Battlefield BC2 BETA Reviews

[Zantheus]

I played a bit more last night and had a fun time. I think what will be important to note will be the actions that are taken to improve the beta. The biggest one being the VOIP.

VOIP works for me Duke

[Rand{CLR}]

VOIP works for me Duke

You are one of the very, very few. It's been intentionally disabled because of an open sound bug, so the fact that it works for you is probably another bug.

The lack of voip isn't the only issue here, by any means. I'm going to cancel my pre-order shortly.

I didn't do it yesterday only because when I dl'ed the beta client from file planet to give the beta a bit more time in case it changes with patches, it referred back to the files already on my system, including the Steam beta key. I'm wondering what would happen if I get Steam to pull the pre-order. Worst case is that for some strange reason it won't let the fileplanet version work even if I purge my system of the other files, but I will probably try it anyway.

By the way, if the vehicle listing in the customization/stats area is fully accurate, it looks like the game has no jets. I'm a fan of this, considering how overpowered jets became with good pilots in BF2. They never did find an acceptable balance to them, and continued to do poor jobs of AA coding.

-Rand

[KurlonT]

Really the lack of prone makes the gameplay move along at a faster pace (besides the handy sprint) which is a good thing when dealing w/ lower player counts. Besides there's so much cover or potential cover (from destroying stuff) that sniper recons are still deadly...and yea no silly prone diving too...

Some tips I picked up from the PS3 beta:

*Spot, Spot and Spot again...it's one of the most useful things in BC2 and you can rack up plenty of points doing it if the team can kill off those detected. This is especially true for recon snipers since they are only going to rack up so many points by kills. Plus the recon has access to the 12x scope unlock which makes spotting faster besides getting the huge zoom.

*Health, Ammo, C4, AT Mines all stay for a bit after the solider is killed so keep the squad constantly supplied if your Assault or Medic or grenade/shoot the C4 and AT Mines if they are serving a role still.

*The basic RPG is the only weapon to work w/ tracer darts so far since the other AT weapons are already guided. Still once you achieve lock on w/ the RPG (takes a few seconds while the crosshair is over the tagged target) you can practically fire it backwards if there's enough range and the missile w/ find the target. This can be quite funny if the dart was on a enemy solider...

*To take out armor the best method is still C4...plant all the charges and boom...sneaking up is the trick. Mortar Strikes can take out a tank but only if the driver is clueless and decides not to move. RPG's are effective but need multiple Engys all hitting the tank if your facing the front armor. From the rear it takes two RPG hits assuming there's no unlocks. There is AT Mines but it usually requires armor to run over two mines and at a certain speed. With other armor just one mine is required or in a pinch you just set them off by shooting them.

*Besides putting C4 on friendly Jeeps or ATV's and having the passenger the one to detonate you can also put them on the UAV which can be quite funny at times when it sneaks up for the boom-kill.

*For snipers that need more ammo there's an unlock that will add more bullets but really the best case is to have someone play Assault in your squad and they stick by as you move from cover to cover. They get points for ammo supplies while guarding your campfire from "evil-doers"...

*For taking down buildings C4 is really good besides other high power strikes like tanks, mortar strikes, UAV guided missile, ect. If you want to knock out a section of wall the grenade launcher and grenades are very effective or in a pinch the Engy can use the repair tool.

*Crates can be damaged and destroyed instead of just going for the arming charge but they absorb lots of damage so C4 (takes 9 charges) or UAV guided missile (it was 6 direct hits) can do the job otherwise lots of tank shells. The last method is to collapse the building if it has an crate inside. Usually it takes lots of C4 or other high powered strikes to collapse a crate building but it's nice when it goes down w/ a few campers inside...

*Recons are equipped w/ one of the most effective combos for going after crates. The key is getting to the crate as fast as possible before the enemy can establish a real defense...so grab the ATV!
1. Throw a motion mine as you near the crate just in case of lone defenders.
2. Plant all your C4 on the crate if it's undefended otherwise take out any defenders if possible.
3. Arm the crate charge and hide somewhere hopefully out of C4 range.
4. Watch the minimap for anyone coming to disarm and once they get close detonate the C4.
Either way you damage the crate and maybe bought enought time for it to detonate via the arming charge...win-win situation.
Note: Don't forget the Engy can repair a damage crate w/ the repair tool so keep trying to C4 the crate.

Last, BC2 is supposed to be about fast and fun w/ run and gun so if you need more realism then this shooter might not be your cup of tea thus I always try the demo or beta before putting down the cash. Besides BC2 has given every platform one chance to try the game out via a beta or demo which is pretty nice in my book.

[paceman]

What is the initial Recon MNT-55. Looks like a little ball? I haven't figured out it's purpose.

[Caddys83]

What is the initial Recon MNT-55. Looks like a little ball? I haven't figured out it's purpose.

Its a motion sensor. Kinda like a disposable radar. you throw it and it tells you if there are enemies in the surounding area of the ball. It can be usefull if you are trying to go around a cornor. Or here is a good tip:

1. Plant your C4 next to an objective
2. Haul butt
3. Throw your recon ball towards the objective
4. Check your radar for enemies
5. No enemies in sight: Throw your second recon ball
6. Detect 3 enemies
7. Detonate your C4
8. Enjoy

[Rand{CLR}]

*To take out armor the best method is still C4...plant all the charges and boom...sneaking up is the trick. Mortar Strikes can take out a tank but only if the driver is clueless and decides not to move. RPG's are effective but need multiple Engys all hitting the tank if your facing the front armor. From the rear it takes two RPG hits assuming there's no unlocks. There is AT Mines but it usually requires armor to run over two mines and at a certain speed. With other armor just one mine is required or in a pinch you just set them off by shooting them.

Not at all true in the pc version. Mortars are so accurate and so powerful that I'm usually hit dead on with the first to fall, and it does so much damage I can't get away from the rest before they take out the tank. Then when I bail out and am on foot, they don't do a bloody thing to me. Stupid mortars.

I found out last night a point blank TOW to the rear of a tank won't kill it.

AT mines right now are quite lame. Shooting them to set them off, while probably more realistic, makes them just about useless.

Pace, the little ball is a sensor. It's supposed to pick up enemies and tag them. It hasn't worked for me yet, but I'm starting to toss more near the objectives just to see if it does work.

-Rand

[paceman]

Thanks, guys. I'll have to experiment with it some later.

[Caddys83]

Not at all true in the pc version. Mortars are so accurate and so powerful that I'm usually hit dead on with the first to fall, and it does so much damage I can't get away from the rest before they take out the tank. Then when I bail out and am on foot, they don't do a bloody thing to me. Stupid mortars.


-Rand

I think it may had to do with Dice raised the mortar damage after the PS3 beta

The Mortar Strike is now called in via a pair of binoculars.
Lowered the number of shells in the Mortar Strike barrage, but raised the damage of each shell.
Raised the effectiveness of the Mortar Strike against armored vehicles.
Fixed a bug where the Mortar Strike would fail to begin to reload.
Switching kits no longer instantly reloads the Mortar Strike.

[Gimmie2]

Not sure if this still works, but in BC1 u you could use the repair tool to break down walls, and kill people. when you used it to break down a wall the effect was similar to shooting an rpg at it, a MASSIVE hole in the wall, it also kills faster than the knife which is odd...

[Caddys83]

Not sure if this still works, but in BC1 u you could use the repair tool to break down walls, and kill people. when you used it to break down a wall the effect was similar to shooting an rpg at it, a MASSIVE hole in the wall, it also kills faster than the knife which is odd...

ha ha this reminds me when I was first played as engineer in the beta I was running around with the drill and squizing the tigger to make the drill sound (just beening a dummy) and I ran up to a teamate ingame and drilled him from the back. Blood splattered but didnt kill him. That guy took a while to turn around and when he saw what I was doing. He took a few steps and looked at me like "WTF" He shot me a few rounds like "you asshat"

[Pumpkin_Jack]

Alright guys im in a bit of a pit can a 8500gt run, i aint looking for high settings just being able to run smoothly.

[Reconsnipe1]

Thanks caddy. This will be one i will be trying out for sure and most likely will be buying so if cains running it that could get me back to the lair

Hope to see some old faces.

[Jenan]

Tracer dart still = <3

Some footage I got over the weekend, plus the A10. GAU sounds sooooo sweet with this sound engine (and they actually got the sound correct) but speed of sound modeling is off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqJn1WmuTRE

[KurlonT]

Excellent vids of the Tracer Dart/RPG combo Jenan...

You should do one w/ the RPG facing the other direction just for show...

The Mortar Strike is now called in via a pair of binoculars.
Lowered the number of shells in the Mortar Strike barrage, but raised the damage of each shell.
Raised the effectiveness of the Mortar Strike against armored vehicles.
Fixed a bug where the Mortar Strike would fail to begin to reload.
Switching kits no longer instantly reloads the Mortar Strike.

Sorry Rand missed the other Mortar Strike fixes (all I knew was the binoculars bit) so your right about not being able to escape the blast if the damage is really high vs. armor. Guess is keeps armor from finding a really dominating camping spot and forces it to be on the move most of the time.

[Rand{CLR}]

Yeah, you're probably right about the movement vs. camping intent Kurlon.

But the problem with that is that splash damage is almost completely missing from armor shots. There's only so many times you can drop a shell three feet from a guy and watch him wander away to hit you with his RPG before you're overwhelmed by him and his buddies.

I was tagged a few times yesterday, and it's definitely more effective than non-tracer shots, but it still isn't enough even with multiple shooters to bring down a good tanker. It would be plenty good enough for the average player though, or if the tanker got particularly aggressive and moved too close to manuver.

The one and only reliable way to take down a tank every time is with a direct mortar shot kill, and maybe if there is a hellfire upgrade for the Apache that could work also, but nobody has one yet that I've seen.

So you naysayers for tracers? You're wrong, sorry. They are incredibly useful for most situations.

I wonder if I should post something in the beta forums about armor being too good (mortars too). I had about 8 engineers gunning for me at one point yesterday and they couldn't bring down the tank. Though at one point I had Lairs-ian level of teamwork with engies fixing me up after passing the first stage, and that helps a great deal.

-Rand