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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  Gaming  |  But is it Fun?  |  Topic: Battlefield: Bad Company - DICE - 360 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Battlefield: Bad Company - DICE - 360  (Read 4870 times)
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


on: December 28, 2009, 05:14:09 AM

Having been a fan of the Battlefield franchise in varying degrees on the PC from 1942 through all of it's iterations, I was immensely disappointed a few years ago when Bad Company was revealed to be a console exclusive.

When I got my 360 a couple of years ago, I downloaded the demo and found it to be amusingly written and not bad looking at all, but I couldn't hack it with a controller, since I'm a KB&M guy. Since I started playing Borderlands recently on 360 since it wouldn't run on my wife's PC and I really wanted to play it co-op, I've taught myself to play FPS games using a controller, and while it still doesn't hold a candle to "proper" controls (ie, PC) it's now bearable and I can have fun with one. So with this in mind, I picked up BF:BC for cheap recently, and have started to give it a run.

There are a few niggles - the visuals are a little indistinct compared to a PC shooter - picking out the enemy from the environment isn't as easy. The fine-tuning of aiming isn't as smooth for those tiny movements as Borderlands, nor is the aim-assist as generous. Several weapons seem to have their left/right halves flipped, since we see ejection ports on the left hand side of some of the rifles instead of the right, and while the gear worn looks reasonable, the camo pattern worn by the soldiers is an indistinct greenish pattern, and since BC came out in 2008, UCP (aka ACU) was already in use and being worn for long enough that it really should have been changed during dev time.

Shotguns feel like they fire at a horribly slow rate (though it's probably not terribly inaccurate) The western weapons all have Picatinny rails yet they have no scopes, so you're forced to use Iron sights with the latest and greatest in modern assault rifles like the HK416 (which the game calls M416, XM8 and SCAR.

Story-wise, the game is surprisingly decent and fun - with a gold heist storyline clearly inspired by films like Kelly's Heroes and with more than a couple of homages to Pulp Fiction. The gameplay, however, is pretty fun. There's a bit of "who the fuck just killed me?" and a bit of "why the fuck can't I see anything?" and even some "why the fuck are my squadmates so fucking useless?" but despite all this, the shooting is okay, and the blowing up of shit is very well done. Blowing holes in walls, rooftops, walls, chain link fences.. pretty much anything. There are tons of that old videogame standby, the explosive barrel, parked all over the maps, along with explosive boxes and even some propane tanks. All of which make for some glorious explosions. Some of the secondary weapons, aside from your chosen rifle and mode of grenades are also a lot of fun. C4, an RPG-7 and a wonderful gadget that calls in a Russian mortar strike with pinpoint accuracy and unlimited recalls. It's like an "I WIN" button, but with more 'splodeys.

In short, like every DICE game I've ever played, it has a lot of flaws, but like most DICE games I've played it somehow rises above that and manages to be a lot of fun anyway. The shooting in this one is a little sub-par, but oh boy, the explosions!

If you don't hate console shooters:

===

At least Rent it/Download the Demo.


If you're into console shooters:

===

Buy It



http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770

Locomotive Pandamonium


Reply #1 on: December 29, 2009, 04:35:59 AM

I don't quite get why you didn't like the shooting, is it because of the iron sights? Because, that's becoming a staple for every game.

You didn't mention the sounds! The glorious sounds! Some of the best gun audio in gaming.
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


Reply #2 on: December 29, 2009, 08:06:06 AM

I find the enemies a little hard to see, and not because of the camo, but more because of the aliased-ness of the graphics. Most lilkely because I'm more used to PC shooters, where everything is a little better defined.

I also find that compared to Borderlands (also on 360, not the PC version), fine aiming is very difficult. As in when you just want to move your sights a fraction to the left or right. In BL, I put a tiny bit of movement/pressure on the analog stick and it moves a tiny and slight amount. When I put the same amount of pressure on in BC, it does nothing. When I increase the pressure, it moves quickly into a pivot. They just missed that little bit of fine adjustment room at the start of an analogue movement.

The iron sights really does puzzle me though. It's obviously a design choice, it's just a really odd (and actually unusual) one, considering how western militaries have moved over the past decade. The reversed weapons thing is also odd, though it doesn't affect gameplay. I guess it gives you a bit more visual space when using the GPMGs since the ammo box is on the outside of the screen rather then the inside where it would actually be. Far Cry 2 did the same thing. But again serves no actual porpose for 90% of the weapons. Sound is also decent, but I've had the volume down for much of it, since my wife has been watching TV in the same room. I've been turning it up for the dialogue & cutscenes.

http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
NiX
Wiki Admin
Posts: 7770

Locomotive Pandamonium


Reply #3 on: December 29, 2009, 11:12:34 AM

Yeah, I can agree with the movement. It took some adjustment on my part to make up for it with strafe. As for not being able to see people, I only played multiplayer, so it very well could be an issue with the campaign with it having larger spaces.

Turn up the sound at least once before shelving the game. Especially as you blow shit up.
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


Reply #4 on: December 29, 2009, 04:45:29 PM

Yup, I've started to adjust using strafe.

If you've still got it, you should really give the SP campaign a runthrough. It's not hard, and should only take a few days, but it's well written and quite funny. I plan to give the MP a muck around sometime after I finish the SP campaign. I'm actually considering running through the SP on the higher difficulty once I finish. We'll see.

http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


Reply #5 on: January 01, 2010, 07:40:08 PM

Finished this last night on Med, and immediately started playing again on Hard.

The first thing I noticed was that it was more fun, but not because the game is harder, but because I don't need to/care about collecting the gold or the guns this time around, so I'm free to just run around and fuck motherfuckers up with explosive weaponry. While it was of course my choice to chase around the gold and guns, having that shit in there gets my OCD and so I'm noticing just how much I did play with the emphasis on Poke'mon-style collection (ok, I did think it would do something ingame, at least for the first couple of campaigns).

But yeah, I think it would have been a more fun game if it didn't have that "collectable" aspect to it, so on my first playthrough (which is all that most games get, let's be honest), I'd have just been focussed on having fun, and blowing shit up.


http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


Reply #6 on: January 03, 2010, 04:20:40 AM

Finished on Hard. Well worth playing. Going to give the online a try next time I renew my XBox live sub.


http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192


Reply #7 on: January 05, 2010, 10:41:10 PM

Several weapons seem to have their left/right halves flipped, since we see ejection ports on the left hand side of some of the rifles instead of the right

In Bizzaro world everyone is left handed.
LK
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4268


Reply #8 on: January 06, 2010, 12:11:12 PM

I also find that compared to Borderlands (also on 360, not the PC version), fine aiming is very difficult. As in when you just want to move your sights a fraction to the left or right. In BL, I put a tiny bit of movement/pressure on the analog stick and it moves a tiny and slight amount. When I put the same amount of pressure on in BC, it does nothing. When I increase the pressure, it moves quickly into a pivot. They just missed that little bit of fine adjustment room at the start of an analogue movement.

Funny, I just started a thread because that's my experience with Modern Warfare 2.

"Then there's the double-barreled shotgun from Doom 2 - no-one within your entire household could be of any doubt that it's been fired because it sounds like God slamming a door on his fingers." - Yahtzee Croshaw
Azazel
Contributor
Posts: 7735


Reply #9 on: January 06, 2010, 04:49:56 PM

Several weapons seem to have their left/right halves flipped, since we see ejection ports on the left hand side of some of the rifles instead of the right
In Bizzaro world everyone is left handed.

No, everyone is still right-handed, just the guns have been through a magic mirror.


http://azazelx.wordpress.com/ - My Miniatures and Hobby Blog.
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