Battlefield: Bad Company XBox 360/PS3
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December 18, 2007 - When Crytek's spiritual successor to Far Cry was announced and demoed for the gaming press last year console gamers' hearts skipped a beat when they thought of the possibility that Crysis could one day make it into their homes and onto their next-gen system. Ever since that day Crytek has denied -- one way or another -- that their latest smash hit will ever run on a home system. Well ladies and gentleman, fear not, the Swedish game makers at DICE have created something that is completely console exclusive and will make you forget all about Cry… something or other.
I first got my hands on an excruciatingly early build of DICE's Battlefield: Bad Company a few months ago on a trip to Stockholm, Sweden. I played the game, was inundated with information on its intricacies (some of which I still can't talk about), and just recently received a specially made tech demo that showcases the progression of the Frostbite Engine from my last experience until now. In other words, it's time to load your grenade launcher because that wall isn't as sturdy as it used to be.
Destruction is the name of the game in Battlefield: Bad Company. It's what people will remember about the game, it's what makes the gameplay as fun as it is, and it's what you'll be thinking about when you go back and try to play Call of Duty 4 or any other military shooter that showcases the indestructible landscapes that we've grown accustomed to.
The tech demo that DICE constructed began ordinarily enough with a voiceover from the game's creative director outlining what I was about to experience. The action started just as simply. Blow up the gates that impeded my progress, blow up barrels to blow up another gate, mow down a bunch of trees just because I can; it was all pretty much business as usual. Then it came time for the enemy AI to enter the picture.
Let me just say that popping off a few of the explosive rounds into the side of the building was a seriously exhilarating graphical showcase. Hunks of stone and wood spewed out of the building toward my character's feet. Smoke and soot slowly spilled out to reveal all that was left of the damaged structure; nothing but a skeleton. Needless to say our foes' cover was blown (literally) and it only took a few easy shots to bring them down. Time to move on.
Next up was a horseshoe-shaped environment with the open end housing a marauding tank replete with a large caliber machine gun and an even larger caliber cannon. Creating the horseshoe shape itself were several houses, though their quaint and calm exterior was about to be more than a little disturbed. The tank's first shell streamed across the center of the environment and collided with a central cluster of explosive barrels and trees. It was loud, debris was everywhere, and before I knew it my brave soldier was being riddled with machine gun fire.
Luckily enough (this is a videogame after all) the adjacent building was a home for a handy dandy rocket launcher. A grenade shell to its outer wall later and I was in a tidy living room picking up my new tool of death. Because the battlefield is 90% destructible in Bad Company the duel between the tank and my hero was quite unique. I couldn't simply stand behind a building and expect to survive as two strong shots would bring down both walls that were acting as my safe haven. I had to stay on the move, shoot on the move, and pray that I was quick enough to tap left bumper and inject my chest with a crucial health recharge before I bit the big one.
After planting four rocket shells into the tank it exploded in a fiery mass. Thank God, I made it. Little did I know that there was a final action sequence to come. The enemy called in air support in the form of an attack helicopter and it was my soldier's job to flee to an anti-aircraft emplacement and bring the bird down, all the while avoiding the massive missile and machine gun shots. A few health injections later and I was good to go, sitting firmly in my seat trying to track the bird that continued to rain down shots.
Rattling off shells at the copter created an effect not all that dissimilar from the Fourth of July, lighting up the sky with missed shells and laying waste to the hull with the ones that were on the money. Eventually the massive craft went down in a fiery ball of… fire, then it was time for us to showcase the true nuances of the Frostbite engine. Directly behind our gun emplacement (check out the embedded video for a peak) was a group of buildings, fuel silos, trees, and concrete barriers. I'll spare you the details of it all but in the end there were no silos, the buildings had massive holes in them, and the concrete barriers wouldn't stop a stiff breeze much less any kind of ammunition.
One thing that we'd be remiss not to mention is the audio, and while we're waiting until the end of the article to discuss High Dynamic Range (HDR) sound, don't think that it's taking any sort of backseat to Frostbite. In every building that we explored our gun shots sounded different, echoing off the walls and reacting differently to our ears. Taking a few tank shells in close proximity shoved our guy off-balance and made the camera bob uncontrollably as our ears pulsed with that ringing sound that we've heard from games in the past. We can honestly say that a battlefield hasn't sounded quite like this, well, ever. Call of Duty 4 comes close, but what DICE has in the cooker for Bad Company should blow everyone away.
Inject a hopefully rich storyline into this intense audio and visual display and 2008 may very well have its first smash hit. Rest assured we'll have much more on Battlefield: Bad Company in the few weeks leading up to its launch. In the mean time be sure to check out the more than one-minute of gameplay footage and lengthy developer commentary, both of which have been embedded in this article.
Taking the battle to single-player.
To this day, the Battlefield series remains one of EA's most successful franchises. Sweden-based development studio Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (DICE) showed they are more than capable of delivering a kick-ass multiplayer game. If you can believe it, in their latest project, Battlefield: Bad Company, DICE intends to move away from the standard multiplayer form. Actually, this is the first time a Battlefield game is being developed strictly for consoles from the ground up. Also, unlike any of the previous titles in the BF series, Bad Company was designed to depict a cinematic single-player experience. Yet, several trademark elements from earlier games served as building blocks for this new addition to the series. (Circle-strafing n00bs? - Ed.)
Inspired by the customary sandbox-style gameplay, the developers strive to keep things familiar to previous titles. The freedom is given to players to experiment with various styles of play, as they move through open-ended and highly destructible environments.
Battlefield: Bad Company is set in the near future and drops players into a dramatic conflict that takes place across territories of Eurasia. Think you'll be playing a righteous hero? Think again. As the subtitle "Bad Company" suggests, players find themselves part of a squad that chooses to disregard their duties. This time, you won't be putting your life on the line for Uncle Sam. Rather, the entire squad goes AWOL in the pursuit of riches and vengeance - the whole backdrop, obviously inspired by movies like Three Kings. Anyway, the protagonist of the game is called Preston Marlow. Accompanying him on his little expedition are characters like the Sarge, Sweetwater and Haggard.
Characters act according to their nature and have their own quirks. For instance, while the Sarge is essentially the leader of the group, he rarely likes being referred to as "Sir." Haggard, on the other hand, is the comic relief in the whole story and will often put a smile on your face with his one-liners. (I bet. - Ed.) Haggard is also very good with explosives, even though he's a bit short on brains.
As far as the gameplay goes, DICE explained a number of times that they mean to focus on destructible environments. Although destructible environments were seen before (think Red Faction), it seems the developers are pushing that particular facet to the limit. Objects and buildings can be damaged or blown up practically every step of the way. Walls, trees and such, can either sustain damage or be destroyed. There are other aspects you'll need to consider as well. Bullets cannot penetrate the wall of a building, which means you can use it as cover. At least until the enemy starts using missiles or grenades.
Such elements change the gameplay significantly and may force you to alter your combat tactics on the spot. This time around, hiding behind a wall won't always be the best solution during battle. Of course, this also means you can obliterate objects that provide potential cover for enemies.
The possibility of destroying or damaging structures plays a vital role in choosing a route to your objective. In most action games, going from building to building seeking cover would be the most obvious strategy when players want to reach their objective. In Bad Company though, instead of taking things slowly and going the long way around, you can use a shortcut by blasting your way through walls. To pulls this off, you'll obviously need more destructive weaponry, such as grenades, rocket-launchers and so on. Next to that, the game features an assortment of firearms like shotguns, snipers, knives, machine guns, etc. Other nifty additions were noted such as remote-controlled mortar strikes or laser-guided missile strikes.
Like I said, hiding inside or behind buildings is often a bad idea. The AI reacts according to your movement and position, so if an enemy tank sees you lurking behind a wall or building, it will keep attacking until the structure is blown to smithereens.
Decisions you make on the fly will drastically affect the gameplay. Thanks to the open-ended spirit of the game, which defined the Battlefield series, players will be able to use various approaches to achieve their goals. Blowing up a bridge during a battle may give you a tactical advantage in a certain situation, but could also make things difficult later on. Destroying the bridge means you have to find an alternate way of crossing the river beneath it. While you can always cross on-foot, you can also choose to fly over the river with a helicopter, if that's your style. By the way, besides choppers, players will be able to ride in different vehicles including tanks, jeeps and the like. Mounting anti-aircraft guns is also an option.
To make all this happen, DICE is utilizing their in-house Frostbite engine, which apart from ensuring a high level of destructibility, also makes for fairly detailed surroundings and cool-looking character models. According to the development team "sandbox environments are 90% destructible," on top of which the usual next-gen bells and whistles have been promised. To further add to the in-game realism, DICE incorporated, what they like to call, HDR sound. This feature means sound-effects like gunshots, explosions and voices change according to your whereabouts. In that respect, indoor sounds are different from those made outdoors. It works pretty much the same way as HDR lighting (light changes as you move from indoor to outdoor areas).
Battlefield: Bad Company stays true to the tradition of the series and is going to feature a multiplayer mode. Not much is known about it at this point, aside from the fact that it supports 24 players and most features from the single-player will also be available in the multiplayer mode.
EA is evidently determined to make a worthy tribute to the Battlefield series. BF: Bad Company marks DICE's first attempt on the single-player front, but whether or not BF fans will appreciate this switch remains to be seen. If nothing else, it promises to be a decent console action game.
Expect the game to hit stores in March 2008 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
http://www.actiontrip.com/previews/360/battlefieldbadcompany.phtml?2423
EA is the publisher Dice is the developer. They're a good dev
should see that game theyre working on now called Mirror's Edge.. a first person game where your character does "le parkour"-type moves
hope theres a way to adjust the camera else ppl going to get dizzy than a mofo while playing
http://www.on-mirrors-edge.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Battlefield: Bad Company may have been pushed back to a June 2008 worldwide release.
It was originally expected in March, but EA South Africa has told LazyGamer it needed more time to add polish. As in shiny polish, not people from Poland.
Incidentally, we are still waiting to hear back from EA UK for set-in-stone confirmation.
Bad Company is being made by Battlefield veterans DiCE for PS3 and 360, but deviates from the traditional formula to focus on a cinematic single-player story.
You are dropped behind enemy lines with a squad of renegade soldiers on a personal quest for gold and revenge, with plenty of dark humour and political satire about private military companies.
Other attractions are being able to blow nearly everything to pieces, plus a familiar strong online multiplayer component.
Word on the street is that Bad Company has improved massively since we first saw it, and see it you can over in various video snippets on Eurogamer TV.
GDC 2008: Producer Interview
[FLASH]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=31253[/FLASH]
GDC 2008: Field of Fury Gameplay
[FLASH]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=31248[/FLASH]
GDC 2008: Riverbank Gameplay
[FLASH]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=31246[/FLASH]
[FLASH]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=31253[/FLASH]
GDC 2008: Field of Fury Gameplay
[FLASH]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=31248[/FLASH]
GDC 2008: Riverbank Gameplay
[FLASH]http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=31246[/FLASH]
Battlefield Bad Company - DICE walkthrough Part 1
http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=7491
[FLASH]http://www.youtube.com/v/JQvwVFaDTaU[/FLASH]
Battlefield Bad Company - DICE walkthrough Part 2
http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=7495
[FLASH]http://www.youtube.com/v/dVxCAkVRNyQ[/FLASH]
http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=7491
[FLASH]http://www.youtube.com/v/JQvwVFaDTaU[/FLASH]
Battlefield Bad Company - DICE walkthrough Part 2
http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=7495
[FLASH]http://www.youtube.com/v/dVxCAkVRNyQ[/FLASH]
DICE has announced a multiplayer beta for the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield: Bad Company. The beta will start on March 17, while the game will be available come June. Check the full article for details on where to get a beta key.
Electronic Arts studio DICE has announced the multiplayer beta test for the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield: Bad Company. In the beta, gamers can battle through two different maps and try out the game's new infantry kits and vehicles.
IGN Founders’ Club and IGN Insider will be offering beta keys to both members and the general public in North America and Europe. Beta keys can also be obtained from IGN.com and its affiliated websites including GameSpy, TeamXbox, Planet Battlefield and Voodoo Extreme.
Interested gamers in North America can also get beta keys by pre-ordering a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company from GameStop. There are only 5,000 beta keys available from the store, though, so you better hurry if you want to grab one.
The beta will commence on March 17 while the game itself (also available on PlayStation 3), launches in June.
http://xboxevolved.e-mpire.com/article/Battlefield_Bad_Company/4376.html
We (much like yourself, we'd imagine) heard word of a Battlefield: Bad Company beta in the works. But we held off on passing it along until some of the details could be hammered out. Basically, you're either going to need to be a member of IGN's Founders Club or Insider service or pre-order the game at your local Gamestop. Oh, and you're going to need to be playing on the 360, as the offer isn't extended to PS3 players.
If you're in the first group, your life is pretty easy. Just hit up this link and you're in, provided you meet the requirements. If you're going through Gamestop, you'll want to act fast: Only the first 5,000 to preorder are going to be in on the month of action, which will include one mode ("Gold Rush") and two maps. There's more info about the Gamestop keys here. No matter which way you get in, the beta starts March 25 and continues until April 25. So what's the word? Will you be taking advantage of the beta?
CANT WAIT FOR PC VERSION I'M A FEW POINTS FROM MAKING CAPTAIN IN BF2
If you have an IGN/Gamespy account you can get the beta
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/bfbc/na/
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/bfbc/na/
After obtaining a Battlefield: Bad Company beta code through some questionable means, we proceeded to redeem our code and download the beta off the Marketplace. After firing it up and realizing the servers aren't yet live, we decided to troll through the game's menus to learn a little more about what we were in for all while listening to the calming piano music being played. Then, almost as if were were slapped in the face with a trout, we spotted the chart you see above. It's a default controller chart that confirms that Bad Company will include a Halo 3'esque "take screenshot" feature in multiplayer with the simple press of up on the d-pad. We're not sure how easy it'll be to take a screenshot while in the heat of battle or if there will be any other screenshot taking options, but at least we know there will be one. Gimped or not, adding the ability to take screenshots in any game is a big plus in our book. Now about paying for weapons ...
Well with the rise of the microtransaction age we were bound to see some exploitation, and it seems that the horse armor syndrome is rising again, this time over at EA. We've heard about it via several sources already, including a reader, and it appears that the Battlefield: Bad Company Beta lists individual weapons for sale via the XBLM. A total of ten weapons are locked that have text reading "Available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace" next to them. The details of this are a bit shaky as of now however, as of those ten weapons, five weapons are listed as simply available for purchase, and five are listed as available in gold edition or for purchase. The gold edition likely refers to the game's collector's edition which sports a faux gold finish and which will apparently have extra content.
Now, whether or not collector's editions having in-game items is a good idea isn't the issue, the issue is the microtransactions in regard to in game items. It isn't really an issue with single player games, as the content purchases of other players cannot effect your experience. But in the case of a multiplayer shooter having more weapons available to those with larger pocket-books just doesn't feel right. With EA experimenting with microtransactions in their new Battlefield Heroes PC game, it would seem only logical that they would continue the experiment in the console realm. But with the PC version's microtransactions based around things other than in-game items that effect balance (EXP, Skins, etc) we're hoping the console side of the experiment fails, and the PC one is widely adopted.
Remember the brouhaha last week about the discovery that Electronic Arts may sell additional weapons in their upcoming shooter Battlefield: Bad Company?
Electronic Arts today got back to us with their take on the whole situation. In a nutshell, yes, they will be selling some weapons through microtransactions when the game comes out. But EA says that you can get those weapons for free if you buy the Gold Edition. They also say they will have plenty of other weapons they're giving away during promotions leading up to the launch.
Here's their official take:
While this makes it slightly less onorous than we initially thought, I still have to agree with Fahey on this. Making gamers pay extra for something that is essentially core to the game seems wrong. I realize they say the weapons are all balanced, but the fact is having a wider selection of weapons to choose from can be a tremendous advantage in a game. What worries me more is where this is all headed. I can't help but think that this is just EA testing the waters.
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