Steam Backlog: Battlefield Bad Company 2

One of the best!

Funniest Battlefield ever sir!

 Next on the journey through my Steam backlog: Battlefield Bad Company 2!

 I am too obsessed with Battlefield 2042 currently to jump back into Bad Company 2 so this post will just be about my fond memories of destroyed battlefields!  This is one of my all time favorite Battlefield titles!

 Not only did this game have great multiplayer, but it also featured a great single player game.  In fact its the only single player campaign in the entire franchise that I can remember playing.  The characters were memorable and I can still hear "Rainbow Sprinkles"!

 Just watching that video brought back so many funny memories from this game's dialogue. I would even go as far to say that if Battlefield gamers were turned into virtual soldiers these yahoos would be the result.

 And talking about the rainbow sprinkles on the top: not only was Bad Company 2 amazing but so was it's Vietnam campaign.  For years I returned to play the Vietnam multiplayer.  Great maps and even better features! Ever see a helicopter airlift a tank into the middle of the battlefield?  Well guess what you can do in BFBC2 Vietnam!  Oh and the river patrol boats were overpowered... just saying.

 Regardless of Vietnam or the game proper the underlying gameplay was spot on.  Guns felt great.  Map destruction was top notch.  Vehicles felt balanced.  And one of the most controversial changes was removing the prone position.  If you wanted to snipe you had crouch as your best bet.  

 So many good memories here and this spot in the backlog is also timely as, unfortunately, EA is desisting Bad Company 2.

 

This post is part of my running series: My Steam Backlog (see all MySteamBacklog tagged posts).  

Having Fun In 2042

Topping the Scoreboard In Battlefield 2042

 I've been enjoying Season 4 of Battlefield 2042.  The game is in a really good spot.  I wanted to take a break from my normal "support" role and play the more aggressive play style with the Assault class and specialists.  I've become a big fan of Zain and landed some great matches; either topping the scoreboard or landing in the top squads.

 While I am more "aggressive" playing assault I am still "support" in my non-existent heart so I spend a lot of time watching flanks for the team.  It is surprising how many kills you can get when you learn the spots where better players flank and just wait for them.  They never expect someone to be waiting for them and I have been able to wipe entire squads.

 Oh and the new sticky grenade is mucho fun.

Look Mom! First place again!

 

Look Mom! The team carried me!

2nd place is the first loser... err wait!

Some Fun in 2042

Some fun in Battlefield 2042 Season 4

 Patch 4.0 is out and Season 4 is here.  A couple screenshots from last night's session.

LOOK MOM!!!! I'm in first place!

I'll pick you up when you are down (seriously it's what I love to do!)

It's The Little Things That Matter in Battlefield 2042

Ah the little things...

 Battlefield 2042 Season 4 is here and the community is excited about the little things.  Mainly some improvements to minimap scaling.

• Increasing the size of the minimap will no longer also increase the size of the icons.
• Added an option to allow customization of the scale of the minimap icons.
• Added an option for the scale of the minimap icons to scale with the view distance of the minimap (Enabled by Default).
  

 I don't really care but the community is excited: It's finally here!

Assistant with an OV-P Recon Drone

When you just need to get that weekly challenge done in Battlefield 2042!

Flying the OV-P Recon Drone around is so much fun sometimes.  I can't do it every match but when the weekly challenge encourages me I love breaking it out; especially on maps like Discarcded.

And took home an outstanding performance for most assists!

Boom 1:1

 And there it is; 1:1 KD achieved in Battlefield 2042.  Previous post and progress.

What bringing the class system back to Battlefield 2042 has done

 Battlefield 2042's latest update brought back the class system of Battlefield history.  Players now select a class that limits gadgets, throwables, and specialists that can be chosen.  This is Battlefield and I am happy to see it back.

 Prior to this latest update players could select any combination of specialist, gadget, weapon, and throwable (grenades).  This meant I could play as Irish (a support specialist), carrying anti-vehicle rockets, and at the same time carry the proximity sensor (grenade).  On top of that I could use any gun (assault, SMG, LMG, or sniper).

 To be honest it was pretty sweet as I noted in my post here and here.  I was a mega super team support player with my Irish setup.  I could do everything except shocking non-squad members back to life.  But that is where the problem lied.  Everyone could do everything and thus the Battlefield developers had to make many things "balanced"; for example since everyone could carry anti-vehicle it was weaker than it would be if it was less limited. It was fun but then also not fun.

 With the class system back in place the developers have been able to make things like anti-vehicle stronger per shot (since there is less of them now).  Vehicles should in theory feel less threat over all because not everyone is rocking anti-vehicle tech.  There is far less proximity sensor spam as it is restricted by class (even if that does break my nonexistent heart).

 The development team also figured out an approach to continue to allow all classes to use any of the main guns.  If I want to use an SMG as an assault class I can continue to do so (in prior Battlefields the SMG was limited to Support).  There were proficiency added (as covered in this post) to certain classes to favor certain weapons, but they are not so dramatic as to penalize someone for opting out to another class of gun.

 After having played several rounds under the new system the game does feel better over all.  I actually got in a vehicle without immediately getting blown up!  There seems to be more medics and thus more revives.  I have a much better understanding of what my teammates are capable of because I can see what class they are.  The only thing I really miss is my proximity sensor as I am not a fan of the other grenades, but I understand sometimes less is more.

 Have you given the update a try?  If so, what are your thoughts?

Closing in on that sweet 1:1 K:D

 Maybe not an achievement for the chad gamers of the world but for us old fart gamers getting to a 1:1 K:D in games like Battlefield 2042 is an achievement.  I was at 1:1 for a period but I've had some terrible  rounds after coming back from a hiatus.

 Also I am finding myself pretty terrible at some of the original maps (they suck compared to Spearhead IMHO) and feel like I am either getting spawn killed or getting shot in the back because I don't know where to expect enemies from.

 Anyways here is my progress:

How to add the "Inside Battlefield" podcast to Pocket Casts

 I have used Pockets Casts as my podcast manager as long as I've owned an Android phone.  One of the things that happens from time to time is a new podcast is launched and you just can't find it on the Discover tab of Pocket Casts.  The recently launched "Inside Battlefield" podcast from EA/Dice is one such example, but I got around the issue and was able to subscribe to it via Pocket Casts.  Here are the steps.

 In Pocket Casts go to the Discover tab.

 Searching by Inside Battlefield or EA or any search term will not work.  Instead enter the URL for the Apple iTunes page:

https://podcasts.apple.com/se/podcast/inside-battlefield/id1589510289?l=en

 Searching by that URL in Discover should bring up the podcast and allow you to subscribe.  Note: this does not work for all iTunes podcasts so I am sure there is more to why it works for this one and not others.

 Hope this finds someone in need and solves the same problem I had.  Enjoy!

Going to give Battlefield 2042 a try

I have been itching to pull some triggers so I grabbed Battlefield 2042 on sale for $20.  Will share my thoughts as I play it.

Games I'd Play: Battlefield-as-a-service

 Every once and a while I find myself day dreaming about games I'd like to play.  One that recurs to me is a Battlefield-as-a-service game where instead of releasing a new iteration of the Battlefield franchise every year instead we'd have a single Battlefield game where they just release new maps and campaign settings (WWII, modern, future, Vietnam, etc) as part of the service and throw a battle pass on it to tease money out of our wallets.  I honestly wonder why this doesn't already exist.  I'd play it.

My theoretical Battlefield game would also take us back in time to the style of game that Battlefield 2 was.  Battlefield 2 had two amazing features I have missed in every Battlefield game I've played since: commanders and replay.

Battlefield 2 allowed a single player to take on the role of commander and instead of going pew-pew around the battlefield that player had a top-down view directing squads of players to objectives and calling in artillery strikes on areas.  The enhancement I'd make to bring this feature back would be a ranking system for commanders that way its not just luck of the draw on who gets to take on this key role.  Yes, this would gate keep some players but I think its one of those key roles that could make this sort of game that much better.

Battlefield 2 also had a replay system whereby you could go back and replay the entire match.  Many games have this system to a degree, but Battlefield 2 is the only Battlefield I am aware of that has had it.  I spent hours replaying matches, watching epic fights, rewinding them, re-watching them from different angles, and then capturing epic combat footage.  I made a good number of videos (which sadly were lost to the now defunct Google Video platform that Google had before they acquired YouTube).  

Yes, we live in a world of streaming and super simple video capture, but a replay system allows for so much more than just what a single player's view was.  With the content creation tools that exist today a replay system would be an amazing capability and I have no doubt would result in some epic community created content.

I also think graphics engines are at a point where you could use a current state engine for years without a concern about it looking "old" in a couple.  This would be a key element to making Battlefield-as-a-service.  

Of course I mentioned battle pass and I understand that may tilt some players, but I think its the reality of the current market for these types of games.  If it was combined with new maps, weapons, and campaign settings it would be almost no different than buying "Battlefield version 2022/2023/2024/2025" and the improvement is that your investment per pass is building on all previous passes.  Compared to when I started playing Battlefield 3 it didn't matter what I had accomplished in Battlefield 2.  Ideally a battle pass would focus on cosmetic and "battle medals" type awards and not any power increases (i.e. don't tie unlocking access to a weapon behind battle pass).

If this game were made I'd play it.  Would you?  If so, leave a comment.  If not, believe it or not, still leave a comment.