Rock, Paper, Shotgun

So it’s about time we caught up with what’s going on with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, since the multiplayer footage has seemed so solid. DICE have coughed up a single player trailer (below), which is all very spectacular, but kind of predictable in that military-hardware porn with a rock soundtrack that we’re kind of getting over-familiar with now. Anyway, there are a couple of other bits of news that might be of interest. The first is that despite bleating about their dedicated server support when the stuff about Modern Warfare 2′s atrocious online service came to light, those dedicated servers can, apparently, only be rented from DICE’s pre-approved partners. Setting up your own server if you happen to have a host-capable box won’t be an option. So it’s better than the MW2 situation, but it’s still not great. The multiplayer beta for PC begins on the 28th, so we will at least be able to take a look at these approved partners – which are the usual suspects of mass games server hosting – and see how their options hold up.
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Below is the first part of our intricate guide for PC gaming in 2010. There’s a horde of muscular-looking titles on the horizon, many of them likely to stop you and demand your money, like ludological bandits. Meanwhile, others that we expected to land, such The Old Republic, have already fled to 2011. Read on as the clouds in our crystal ball roll back…
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Electronic Arts might be making a load of noise about reclaiming the FPS crown with the re-pumped Medal Of Honor, but I think they’re also making decent headway in that area with the Bad Company sequel. What we’ve seen so far from the multiplayer sessions has been very exciting, and the latest footage from the game’s “Panama Canal” map looks just as intense – particularly the quad-bike stuff. After that they could throw us a Battlefield 3 bone, and we’d be happy manshooters. Go take a gander at the footage below.
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Apparently this new piece of footage from Battlefield Bad Company 2‘s multiplayer is a map that will feature in the beta. It’s confirmed as a pre-order beta at the moment, so I’ve no idea if we’ll be able to get our hands on this for general play with an open beta for PC in December. It’s looking remarkably solid, with the environmental destruction stuff right at the forefront of the game. It makes me wonder whether certain maps will have logical destruction patterns in them once you’ve been playing for a while, like you always destroy a specific wall or fence in the first 30 seconds of the game because it opens a route, or removes sniper cover. You’ll find yourself performing the same makeshift demolition tasks over and over again, like some kind of builder’s nightmare.
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When the Modern Warfare 2 thing kicked off I said to my fellow RPSites, “gadzooks, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is so going to capitalise on this.” And lo, I see on Blues that EA have posted a Dedicated Server FAQ on the game. “Other games use player-hosted or ‘peer to peer’ solutions,” says Gordon VanDyke, presumably with a smile, “often resulting in a “host with the most” situation; where the player hosting the match has an advantage over other players connected to their game. Everyone else is dependent on the host’s internet connection and if they don’t have a great connection neither will you regardless how great of an internet you have.” (Further PC related info here, via Planet Battlefield.)

Well, it made me laugh. It’s a bonus that the game looks pretty good (see old trailer below). Roll on Battlefield 3, I say.

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Or even BANGBANGBANG! Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has many best things, as you’ll see in this trailer of the multiplayer aspect of the game, below. We’ve heard only good things about the game so far, better things, indeed, than the previous game. It’s good to see some of that confirmed in a riot of game footage. Destructible scenery, vehicles, beautiful animation and particle effects… all splendid in the virtual violencing. I’ll stop prattling, I’m almost delirious with exhaustion. Go watch.
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March 2010 will see the arrival of the sequel to an FPS spin off from the Battlefield series that never actually showed up on PC the first time around. Once again the focus will be on environmental destruction, with the new game finally challenging Red Faction in the breaking-stuff stakes. You’ll be able to blow holes in walls with light weapons, and flatten entire buildings with more serious ordnance. It sounds like there’s a lot more focus on multiplayer for Bad Company 2, with lots of random extras, including the weapons from Battlefield 1943 as unlocks.

Anyway, GamesCom trailer lurks below, in which stuff gets shattered, knocked over, penetrated, cracked, and otherwise exploded. It’s a cinematic, but a clever one. Goes a bit meta at the end there.
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