I sprinted through the deserted homes and crumbling buildings, systematically crouching behind cover to catch my breath and listen for the occasional drumming of boots as they made their way hastily toward a distant chorus of screaming soldiers. The symphonic machinegun fire gave prelude to a crescendo of incoming mortar shells, making for an adequate distraction as my journey came to resolution. I entered the dilapidated factory through a side door, and headed slowly up the rusted ladderwell that moaned in discontent with my every footstep toward the top of the complex.
The roof provided an excellent vantage point to aid my advancing comrades scattered among the war torn ruins. Another had the same thought. Clad in a ghillie suit that made him stand out like a haystack in a city street, he was still and quiet, lining up shots to silence the melody that had already done me so many favors. With ravenous determination, I ran across the concrete rooftop, pushing to reach him before he could realize a serrated blade would be entering his chest. My footsteps grew louder as I closed the gap. He heard my intent and spun quickly to put me down. The bolt-action rifle gave this soldier only one chance to halt my advance; he did not take advantage. A single round sang a dissonant cry as it whirred past. A short-lived expression of pain crossed his face as tempered teeth sunk into regretful flesh.
…And then my audience stopped reading because I was severely creeping them out.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a game developed by DICE, and one of a number of sequels to the Battlefield franchise. Maintaining my personal title of “one of the most involved shooter experiences to date,” though maybe not as involved as a game like ARMA; BFBC2 provides a great wartime feel through amazing audio, fast-paced gameplay, easy to manage interface, and spectacular visuals.
Traditional to the Battlefield series, Bad Company 2 revolves around big battles of up to 32 players. Tanks, APCs, Helicopters, even Jet Skis and Off-Road 4x4s are among the vast vehicle armament persistent in many maps. Individual characters are put into squads of up to four players. Being part of a squad allows you to more easily communicate with other squadmates, and will even allow you to spawn on top of them in the very likely event of your death; this allows great tide-turning possibilities, being able to send a single man deep behind enemy lines, and then turn that one man into four by spawning near him. Players can be one of 4 individual classes, (Medic, Engineer, Assault, and Recon) whose loadouts can be changed while waiting to respawn, allowing you to change your tactics mid game (like equipping Anti-Tank mines instead of your trusty RPG-7.)
Players gain experience points based on personal performance during matches (unlike idling in Alterac Valley (WoW reference,) you have to actually participate in the game.) Players receive bonuses through a variety of different “pins” awarded at the end of the match. Pins can be awarded by anything from attacking and defending a base within a single round, avenging an ally’s death, getting multiple kills with a single weapon type, being part of the best squad, or being all around awesome. (On a side note, you also receive the dog tags of anyone you’ve knifed, and maintain a list of those players with a running tally of how may times you’ve stuck them.) Individual class levels are gained through experience; unlocking specific guns and equipment for that class, as well as an overall player level, which grants access to more equipment for multiple classes.
The interface in BFBC2 is extremely smooth and easy to use, allowing a lot of interaction between your environment and squadmates by pressing the Socialize button, originally bound to the ‘Q’ key on PC. The universal Socialize button allows you, when looking at a Medic in your squad, to verbally ask for First Aid, or tell an allied player in a passing vehicle to slow down because you’re “tired of hoofin’ it.” It also doubles as a targeting device for enemy players, placing a little red arrow above the target while providing a verbal warning to nearby allies. The arrow hangs around for a few seconds, just long enough to light him up, (unless he’s running around like Benny Hill with “Yakety Sax” on blast.)
Speaking of little red arrows. In a game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, if you’re great at shooting people, you will do well in the game. You point, you click, things die, you get points, you tell your girlfriend about it, she’s not impressed, then she tells you that you don’t spend enough time together and that it’s because of “your stupid games,” but you ignore her and play more games, because she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Err, that’s just… speculation. Totally. Anyway; you can’t simply point and click your way to victory in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
“Spotting” via the socialize button is one of the most important things you can do to up your chances at pocketing a win. Cover is utilized better in this game than in any I’ve seen. The reason for this is, essentially, environmental movement. In most games, if a player sits still looking at their screen, they can see figures move, even in the distance, it simply catches your eye. But if ‘everything’ moves, it’s difficult to differentiate between a cloud of smoke, trees swaying in the wind, buildings being blown to bits and pieces, the obscuring haze of a gusting sandstorm, all of which provide excellent sources of cover for the player. The little red spotting arrow does a great job of negating this cover, as it is visible from practically anywhere on the map. Even while you can’t see the enemy, you will definitely know where he is. Your foe will have a very bad day, and you will walk away with some extra experience as a “spotting bonus” when they die.
Cover is great while it lasts, and though there should always be ‘something’ you can hide behind, the statement becomes less and less true as the battle progresses. Buildings can incur gaping holes in walls from rockets, mortar fire, and tank rounds, these same buildings may eventually collapse, leaving you a big pile of concrete slabs instead of a cozy apartment complex. Trees and telephone poles may be mowed down, watch-towers can topple, vehicle “corpses” stay present for a good long while and act as cover themselves, even the dirt beneath you can crater from a blast. Nearly ‘everything’ in a game map is interactive and/or destroyable.
I could go on and on about how incredible the audio is; the deafening ring of an explosion landing nearby, shouts from allies and enemies that react to everything, usually with some “mature” language thrown in (to put it lightly,) the delicate crunch of boots through snow, and the rustle of brush as you move through the flora. Just individual strokes on the canvas of an aural masterpiece.
Each skirmish in BFBC2 tries to make it feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself. Planes may begin strafing runs at the beginning of the map, and make passes overhead throughout the game, land based artillery will fire at ships anchored just off shore, and red-hot bullets will fly through the air at a village off in the distance. While this is all aesthetic and will make no ‘real’ impact on your match, the attention to detail is amazing, and provides an overall feel to the game that you simply do not get to enjoy with other “wartime” simulations.
TLDR Version
Battlefield: Bad Company 2, by DICE is the next generation of war-time shooters. Hosting incredible video and audio effects that step in synchronous to the game’s 32 player battles and completely interactive environment, BFBC2 will possess FPS gamers from casual to hardcore alike from day one, and well into the foreseeable future. There is a well scripted and somewhat comical single player campaign to add to the already outstanding multiplayer aspect. The game is available to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. War based violence and constant use of profanity make this game maaaaaybe not-so suitable for children.
Rating: A commendable 10/10
MASS EFFECT 2
While Mass Effect 2 is incredible, it is at the same time... quite saddening. I'm not talking about the lack of Fem-Shep butt cheek or Liara side-boob, but overall the game is much more shallow than the original Mass Effect.
Having said that, this HARD MODE review is taking a look at the title compared to its predecessor, and long-term playability for gamers as fanatical about Mass Effect 2 as I am.
-Combat-
ME1
I made it through ME1 a couple of times by simply maxing out how awesome my pistol was, and spamming the Marksman ability to drop enemies like panties on prom night. I can't imagine how much 'more' easy it would be if I played a class that had an increased reliance on weaponry (played as an engineer both times.) I think that ME2's greatest achievement over ME1 is the more Gears of War esque combat system.
ME2
While the combat has the same general 'feel', improvements to the system were made. And they're awesome. Ease of squad control coupled with a very understandable, very tangible use of strategy (certain abilities against certain enemies depending on their state (Shield/Armor/Barrier/Health)) was a great step toward simplicity, but has at the same time put a limit on "fun" abilities. Throw/Pull/Singularity/Anything that effects 'only' "Health" is essentially what I'm throwing in this catagory. (Note: In ME1, you could throw enemies even if their shields were up.)
Because of the now GLOBAL cooldown of abilities, it is more wise to save squadmates and your own abilities to drop enemy defenses, instead of wasting them on "health."
As it stands, there isn't enough "health" on enemies to want to use the "fun" abilities, if it's red, it's dead. A simple solution to this would be to give enemies more "health", or grant certain "fun" abilities usefulness even when an enemy's defenses is up, say Throwing an enemy even if he has armor, but giving it a diminished effect.
Another complaint about the combat system is the use of "bonus" powers earned from gaining the "loyalty" (a poorly executed concept in itself.) I'll make a brief mention that Ammo powers are beyond stupid, mostly due to the limited skill points gained at max level. Bonus powers incredibly unbalanced, and prove useful only to make an easy game more "challenging" to the player. I won't have to mention Area Reave, because everyone should know that it is hands down one of the most powerful abilities in the game.
Because of the obvious imbalance amongst the bonus powers, players will generally pick a low-cooldown power (like Reave) or a pass, Ammo power, or simply not use one at all.
A simple, and dare I say best solution would be to put all Bonus Powers on a seperate cooldown (while changing the cooldown times of the individual abilities.) This would lift the constraints in place now, effectively broadening the options for customization and playstyle.
-Game World-
ME1
Broad and expansive, the citadel felt like a citadel, the colonies and missions had areas where you could/had to explore/backtrack. There was more interaction between characters, not just in the squad during missions, but getting frequent chit-chat from comms, news on the elevator giving you random missions (screw elevators btw,) hacking into random computers to gain even more information, not to mention just the extensive amount of side quests available and things to find/see, while retaining the ability to progress the main plot whenever you want.
This also goes for character interactions aboard the ship. Characters simply felt deeper, had more to talk about, and displayed their thoughts/wants/desires/quirks more easily. References were made to Shepard's past not just in passing, but made an actual impact on the game through additional missions and character interactions.
ME1 has more feelings of a dynamic world. Dealing with political power struggles, having to make decisions that "feel" more important, and running through missions only to be ambushed (rachni in the vents, geth drop ships, crazed salarians turning on you after you free them.)
ME2
In an obvious effort to either A. Pull in gamers with short attention spans (CoD/CS/GoW, basically the first person shooters) or B. An innocent, but FAIL attempt at making the game more linear... The world has shrunk. A lot. Illium is more like a large room than an amazing city, same goes for the citadel, omega, and every mission you run into.
It feels like every single mission in the game is a "enter, kill hench men, kill boss, complete." Instead of going into a mission, deliberately talking to people and trying to learn more, figuring out puzzles, developing characters, basically 'thinking' at all.
-Plot Holes-
ME1
Can't really get much more thorough than what they did in ME1.
ME2
- Sweet, I finished Legion's mission, so now all of the Heretics will stop following their flawed logic. Meaning they couldn't possibly want to create a weather controlling machine, and shoot at me for no real reason, on a side mission somewhere... God forbid Legion would have something to say about it (even if I hadn't completed his loyalty mission prior to,) or Tali, for that matter.
- Which brings up another point. Why is there no interaction or dialog for side missions. Especially ones that you think might be somewhat important to certain characters. Example: The Quarian you rescue from the Varren, Tali doesn't say a word. Not to mention the lack of any paragon/regenade points from doing those missions, not like rescuing someone from certain death is a big deal right.
- Aside from a single line of dialog from each of your shipmates after you beat the game, the galaxy is unchanged by what you have done. Simply because the game doesn't "stop" like ME1, shouldn't be a reason to "get what you get," if you're going to let us keep playing, you may as well do it right. Or at least pretend like you put some effort into it.
Hard Rating: 7.75/10
The game is fun, a lot of fun, incredibly fun even! ...but it also seems like BioWare was just trying to make a quick buck, evident through the lack of true story telling and character exploration. As a sequel to one of the most awesome games of our time, I don't think ME2 does it justice.
Having said that, this HARD MODE review is taking a look at the title compared to its predecessor, and long-term playability for gamers as fanatical about Mass Effect 2 as I am.
-Combat-
ME1
I made it through ME1 a couple of times by simply maxing out how awesome my pistol was, and spamming the Marksman ability to drop enemies like panties on prom night. I can't imagine how much 'more' easy it would be if I played a class that had an increased reliance on weaponry (played as an engineer both times.) I think that ME2's greatest achievement over ME1 is the more Gears of War esque combat system.
ME2
While the combat has the same general 'feel', improvements to the system were made. And they're awesome. Ease of squad control coupled with a very understandable, very tangible use of strategy (certain abilities against certain enemies depending on their state (Shield/Armor/Barrier/Health)) was a great step toward simplicity, but has at the same time put a limit on "fun" abilities. Throw/Pull/Singularity/Anything that effects 'only' "Health" is essentially what I'm throwing in this catagory. (Note: In ME1, you could throw enemies even if their shields were up.)
Because of the now GLOBAL cooldown of abilities, it is more wise to save squadmates and your own abilities to drop enemy defenses, instead of wasting them on "health."
As it stands, there isn't enough "health" on enemies to want to use the "fun" abilities, if it's red, it's dead. A simple solution to this would be to give enemies more "health", or grant certain "fun" abilities usefulness even when an enemy's defenses is up, say Throwing an enemy even if he has armor, but giving it a diminished effect.
Another complaint about the combat system is the use of "bonus" powers earned from gaining the "loyalty" (a poorly executed concept in itself.) I'll make a brief mention that Ammo powers are beyond stupid, mostly due to the limited skill points gained at max level. Bonus powers incredibly unbalanced, and prove useful only to make an easy game more "challenging" to the player. I won't have to mention Area Reave, because everyone should know that it is hands down one of the most powerful abilities in the game.
Because of the obvious imbalance amongst the bonus powers, players will generally pick a low-cooldown power (like Reave) or a pass, Ammo power, or simply not use one at all.
A simple, and dare I say best solution would be to put all Bonus Powers on a seperate cooldown (while changing the cooldown times of the individual abilities.) This would lift the constraints in place now, effectively broadening the options for customization and playstyle.
-Game World-
ME1
Broad and expansive, the citadel felt like a citadel, the colonies and missions had areas where you could/had to explore/backtrack. There was more interaction between characters, not just in the squad during missions, but getting frequent chit-chat from comms, news on the elevator giving you random missions (screw elevators btw,) hacking into random computers to gain even more information, not to mention just the extensive amount of side quests available and things to find/see, while retaining the ability to progress the main plot whenever you want.
This also goes for character interactions aboard the ship. Characters simply felt deeper, had more to talk about, and displayed their thoughts/wants/desires/quirks more easily. References were made to Shepard's past not just in passing, but made an actual impact on the game through additional missions and character interactions.
ME1 has more feelings of a dynamic world. Dealing with political power struggles, having to make decisions that "feel" more important, and running through missions only to be ambushed (rachni in the vents, geth drop ships, crazed salarians turning on you after you free them.)
ME2
In an obvious effort to either A. Pull in gamers with short attention spans (CoD/CS/GoW, basically the first person shooters) or B. An innocent, but FAIL attempt at making the game more linear... The world has shrunk. A lot. Illium is more like a large room than an amazing city, same goes for the citadel, omega, and every mission you run into.
It feels like every single mission in the game is a "enter, kill hench men, kill boss, complete." Instead of going into a mission, deliberately talking to people and trying to learn more, figuring out puzzles, developing characters, basically 'thinking' at all.
-Plot Holes-
ME1
Can't really get much more thorough than what they did in ME1.
ME2
- Sweet, I finished Legion's mission, so now all of the Heretics will stop following their flawed logic. Meaning they couldn't possibly want to create a weather controlling machine, and shoot at me for no real reason, on a side mission somewhere... God forbid Legion would have something to say about it (even if I hadn't completed his loyalty mission prior to,) or Tali, for that matter.
- Which brings up another point. Why is there no interaction or dialog for side missions. Especially ones that you think might be somewhat important to certain characters. Example: The Quarian you rescue from the Varren, Tali doesn't say a word. Not to mention the lack of any paragon/regenade points from doing those missions, not like rescuing someone from certain death is a big deal right.
- Aside from a single line of dialog from each of your shipmates after you beat the game, the galaxy is unchanged by what you have done. Simply because the game doesn't "stop" like ME1, shouldn't be a reason to "get what you get," if you're going to let us keep playing, you may as well do it right. Or at least pretend like you put some effort into it.
Hard Rating: 7.75/10
The game is fun, a lot of fun, incredibly fun even! ...but it also seems like BioWare was just trying to make a quick buck, evident through the lack of true story telling and character exploration. As a sequel to one of the most awesome games of our time, I don't think ME2 does it justice.
MASS EFFECT 2
Finally, a legitimate reason to drop everything you're doing and lock yourself in a cold, dark room for days on end. No, I'm not talking about trying to find new love connections on eHarmony, you silly sally. BioWare recently released their newest brainchild, Mass Effect 2 for PC and Xbox 360! Before you start with the "But Wrel, I'm having this great conversation with cheergal76" I'll let you know that she's way out of your league, and you'll find more fulfillment spending a couple weeks with this incredible single player RPG, than you will trying to stitch together an internet relationship. Plus, Mass Effect 2 isn't trying to hook up with greatguy32 behind your back.
So what makes this experience so incredible? It's that very word, experience. As a player, you're bound to have a different one each time you play. Mass Effect 2 is a sci-fi adventure that grips the player emotionally by allowing them to shape their character and the characters that accompany you through choices, many, many choices. You play the role of Commander Shepard, the main character and savior of the galaxy from the original Mass Effect, and one tough son of a gun.
Despite the box art and trailers that show off a stone cold Commander Shepard, the main character doesn't 'have' to be the battle hardened veteran the game makes him out to be. Upon starting a new game, you create your own Commander Shepard (or import a past Shepard from the original Mass Effect,) choosing hair style, facial attributes, one of six character classes, oh, and whether you want to play a male or female. Deciding Shepard's gender is not just aesthetic, but also governs how certain characters throughout the game will react to you, including (if you play your cards right) which of your crew mates you can enter a relationship with. Down boy, down!
Do you want to be the great hero everyone knows and respects? Or the ruthless vigilante that people call on to get the job done regardless of the cost. Your demeanor during conversations allow you to make decisions that shape that way the story plays out, and how people view you. Depending on how “good” or “bad” you are, you may be able to activate special events during cut scenes. Examples include things like interrupting an enemy's somewhat cliché “how we’re going to take over the universe and there’s nothing you can do to stop us” speech by shooting a gas pipe and setting him ablaze, or reprimanding someone who endangered the lives of innocent people with a righteous punch to the jaw. Unlike most games where judgment calls are part of the grand scheme, Mass Effect 2 doesn't force you to be the white knight or the seal clubbing villain, the system allows you to be a bit of both, like, you know... a "real" person. All seal clubbing aside, this game has employed the best karma based conversational system I‘ve seen to date.
Stunning visuals and incredible voice acting known to BioWare games are present more than ever in this title. Visiting different planets with unique climates, terrain, and encounters throughout the various star systems are a constant delight. The game hosts a wide range of guns and skills to accompany the six unique character classes, as well as upgrades for your starborne frigate and research projects that empower Shepard and crew.
But what are gorgeous guns and graphics without gameplay? While you are not shaking down thugs for information in the major cities, ME2's gameplay revolves mostly around squad based combat, being you and two teammates. You can issue commands to individual squad members, or have them fight with you on their own, using a somewhat intelligent AI that makes decent use of cover while paying attention to their surroundings. I say “somewhat” intelligent AI for this reason: when playing on the harder difficulties, the AI won’t stay behind cover long enough to recover their shields, and instead act like a short lived bullet sponge. While “taking one for the team” might seem like the heroic thing to do, in firefights that can last a number of minutes, the extra five seconds it takes for enemies to mow down a teammate won’t be doing you any favors. I found that in some situations, it’s best to keep the AI out of sight entirely and abuse their powers. Depending on the difficulty, the story line can be completed by throat-punching your way to victory in the easiest mode, to taking a very careful and strategic approach to every skirmish in the hardest difficulty.
Mass Effect 2 has gained a great deal over the first installment in way of interface design, performance, and smoothness of control. While prior Mass Effect players may be slightly saddened at the game’s new steps toward simplicity (lacking the complexity of the original equipment and skill evolution system,) trust that the tactical involvement is still there.
Easy Rating: 9.5/10
So what makes this experience so incredible? It's that very word, experience. As a player, you're bound to have a different one each time you play. Mass Effect 2 is a sci-fi adventure that grips the player emotionally by allowing them to shape their character and the characters that accompany you through choices, many, many choices. You play the role of Commander Shepard, the main character and savior of the galaxy from the original Mass Effect, and one tough son of a gun.
Despite the box art and trailers that show off a stone cold Commander Shepard, the main character doesn't 'have' to be the battle hardened veteran the game makes him out to be. Upon starting a new game, you create your own Commander Shepard (or import a past Shepard from the original Mass Effect,) choosing hair style, facial attributes, one of six character classes, oh, and whether you want to play a male or female. Deciding Shepard's gender is not just aesthetic, but also governs how certain characters throughout the game will react to you, including (if you play your cards right) which of your crew mates you can enter a relationship with. Down boy, down!
Do you want to be the great hero everyone knows and respects? Or the ruthless vigilante that people call on to get the job done regardless of the cost. Your demeanor during conversations allow you to make decisions that shape that way the story plays out, and how people view you. Depending on how “good” or “bad” you are, you may be able to activate special events during cut scenes. Examples include things like interrupting an enemy's somewhat cliché “how we’re going to take over the universe and there’s nothing you can do to stop us” speech by shooting a gas pipe and setting him ablaze, or reprimanding someone who endangered the lives of innocent people with a righteous punch to the jaw. Unlike most games where judgment calls are part of the grand scheme, Mass Effect 2 doesn't force you to be the white knight or the seal clubbing villain, the system allows you to be a bit of both, like, you know... a "real" person. All seal clubbing aside, this game has employed the best karma based conversational system I‘ve seen to date.
Stunning visuals and incredible voice acting known to BioWare games are present more than ever in this title. Visiting different planets with unique climates, terrain, and encounters throughout the various star systems are a constant delight. The game hosts a wide range of guns and skills to accompany the six unique character classes, as well as upgrades for your starborne frigate and research projects that empower Shepard and crew.
But what are gorgeous guns and graphics without gameplay? While you are not shaking down thugs for information in the major cities, ME2's gameplay revolves mostly around squad based combat, being you and two teammates. You can issue commands to individual squad members, or have them fight with you on their own, using a somewhat intelligent AI that makes decent use of cover while paying attention to their surroundings. I say “somewhat” intelligent AI for this reason: when playing on the harder difficulties, the AI won’t stay behind cover long enough to recover their shields, and instead act like a short lived bullet sponge. While “taking one for the team” might seem like the heroic thing to do, in firefights that can last a number of minutes, the extra five seconds it takes for enemies to mow down a teammate won’t be doing you any favors. I found that in some situations, it’s best to keep the AI out of sight entirely and abuse their powers. Depending on the difficulty, the story line can be completed by throat-punching your way to victory in the easiest mode, to taking a very careful and strategic approach to every skirmish in the hardest difficulty.
Mass Effect 2 has gained a great deal over the first installment in way of interface design, performance, and smoothness of control. While prior Mass Effect players may be slightly saddened at the game’s new steps toward simplicity (lacking the complexity of the original equipment and skill evolution system,) trust that the tactical involvement is still there.
Easy Rating: 9.5/10
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