EA and DICE graced us with a wonderful expansion to the Bad Company 2 (BC2) game on December 21st this year. We've been presented with an add on extension to the original game that is a stand alone online only multiplayer shooter based in Vietnam during the 1960s. This expansion pack is an incredible value ($15) for anyone who loves first person shooters (FPS) and already has a copy of BC2.
This expansion offers 5 full new maps that allow all games types to be played, they include Vietnam war era weapons, vehicles, music and characters. Playing the game I have flashbacks to such popular movies such as Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War. Stuff like this adds to the overall experience when playing.
I believe anyone who's tried this expansion has to give credit to the incredible art and design work DICE put into these game maps. They are amazingly detailed with lush jungle foliage, war torn landscapes, bunker and tunnels systems and more. One map in particular, which continues to amaze me is Hill 137. This map is made in memoriam of Hill 937, otherwise known as Hamburger Hill. My first experience w/ this map was playing a game of Rush as an attacker. Rush on this map consists of three checkpoints where the attacking team must destroy pairs of objectives. Our team spawns and has to find a way to trek up a steep jungle incline to the first set of objectives. The enemy is well entrenched w/ bunkers and foxholes to fully cover them as they await our assault. As the team confronts the enemy I notice a distance yet deep guttural bass sound in the background. I really don't know what it's from, but I will soon find out. Our team manages to come together and overtake the objectives, which opens up the map for further play. Now, in my first experience of this map, I was actually a gunner on a patrol boat off in the distance and was not hoofing it by foot around the bases. When the second set of objectives opened up, we took our boat around a bend and turned to look at the most amazing map scenery I've ever experienced in a game like this. The entire view in front of us was completely scorched Earth. The entire hillside is a mess or black charred dirt, sporadic fires are burning where bush, trees, or other objects had once remained along w/ charred embers floating through the air. As I take note of all this I see the jets fly overhead along w/ their screeching engines. From this I realize where that earlier booming bass sound was from. These jets are only ambient background, but they are flying over our heads to the background and dropping napalm bombs. An enormous yellow cloud billows up as the mountains side behind us disappears into a flaming could. It's just awesome. Sadly, I think most of the footsoldiers continuing on the attack would miss most of this since they are traversing a number of trench or tunnel systems to reach the enemy camp and likely are keeping their heads down to avoid fire. It was pretty cool though watching the firefight ensue at a distance from the water, and somewhat safety of a patrol boat, as our team hit the enemy head on. I don't recall if our team actually won on this map in the end, but it is a tough fight.
DICE designed these maps and weapons to formulate close quarters combat and more battle chaos, but its is intensely fun. A number of choke points are created on purpose in maps which can really be frustrating, but when a team comes together it is an exciting feat. The game play definitely took me a while to get used to even with my extensive time in the standard BC2 gaming. I believe a lot of it stems on the fact that you're gunning with basic iron sites on all weapons besides the sniper rifles. The lack of scope and the different jungle environments with choke points can really shake up your game play. After burning through the pain of adapting, I fully enjoy this game and love to play it.
The other maps in this game are incredible in their own ways. Each has varying vehicle options and terrain to master as you cross the map. Its a great experience and one you should definitely share with friends as teammates, or foes if you like.
Again, I have to stress my favor to the battlefield series of games for the incredibly dynamic FPS gameplay. The Call of Duty series has really taken the FPS world by storm. It is simplistic shooter than any player can pick up and run with, but in the end it works as an extremely fast paced run and gun individual focused game. Battlefield can be done the same, but its likely that player won't last long or gain much in terms of team awards or wins. If you have BC2 and enjoyed it in the past, this is a must buy for you.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Controller Mods
I was recently introduced to a crazy looking controller mod from a friend. It's called the Avenger Controller and at first glance honestly looks ridiculous. What is this thing and how in the world does it work?
It's a very intriguing design, and I'm sure there is a learning period where you have to retrain your fingers to make new movements, but I bet it makes for incredible reaction time in games once you master it. As I considered if I would really want to buy one of things something pretty big came to mind. Since Bad Company 2 is my preferred shooter and I've spent a good number of hours playing it online, I have noticed that there can be quite a bit of controller lag in game. If there is an intense moment in the action, and I decided to flip among primary, secondary and power weapon, cycling through all the buttons may not actually show the reactions I desire on screen. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Looking it over a for a while just based on the images from the website, I came to figure out that this contraption is modifying both your left and right trigger buttons, but is also adding quick action levers to all your major buttons as well, X, Y, A, & B. If you look up any reference videos from the site or navigate to youtube, you can get a better glance at how it all functions.
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| Avenger Controller |
It's a very intriguing design, and I'm sure there is a learning period where you have to retrain your fingers to make new movements, but I bet it makes for incredible reaction time in games once you master it. As I considered if I would really want to buy one of things something pretty big came to mind. Since Bad Company 2 is my preferred shooter and I've spent a good number of hours playing it online, I have noticed that there can be quite a bit of controller lag in game. If there is an intense moment in the action, and I decided to flip among primary, secondary and power weapon, cycling through all the buttons may not actually show the reactions I desire on screen. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
I am still intrigued by them and would like to consider picking up a set. One thing I noticed though is you can only order through the manufacturers website and it seems like they have 2 month backlog or lead time. That doesn't seem fair as a consumer to have to put up with that.
One controller mod I currently use for all gaming are the Kontrol Freak thumb extensions called "FPS Freak." These little bad boys are a simple pad extender you put on top of your standard controller thumb pads. This essentially helps the player get better leverage and can therefore create finer movements thus improving your accuracy. They are a cheap add on at only $10-13. Kontrol Freak also makes a product called "Speed Freak" which is used racing games. These thumb pads create a cradle like cushion to help the user keep their thumbs contained and controlled.
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| Kontrol Freak - FPS Freak |
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| Kontrol Freak - Speed Freak |
Controller mods like this are pretty cool to me b/c you're just enhancing the controller and players abilities, but it is all manual and at the control of the user. If you go and buy 3rd party controllers w/ modifications built in such as slow motion or rapid fire are pretty cheap and don't work in all games.
Are there any other cool and functional controller mods out there people know of that I can check out? Any leg up on the competition is a good thing right? Keep that K/D going strong.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Xbox Live and PSN Reward Programs
Last week Microsoft released their Xbox Live Rewards program. So far, it just feels like more of a space filler and promotion to keep Xbox and Xbox Live in the headlines for the holidays, but I think this has some serious potential for Microsoft and its loyal gamers.
Not to skip on Sony, as they also have announced a rewards program, but their system is in a beta status currently and the majority of its gamers are still waiting to hear updates on details and a launch date. Their beta actually opened in late October, but it didn't come out guns blazing and has been pretty quiet, even with MS going live with their program.
When you visit the link to http://rewards.xbox.com you can view the different ways you can earn points on your account through specific account level activities. Its a nice set up for the kick off of this program rewarding gamers for doing some simple tasks such as signing up or renewing a gold membership, purchasing an item from the Xbox Marketplace, or even just activating and using Netflix on their Xbox console.
I'm sure many gamers, including myself, had hoped a system would be put in place where we get rewards for not just the list above, but even better things such as just gaming in general. As there is already an established community of gamers chasing achievements and gamerscore, there have been discussions and hopes that gamers would be rewarded for these things as well. Wouldn't it be cool if you were a loyal gamer to a specific publisher and when you amassed 100% completion on 3 games you were awarded 400 MS points? This is just a simple thought, but I'm sure many players have had that thought at some point. It could happen one day with publishers collaborating with Microsoft to work this out. Until then though, we have the U-play reward system from Ubisoft and now the Microsoft Xbox Rewards.
As Sony is 2nd to the table for a rewards program, they can at least see what Microsoft is offering and possibly come up with something new and better to trump Xbox Rewards. Sony is in an interesting position and I would not consider it to be a bad one.
What would readers of this blog and gamers like to see in a rewards program?
Not to skip on Sony, as they also have announced a rewards program, but their system is in a beta status currently and the majority of its gamers are still waiting to hear updates on details and a launch date. Their beta actually opened in late October, but it didn't come out guns blazing and has been pretty quiet, even with MS going live with their program.
When you visit the link to http://rewards.xbox.com you can view the different ways you can earn points on your account through specific account level activities. Its a nice set up for the kick off of this program rewarding gamers for doing some simple tasks such as signing up or renewing a gold membership, purchasing an item from the Xbox Marketplace, or even just activating and using Netflix on their Xbox console.
I'm sure many gamers, including myself, had hoped a system would be put in place where we get rewards for not just the list above, but even better things such as just gaming in general. As there is already an established community of gamers chasing achievements and gamerscore, there have been discussions and hopes that gamers would be rewarded for these things as well. Wouldn't it be cool if you were a loyal gamer to a specific publisher and when you amassed 100% completion on 3 games you were awarded 400 MS points? This is just a simple thought, but I'm sure many players have had that thought at some point. It could happen one day with publishers collaborating with Microsoft to work this out. Until then though, we have the U-play reward system from Ubisoft and now the Microsoft Xbox Rewards.
As Sony is 2nd to the table for a rewards program, they can at least see what Microsoft is offering and possibly come up with something new and better to trump Xbox Rewards. Sony is in an interesting position and I would not consider it to be a bad one.
What would readers of this blog and gamers like to see in a rewards program?