GenieKnows Games Narrowing the field

Last night I logged onto EA servers for my first ever excursions into Dice's newest additions to the Battlefield family of games. the first truly next gen addition is entitled Bad Company and it's innovative in several respects.

Destructible Environments
For the first time in an online game, the environments are fully destructible. However I should point out as I discovered last night, that although destructible... this process isn't completely dynamic. For example, if you have a gun emplacement on top of a building, with a ladder leading up to it. You can completely destroy the building, but a sub foundation including rooftop (and oddly enough ladder) will remain so that the gun is not taking out of the battlefield. This is great if you need to make use of the fun but doesn't really make any logical sense. It would seem that destroying buildings in Bad Company is more of an aesthetic additions then really affecting gameplay. It does remove lots of cover, but aside from that... doesn't add anything in the form of tactical advantage.

Graphics
The graphics are nothing short of amazing, the addition of dynamic environments doesn't seem to have stopped Dice from displaying extremely detailed surfaces and models. All vehicles, and weapons look like their real life counterparts, and there are some great visual effects added on top of everything such as the scope effect when using a sniper rifle, and black and white when acting as gunner in an Apache. It all adds to the overall immersion factor of being on a real Battlefield!

Sounds
Easily the most impressive aspect of the beta so far would have to be the sounds. The echo of distant sniper shots, the thud of bullets hitting the ground beside you as you run in fear. The far of screams of fallen comrades. Everything here is done to such demanding standards that you'll immediately notice them missing if you pop anything else in your disk drive! I love how Dice has incorporated recorded sounds into the multiplayer side of the game. For example, if your character is injured during a fight, he'll shout the need for a medic out loud in the game environment (so that you don't have to!). Anyone nearby will hear it and "hopefully" come help you!

Weapons
Another aspect of the game that I was really impressed with was the weapon selection. There are several to choose from and not all of them are available from the start. There are three groups, unlocked, locked, and purchaseable weapons. Weapons as in all previous Battlefield games, look amazing and sounds amazing, but to add to that... they now create eerily realistic effect on the battlefield as well. See someone hiding behind some sandbags? Then switch to your m16's grenade launcher and blow his cover up! Someone hiding on a rooftop? plant some c4 on the ledge and watch him soar... or my personal favorite, get in a chopper and rain down some terror on everything in sight! This game's ability to make you feel like a god surpasses everything prior to it, make no mistake!

Level Progression
Dice has also added an awesome level progression mechanic into the game. To no surprise considering that almost everything has it nowadays. You start off as a private and earn points which can be used to purchase locked weapons. You also upgrade to new ranks after reaching certain milestones. I also noticed last night as well that you could collect dogtags from fallen opponents depending on how you took them out (for me it was knife kills). All of this just means that talented soldiers will be able to showoff their hardwork and I plan to be at the top of that list (as always lol).

...to be continued (seriously I'd write more but I have to get home and play the beta!)

for more info on Bad Company or the beta, visit http://www.battlefield.com/badcompany/

- Virago