When Infinity Ward crafted Modern Warfare 2′s adversarial multiplayer component they did so with meticulous thought towards ensuring the experience would be balanced and buttery smooth.
With the popularity of the last Modern Warfare they knew exactly where the series had to go in this second installment to qualify as the next premier shooter – the likes of which would be played by hardcore gamers and organizations like MLG for years to come. The pedigree of the Modern Warfare series had already been established so it was only natural that Modern Warfare 2 would be the next heir to the throne of online shooting.
Now with Battlefield Bad Company 2 on the horizon many are heralding this new military shooter from EA as the Modern Warfare 2 killer but judging from the gameplay and overall experience this one just won’t cut it. And it’s not just one issue plaguing the game that aims to convert Modern Warfare devouts but a collective of smaller issues that add up to a slurry of problems. Here it goes…
VEHICLE CAMPING
It happens in every Battlefield game to date. A collection of players hanging around the respawn for the good vehicle so they can steal it and ride off solo into the sunset with no gunner. The core objective of the game is lost on a team of disorganized folks because all they can focus on is getting their hands on the tank or helicopter. Instead Modern Warfare 2′s approach to any sort of vehicle involvement is delivered to players as a reward for solid performance. Get enough kills and you unlock something totally kick ass like the AC-130. I don’t know about you but I’ll take the “Flying Fortress” over a APC any day – and I will have earned the right to use it because I worked hard to get it.
CLASS BASED TEMPLATES
Everyone is playing as a sniper or a medic in Battlefield Bad Company 2. Where Modern Warfare allows you to build a dizzying array of soldier templates and call them what you like they all feel well balanced and even the high end guns that you unlock at later levels are really no better than the first usable firearms in the hands of equally skilled opponents. This approach that Battlefield is taking to soldier templates only serves up unbalance. When you are getting picked off by snipers before you can take any actions or the guy you just gunned down is instantly revived by his chest paddle wielding buddy you begin to understand where I’m coming from on this.
NO PRONE
Any military shooter fan knows that going prone is a huge tactical element to games of this breed – particularly when you don’t have shields or quickly regenerating health. Laying down lets snipers hide in the brush while infantry can take cover where there are few structures to duck behind. Not being able to hit the dirt is a huge problem when you can only take a few hits before getting fragged. No prone = uber pwn!
EA ACCOUNTS/EA SERVERS
Honestly I don’t get this. Why does EA want to force players to log into their servers using EA accounts? Don’t we already have XBOX Live accounts? This may seem like a small bone to pick with them on Bad Company 2 but isn’t that just one extra complication we don’t really need to add to the game’s online experience? Why? What purpose does this serve other than launch day shenanigans when they realize they don’t have enough servers to host up game matches? When the game’s community dies out will they discontinue support for the game as they’ve done recently to some of their older titles?
NO QUICK MUTE
“Modus,” some of you may be saying, “this isn’t really a gameplay concern is it?”. Bullshit it isn’t! Not being able to quickly mute the wanna be rapper kid or the beligerent racist or the guy talking nonsense or yelling at his mom is just inexcusable. OK – in fairness you can mute someone but it’s not easy to do. You have to navigate a series of menus and guess at who could be talking. I literally spent about 3 minutes of a match trying to figure out who was yelling so much. Hopefully EA/DICE addresses this before the game launches.
These are just some small issues that I can point out before I start sounding like a plant for Infinity Ward but with so much talk around the water cooler about how much better Bad Company 2 is going to be than Modern Warfare 2 with it’s descructable environements (which to it’s credit – are actually really awesome) I don’t think these concerns are too off base. Don’t get me wrong here folks – Bad Company 2 is a fun game but it’s definitely not going to be as sharp as Modern Warfare 2.
What do you think, dear readers?
