[General Battuta]

So IRC discussion reminded me I wanted a place to talk about how surprisingly good this game is.

I played BC2 in desultory fashion last year, when the weapon balance was all ****ed up and the hit detection was glitchy, but after the utterly hilarious crash-and-burn of Halo Reach and Medal of Honor and the promise of yet another round of Modern Warfare mod sold for $60, I came back to it and found to my surprise that the game was in really good shape.

With the hit detection patched up and the weapons balanced out, I think this is the most finely polished, rewarding multiplayer shooter that does not involve hats right now. The graphics engine is gorgeous but runs smoothly, the multiplayer levels put on a good clinic for Reach's fumbling two-map Invasion offering, and since it's on PC and has an actual server browser, you don't have to sit through matchmaking only to play with jerks - admins can ban those jerks! Vehicle handling and the environmental destruction also make other contemporary shooters look pretty 2001.

What really blows me away about it is how much it looks and sounds like a scripted sequence. Seeing tracers arcing up into the sky and watching a chopper kick up dust as it sideslips over the desert floor (how do they manage all these volumetric effects and keep performance up?) I feel like I'm in one of those stupid scripted shots in a Call of Duty game, except it's actual players doing actual stuff.

And I know a bunch of HLPers play it, so, sound off. I'm working on platting the VSS right now. It's ridiculously good.

[Unknown Target]

I enjoyed it from day 1, but yea I agree it's an absolutely amazing game. The sound is what really makes it great IMO - all of the usual static background gunfire that you have in other games is actually REAL FIRE that someone is shooting. I love the game, and surprisingly the single player is also very good and unique (fighting through rotting oil tanker hulks in a desert in the middle of South America? SO MUCH BETTER THAN YET ANOTHER BOMBED OUT MIDDLE EASTERN BAZAAR).

All around an excellent and tightly made game. Unknown_Target on Steam, though I don't play it so much anymore (been playing it hardcore since day 1 so these days I'm pretty played out ).

[Kolgena]

Really? I tried single player once, and felt the controls were really loose. It might have been that my computer was suffering from poor performance though.

Also, I heard about cross-fire performance (ATI) being terribad on this game, but obviously that's not the game's fault.

[General Battuta]

I've never touched the single player. It's a Battlefield game, they don't have single player!

When you do go multi I suggest pretty much going straight to hardcore. Or maybe a few months in softcore would be wise? I dunno. Guns in softcore feel like they're shooting paintballs.

You also have to get used to the pseudorealistic ballistics model. Which is a nice change from the recent plague of dressed-up hitscan.

[mxlm]

In game name is mxlm. Like the game, not too fond of the community; IME the people with hundreds of hours of experience do their best to join the same team and go noob stomping, which is...annoying.

I've never touched the single player. It's a Battlefield game, they don't have single player!

It's worth playing just to see the astonishingly stupid hacking-a-satellite sequence. Well, okay, it's not worth playing, but that sequence was funny.

[MR_T3D]

by the way, broskies, free map pack 7 features 4 NEW maps with multiple modes each, and will be out very soon.

My favourite shooter of this year, so easy to have fun with to me, even though I'm playing the gimped (24 player) ps3 version because my PC just ain't up to snuff.

feel like rocking some either USAS-12, F2000, or trying the today-patched-in-for-ps3/PC optical G3 & M14 (even though it looks redonculus where its placed) next time I'm on.

[sigtau]

This multiplayer game essentially took what I thought Call of Duty did well and blew it out of the ****ing water.  DICE did their job well when making this game.

The biggest mistake you can make when playing BC2 is to play as only one class throughout a match--that's an awful, AWFUL idea.  Always choose what's tactically right for the situation, and if you can play as a team with your squad, do so!  Playing lone-wolf style is the easiest way to **** over your teammates.

Add me as TMSPZC on Steam, and/or as Sigma76 (clan tag [Sec9]) on BC2.

[General Battuta]

I actually play as lone wolf recon with VSS and do really well.  But when playing something less OP you really do have to work with your peeps.

[mxlm]

The biggest mistake you can make when playing BC2 is to play as only one class throughout a match--that's an awful, AWFUL idea.

Eh. There's always a need for medics, at least if you're offense.

[Dilmah G]

Gah, this really makes me want to get back into Battlefield. I was a Brigadier General on BF:2142 (brilliant game) until my not-too-tech-savvy-girlfriend decided to humorously annoy me by deleting my soldier. After vanquishing her from my household and throwing the milkshake I'd made for her on the floor, I never touched a battlefield game again.

Teamwork was what really made me love this game; it was almost like playing another sport in addition to rugby and touch football. Do many people use the squad voice chat? And I heard they did away with squad leaders and their perks, how does that play out?

[Pred the Penguin]

System requirements are what really gets me worried about Bad Company 2. Would any of you recommend the console version?

[Dilmah G]

Me too, my computer can't run it.

[Unknown Target]

I'm really disappointed not that many people played the SP. If you get rid of the whole idea that it's a BF game, the SP is actually pretty good - definitely more enjoyable than, say, MW2, if not just for the unique locations and characters (holy **** my crack team of commandos is NOT full of gravely voiced psychopaths who seem to get a woody from killing brown people?!?!).

[sigtau]

I'm really disappointed not that many people played the SP. If you get rid of the whole idea that it's a BF game, the SP is actually pretty good - definitely more enjoyable than, say, MW2, if not just for the unique locations and characters

I always play single player first before ever touching the multiplayer so I'm familiar with the flow of gameplay... I'll admit, the story was not the finest point of BC2's single player, but the settings, situations, characters, and the AI made it superior to Modern Warfare 2.

(holy **** my crack team of commandos is NOT full of gravely voiced psychopaths who seem to get a woody from killing brown people?!?!).

 

[MR_T3D]

System requirements are what really gets me worried about Bad Company 2. Would any of you recommend the console version?

Me too, my computer can't run it.

I'll recommend it, the only real differences are some graphics (still looks pretty great) and MP wise only 24 players, and instead of server browser its just choose a gametype/HC/preferred map option and it auto-finds.  Still same fun gameplay.

[IceFire]

I almost considered getting it but I'm holding my next Battlefield purchase until Battlefield 3 comes out (assuming it's good). But it's encouraging that BC2 was so well executed. The Frostbite engine looks incredible as well and I feel like they are starting to encroach on the really fluid infantry gameplay that Call of Duty used to do a bit better than Battlefield but not so anymore.

[Bearstrike]

Gah, this really makes me want to get back into Battlefield. I was a Brigadier General on BF:2142 (brilliant game) until my not-too-tech-savvy-girlfriend decided to humorously annoy me by deleting my soldier. After vanquishing her from my household and throwing the milkshake I'd made for her on the floor, I never touched a battlefield game again.

Teamwork was what really made me love this game; it was almost like playing another sport in addition to rugby and touch football. Do many people use the squad voice chat? And I heard they did away with squad leaders and their perks, how does that play out?

Anyone can issue very simplistic 'squad commands' via pressing Q looking at a vehicle, player, objective ect.  Not many use voice chat (Read: I've only seen 1 person do it.)

Dont remember my BC2 name, but anyone on steam add some_drop_bear and I'l get around to remembering eventually.

Anybody else really like the PKM for medic?

[Mongoose]

I honestly don't think I've ever played any sort of realistic war-themed shooter.  If I ever get the yen to do so, maybe I'll give this a try.  In the meantime, I have hats to craft.

[General Battuta]

Well Bad Company 2 was what saved my sanity when TF2 went to ****. The skinning isn't as interesting to me as the core gameplay mechanics.

[Gortef]

This thread reminded me that it's been quite a while since the last time I played BC2. Damn, and I truly love BF -games.
But I gotta agree that Aion and World of Tanks have kept me pretty occupied.

Maybe on this weekend I should play a round or two.