I downloaded the demo for this game a little while ago and hated it. The controls were completely different then MW2 - i especially dislike that they use the right movement stick for ducking. Can't tell you how many times i try to shoot a guy and ended up ducking and shooting at the same time. So i put it away and went back to MW2, as i was playing i realized that - "i hate this game", i'm at the 4th prestige and have over saturated myself with it. I cant stand the quick kill quick death formula anymore, the horrible spawn system, the team selection system, and especially the lack of team work i constantly come across. There is also the infamous "MW2 law", similar to "Murphy's Law", where anything can go wrong in a match and when it does, it always seems to happen to YOU. Ofcourse MW2 is a great game and a worthy purchase, but i personally have had my fill.
That being said, it was unfair to judge BFBC2 so quickly when i had put such an insane amount hours into MW2. So i picked it up again and gave it another shot...i was hooked! I was playing as a medic and realized that i actually wasn't focused on killing people, i was running around reviving my teammates and dropping health packs to keep them going, ofcourse i took out a few stray enemies here and there. "Wow, this is different" i thought, and when i realized how many points i was racking up i liked it even more. I"m actually HELPING my team and getting a ton of points for it. That brings me to the most important aspect of the multiplayer, you are actually encouraged to work as a team, which is a nice change of pace compared to MW2. I get just the same amount of points for shooting someone as i get for reviving them. It works beautifully.
There is a leveling up system which is similar to MW2, nothing as developed though, but there is enough there to keep you coming back for more and you do unlock different sights, guns, gadgets etc... Some are just for the particular class you use i.e - medic unlocks larger health packs, but others are more general and can be used for any class, i.e - heavy vehicle perks.
The first BFBC had 2 deal breakers for me. One was their crazy health system where you jam a needle into your stomach when your health got low, which ofcourse is something you would have to do 50 times a match. The other was the lack of any kind of kill cam! It's no fun being sniped over and over again and having no idea where the sniper is when you respawn. THANKFULLY, both of those deal breakers have been removed. Your health regenerates (no needle to the stomach required) and there is a kill cam, you don't actually see the enemy kill you like in MW2, but you follow them around until you respawn so you know where they are and can carry out the proper justice.
Also, locating enemies is somewhat unique to this game, when you see an enemy, you have to press the back button on your controller and then a red insignia appears over their head and they show up on your entire teams map for a brief amount of time. I can't express how gratifying it was to spot 3 snipers on a hill, press the back button, and watch them get lit up by my team - rockets, bullets, you name it, it went their way. Also, you get assit kill points for things like that, again, encouraging team work.
BFBC2 is a great game, very different then MW2 but in a good way. If you need a break from MW2, give it a try, you wont be disappointed. Again, one of the most impressive things about the multiplayer is how it rewards you for team work and incourages it. If actually playing a first person shooter AS a team, not just "lone wolfin it" while you're IN a team, sounds good to you, pick this game up, you wont be dissapointed.
I gave this game 4 out of 5 stars because it's not perfect. What game is? I have experienced some issues actually getting into a multiplayer match (can't find a match, busy, error, whatever,it means that their servers are full and they can't handle it, and several matchs have ended abruptly due to server issues. But once you actually get into a match, it's a ton of fun.
FYI: Snipers, snipers, snipers! What is the deal, everyone and their Mom wants to be a sniper. It seems that atleast a third to half of the players in the game are snipers. Not sure why, they always have the least amount of points and seem to stay in one spot most of the game.......i digress. Switch it up!
***UPDATE (03/14/10)***
I've been playing this came for quite sometime (all medic, recon, and heavy vehicle upgrades have been unlocked), i must say that it has held up well, although some of its flaws are more noticeable, nothing major per say, but worth mentioning, 1st one being the most important.
1)It's much easier to be a skilled pilot then to be a skilled engineer w/the rocket launcher.
Apache helicopters with missles are extremly unbalanced. What i mean by that is it is far to easy for a skilled pilot to get an insane amount of kills, to the point of feeling unfair because it's so hard to take it down. None of the rocket launchers "LOCK" on, yes you can guide the rocket, but you can't actually "LOCK" on, which is frustrating. When playing 'rush' on the map featured in the demo (the snow map which takes place during the day), there is a powerful Apache on that map, but you're given a good amount of tanks which help with taking it down, so it's not that extreme.
But......
This unbalance issue is taken to a whole new level on the map consisting of the 3 islands (with an autumn backdrop), when you're playing 'rush', the defenders are given an EXTREMLY OVERPOWERED Apache helicopter when/if they reach the 3rd island. I've played 2 games thus far where my team was about to seal the deal and take the 3rd island when the defenders hopped in that freakin apache and annihilated everyone, it got so bad that most of my team dropped out, including myself. No point in playing any longer when you've died 5 times in a row because the apache is hovering over your spawn base firing rockets at you as you spawn in. I equipped the engineer class and so did half my team and we were shooting rocket after rocket trying to take it down, nothing was working. By my 5th death in a row, of not be alive more then 30 secs, i dropped out.
The first time it happend, it was extremly frustrating because my team was actually good, everyone was playing their role well, that's why it seemed extremely unfair.
The second time, i knew the drill at this point and gave it 5min, if it wasn't taken down in that amount of time, we dropped out. At that point, it just becomes a waste of time.
This is by far the biggest flaw i've found in the game. Basically, you've invested 20-30min to get that far in a match, then putting all player skills to the side, it boils down to who can get to the Apache first. They need to either lower the health of that particular Apache or make the rocked launcher system easier to use against it, ie-better guidance, tracking, more powerful, something! It just seems incredibility unbalanced.
2)Spawning is a lot better then MW2, but could use a bit of work.
I was playing a 'rush' match and my team was defending and we were actually able to jump the spawn base of the attackers and smother them the entire match, they didn't get to set one 'com station' off, seemed unfair for the other team, we should'nt have been able to do that.
Also, i've spawned into mortar strikes twice (spawning on a teammate), that was purely bad luck on my part though, nothing against the game.
3)Match making protocol can use some work.
I've found it useful to hit/hold the 'back button' when i first get into a match because some of the time i find that i'm put on a team that only has, let's say 7 people, compared to the other team which as 12. Or i'm put on a team where the top player has 500 pts and the other teams top player has 1600 points, usually a good measure of how "good" your team is going to be.
Again, my rating still stands, it's a great game and a ton of fun, just be aware of the 3 island map playing rush, try to get to that Apache first, if not, be ready for game over.
Battlefield Bad Company 2
