark for the first game. for me at least.

[EvilBoris]

Was just readingt that the 360 servers were crapped up because there was 400&#37; the online activity than they were expecting.

[spagmasterswift]

Didn't get very far with the single player. There's a bit where your team are pinned by a machinegun nest and you are meant to go flank it with one of your guys. I just threw some grenades over and took it out instead. However, my team carried on reacting as if still pinned. I loled and went back to the MP, which thankfully is excellent. Spotter feature being a fantastic addition once you get used to it, very satisfying lighting enemies up for the squad to take down. Spent hours spoiling the fun for the snipers with it. You know you've really pissed someone off when they have to bring a tank down on you.

[djtickle]

I finished the SP, which i found good. Moved onto the MP and was having a good time, I even came top in a couple of matches but never seem to manage to be on the winning team.....

[Spatial]

I think I've been playing too much of the multiplayer - played an hour of the single player last night and ended up pressing the Back button to spot enemies

Single player's alright (three levels in and there are some nice environments, fantastic sound and it's a lot more interesting than the first) but there are some massive bugs in it. For no reason at all last night it wouldn't let me stealth kill the guard at the scripted sequence in the jungle village - no matter what I did it kept triggering the alarm.

Restarted the level and it was fixed.

Seems all their effort went into multiplayer, which shows because it's great fun.

[Uli]

in respect to bugs: don't ever try to enter a building through a window. i did, got stuck and had to reboot. also some weapons don't match their pick-up silhouettes and lots of sound drop outs, mostly at explosions.

single player is getting better over time, and i found the gunplay in fact improved. aiming is more precise, weapons have more punch and reloading and switching fire mode doesn't take ages any longer. but why i still have to be a floating gun without actual in-game body with arms and legs - this is getting most obvious in the driving sections - is beyond me.

[SuperBeatBoy]

but why i still have to be a floating gun without actual in-game body with arms and legs - this is getting most obvious in the driving sections - is beyond me.

I agree especially when Mirror's Edge preceeded it a few years ago.

[spinpug666]

For no reason at all last night it wouldn't let me stealth kill the guard at the scripted sequence in the jungle village - no matter what I did it kept triggering the alarm.

Restarted the level and it was fixed.

Seems all their effort went into multiplayer, which shows because it's great fun.

I had the same problem with that too. Got cheesed off and quit! Haven't gone back to it yet.

[Goldenballs]

How do you 'Spot' people in multiplayer then? Do you have to be a certain class to do it?