Battlefied: Bad Company 2, More failware Options

[Besalope]

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Recent announcements from EA/DICE indicate that servers for BF: BC2 will be rental only, with server files not being released to the public. This is great for online play; however, throws a wrench into lanparty play.

We will be waiting until further evaluation of the game between the beta released on the 28th and more information on game details before making the final 'Yea' or 'Nay' in regards to whether or not we will be using the game.



Sadly, it seems more and more games seem to be limiting or even removing lan support.
- CoD: MW2 - No Dedicated server support period. (online and lan removed)
- L4D2 - Dedicated server support, but functionality has been fundamentally changed from L4D1 making server management more difficult and clan server setup far more difficult. (direct joining a server is campaign-only, cvars need to be changed mid-game in order for versus to even be attempted, and 3rd party mods to swap players are also required.)

[Besalope]

After partaking in the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Open Beta, it is apparent the game is non-conducive to our needs.

Pros
- Game looks beautiful
- Streamlined Squad and Kit system
- Physics to allow some environment destruction (Mostly Buildings)

Cons
- No lan server support, dedicated is online-only
- Excessive Bloom and lighting effects make it near impossible for the Sniper/Recon class
- Prone has been removed from the game, Snipers are worthless and medics are easier to kill
- Controls take excess of 15 minutes to configure. Stock settings are horrible and feel unresponsive like a console game.
- The "Issue Orders" (Q) menu has been toned down considerably. It's now hold and left mouse click. No requesting Aid or skill sets, or even identifying specific enemy types
- Server browser does not sort by: Name, Map, Type, Ping, etc

Conclusions
With roughly 20 days before going Gold and 40 before launch date, the game is filled with bugs. The "Friends" system is completely non-functional and there are many documented crashes to desktop. The Open Beta seemed more like a late-Alpha to Closed-Beta where all these issues should have been fixed. But instead of polishing and stress testing, EA/DICE have once again produced a bug-laden game and tried to pass it off as a final product. If support for the original BF2 and BF2142 series are any indication, none of these flaws will ever be fixed. As such, we will not be playing or supporting Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at LGN Lan Party events.

~ LGN Staff

[Cap'n Carpet]

- Controls take excess of 15 minutes to configure. Stock settings are horrible and feel unresponsive like a console game.

Dunno what console games you have been playing, but most big releases have good controls. Last one I played with sluggish controls was Mirror's Edge...wait a minute, was that supposed to say, "like any DICE game?" If so, then I would have to agree.