cynicalmonkey

I want to start by saying I am really enjoying EA’s Battlefield Bad Company 2, the only previous battlefield game I have played was the browser shooter Battlefield Heroes so I was not going into this game pre disposed to love it, it was not even that high on my rental list. I have now done 100% of the single player and am climbing the ranks in multiplayer and loving it all the way. What disappoints me however are the things I feel DICE should have included and the lessons they could have taken from their competition.

Modern Warfare 2

Undoubtedly the biggest fish in the FPS pond right now and a constant target for wisecracks through BFBC2’s single player experience so what could they have learned here? Well I like many found the most addictive and gripping part of the MW2 package to be the special ops missions, 23 well crafted levels that encourage you to use different weapons, techniques and game mechanics that I spent as much time on as I did the single player. I cannot fathom why as soon as MW2 hit DICE did not start working on their own version of this mode, it completely fits the idea of the bad company being given missions that require their unorthodox style. Imagine if you will 4 player co-op special ops with missions crafted to offer varying game play, they showed a whole heap of game mechanics in the single player that could have been used but when you include what different classes could bring to it and finding the optimum way to work together in a squad of friends (or have AI members of bad company drop in if you don’t have 4 friends) its easy to get lost in the awesomeness BFBC2 could have brought to this.

Fingers crossed DICE are worth the credit I give them and are already working on this for DLC.

MAG

Bad company 2 has already drained a whole heap of MAG players away from its servers but what I would have liked to see them take is the factions idea. With something similar in Battlefield Heroes it strikes me as weird it wasn’t included as MAG’s potential in my opinion was the idea that the little battles were leading to something and part of something bigger. There is something very throwaway and self focussed about this and Modern Warfare 2 where you are really only looking out for yourself and levelling yourself up. Given the option of picking a side and knowing that winning is about more than one round I think would really extend the multiplayer and sense of community offered in this game.

Uncharted 2

What do you mean you forgot this game even came out, let alone had multiplayer? Uncharted 2 is one of the few games I have played where succeeding in single player gives you a leg up in multiplayer for more than just practice. In BFBC2 it seems its main role is to give you something to do while the servers are down. I completed the game, I got all the Mocom stations, I found most of the guns, I did airborne on hard and have the achievements to prove it, couldn’t I have been given a shiny gun (even if it works the same and is just shinier) to prove it and out bling my less single player focused friends!