"gamexxover" from www.360-hq.com is currently involved in the new Battlefield: Bad Company BETA for Xbox 360 owners and has been kind enough to let us all know his first impressions. So read on..
Throw out the rules of engagement, this is all-out war! Built from the ground-up for next-generation consoles using Digital Illusions' bleeding-edge Frostbite game engine, Battlefield: Bad Company drops gamers behind enemy lines with a squad of renegade soldiers who risk it all on a personal quest for gold and revenge. Featuring a deep, cinematic single-player experience loaded with adventure and dark humor, the game delivers the series' trademark sandbox gameplay in a universe where nearly everything is destructible.
Introduction
After playing the beta pretty hard for several days I thought I would share some of my impressions. First I'll say the feel of the game is very much like Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (BF2) with an over haul.
Building Destruction
GOOD - 100% of the buildings and structures are destructable, You can break down doors and fences and even trees with anything including your knife, walls and other tougher structure requires a little more punch, any explosive will do it, m203 is usualy the weapon of choice which you get 6 shots with and if you find the ammo box you can rearm with out respawning, But dont worry about being noob tubed to death as the blast radious is small and not overly powerful when used on other people, you can take a nearly direct hit and still survive.
BAD - 100% of the buildings are destructable but no building is 100% destructable. you can not totaly collapse a building, you can take out the entire ceiling and all exterior walls on houses, a couple inner walls will remain to keep a skeleton structure up with floors intact, Brick buildings are the same but some will have a wall on one side that will not come down, but 3 out of 4 aint bad.
If you are on second floor you can not blow a hole in the floor to open a hole to look down.
Snipers
GOOD - lots of cover, more than in battle field 2, even in the desert map there is alot of palm trees tall and short to cover you.
--The useless smoke grenade has been replaced with a little soccer ball looking device that you throw like a grenade and it puts out a radar pulse for a little while to see if any one is close to you.
--- you have a laser designator that after it locks on to a vehicle, you switch to a rear of the bomb view and have to manualy guide the bomb to the target, Takes some practice, But cool as you can lock on to a tank, then as the bomb is coming down you chan choose to stear somewhere else if you see an enemy on foot or decide to take out a building instead.
BAD - People can spawn off of you, you work hard to be realy sneaky and find a great spot to snipe from or just work the laser in total stealth, you are all set, then some goof ball spawns off of you and opens up with his LMG standing right next to you, putting all enemy eyes on your possition.
NO PRONE!! the developers have decided that in this game players will not be able to go to a prone possition, this is very bad when you are behind cover but your head sticks up when crouched, someone opens up fire on your possition you can not take cover by going prone. Not just snipers, no one can go prone.
GOOD - Not much change at all, same as BF2 but with one big fix, the tanks are now not stoped in thier tracks by a mear fence post, wreckage or a 55 gal drum in the street, you can pretty much go over and through most anything, you will have a blast just driving through the forrest clear cutting every tree like a weed eater through a flower garden.
BAD - you can still get stuck in some dips/ shallow holes in the terrain but this is rare. --- The tanks are much slower than in BF2.
HUMVEE'S:
GOOD - Its a Humvee
BAD - These are not your fathers Humvee's, these babys are stuck in first gear, they are very slow, I would estamate a top speed of about 20 mph maybe? Much slower than those in bf2.
Click the read more link to view the entire story and don't forget to get involved in our xbox 360 forums.
In case you haven't seen this yet i figured i wold cover it since it is about as funny as it gets.
You might recall my news post from a few days back titled Battlefield: Bad Company
Gets A Gun Tax, well it looks like a few others feel the same way and want it to be known.
Sarcastic Gamer has started a boycott of the game and has started to fire pop shots at EA with what i wold say is a funny but dead on video, check it out.
You just got to love the fact that any one can fire back at big biz on the net and get heard.
Well as some of you may know Battlefield: Bad Company has announced that the multiplayer beta and it will start March 25th.
From what i hear all the keys to the beta are gone and you are S.O.L. if you wanted to get the demo.
The developers said: “We’re really excited about this beta since it gives us a chance to let a wider audience play our new multiplayer game, ‘Gold Rush’. The feedback coming back from something like this is crucial for us as developers and will help us with the final changes and polish in the game,” stated Karl-Magnus Troedsson, Senior Producer for Battlefield: Bad Company. “Battlefield and FPS fans get their first glimpse into how tactical destruction can be applied in multiplayer gameplay. We think offering two of the multiplayer maps will give gamers a fantastic experience and some great insight into the game.”
Now lets get to the lame part: according to reports by many web sites there will be a charge for extra weapons in the final release of Battlefield: Bad Company.
EA has made any announcement regarding the issue and as the confusion sets in I'm sure the rumor train will be rolling full speed.
Most sites are reporting the following: Battlefield: Bad Company will have a total of ten weapons that are locked that have text reading, “Available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace” next to them.
"Regarding what’s going to cost extra and what isn’t. Apparently five of the weapons may be made available in the collector’s edition of the game."
DICE Announces Multiplayer Beta Program For Battlefield: Bad Company Shipping June 2008.
Battlefield: Bad Company's new Multi-Player Mode focuses the battle oo one point instead of splitting the fight up over the whole battlefield. The main new multiplayer mode in Bad Company is called "Gold Rush" and features one attacking and one defending team and lots of gold crates.
Pre-order Battlefield: Bad Company from gamestop and they will send you a exclusive BETA code as soon as they become available.
There will also be a IRC chat with the DICE developers in a few days:
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– March 13, 2008– DICE, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the multiplayer beta test for Battlefield: Bad Company on the Xbox 360™ video game system from Microsoft®. IGN Founders’ Club and IGN Insider will offer keys to members and the public in North America and Europe to participate in the multiplayer beta test starting March 17 provided by IGN’s popular game download site FilePlanet ( http://www.fileplanet.com). In addition, keys will also be available through IGN Entertainment’s gaming Web sites including IGN.com, GameSpy, TeamXbox, Planet Battlefield and Voodoo Extreme. Battlefield: Bad Company will launch on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 in June 2008.
“We are really excited for this beta as it gives us a chance for great feedback on how to polish the experience of our multiplayer mode; Gold Rush,” stated Karl-Magnus Troedsson, Senior Producer for Battlefield: Bad Company. “Battlefield and FPS fans get their first glimpse into how tactical destruction can be applied in multiplayer gameplay. We think offering these two very different maps will give gamers a fantastic experience and some great insight into the game.”
The Battlefield: Bad Company multiplayer beta test will give players a chance to return to the battlefield to embark on an exciting mission to capture the spoils of war. Gamers will battle through two different maps, access new infantry kits and vehicles as well as experience the unique tactical destruction in Battlefield: Bad Company that changes the way first-person shooter games are played. With an unlimited upgrade tree and rewards, the multiplayer beta gives players the exhilaration, excitement and fun that awaits them when the final game ships later this summer.
“Xbox Live has a tradition of hosting some of the greatest demo and beta events gamers can play,” said Marc Whitten, General Manager of Xbox Live.“We continue this practice of awesome online gameplay with the new beta of Battlefield Bad Company.”
Developed by Sweden-based developer DICE (Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment), Battlefield: Bad Company has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI. For more information about the Battlefield franchise, please visit http://battlefield.ea.com or our press web site at http://info.ea.com.
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