EA are removing Battlefield 1943 and Bad Company 1 & 2 from sale on April 28th, and closing down online services for all three on December 8th, 2023. If you already own copies of the games you'll still be able to play their offline features, such as Bad Company 2's beloved singleplayer campaign.
]]>Welcome to The RPS Time Capsule, a new monthly feature we're putting together where every member of the RPS editorial team picks their favourite, bestest best game from a specific year and tells us why that game above all else deserves to be preserved in our freshly minted time pod. It might be that it's the best example of its genre, or it contains a valuable lesson for future generations. This month, we're travelling back to rescue eight games from 2010, and cor, what a good year that was. Too bad almost all of them will end up in the lava bin by the time we're done.
]]>Remember when multiplayer games would relese with a dozen or so maps to play on, instead of just a couple? Sure, players would coalesce around just two or three maps anyway, but Battlefield 2042 has offered a handy reminder of the benefits of variety. After so many games, it has a dozen classic and beloved levels, and six of them are going to be playable in its new Portal mode.
Brendy explained Battlefield Portal in more detail after its announcement this evening during EA Play. I am here merely to celebrate that one of Portal's six maps is Bad Company 2's Valparaiso - aka, the best Battlefield map.
]]>Six classic maps are returning in Battlefield 2042 as part of a tool for making your own game modes. The maps include Caspian Border from Battlefield 3 and Arica Harbour from Bad Company 2. The mode-editing tool is called Battlefield Portal and it works in a web browser, letting players create shareable game modes on a selection of old and new maps. You could make a mode that allows only repair tools, for example, or pits teams from distinct eras of warfare against one another.
In other words, you might force a bunch of World War 2 Germans armed with knives to fight squads of US soldiers from Battlefield 3 armed with modern LMGs. The important thing is they can duke it out in a fancy new version of El Alamein from Battlefield 1942.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 threw out a little of the scale of the main Battlefield series, making smaller maps that didn't contain the planes that offered some of the most fun experiences in Battlefield 2. But what it gained was better level design which more consistently delivered great, tense firefights.
]]>There's a joke somewhere in here about the current state of first-person shooters and the idea that this is a natural evolution seeing as we're already basically watching them anyway, but I'm not gonna touch it. And also, that was the whole joke. Battlefield: Bad Company (which is actually quite good; that's why I didn't want to peg it with a lowball gag, you see) is coming to oversized living room PC monitors near you by way of EA and Fox. If nothing else, it stars the main characters from the game and isn't getting Hollymorphed into - I don't know - the gripping, fart-ripping tale of two buddy cop bros (both played by Mark Wahlberg) and their talking dog, Dubstep. That's promising, right?
]]>As part of an eyewatering 2.6Gb cumulative patch known as Client R11 due for release today, DICE have taken the bad out of Battlefield Bad Company 2. The bad in this case being the icky and pointless SecuROM DRM in non-Steam versions of the game. Hooray for small freedoms! The patch also brings some tasty-sounding performance improvements and bug-splats, as detailed more below.
Sadly, DICE claim expediency required that they didn't also put out a smaller patch for people who've installed all the former updates, so you'll need to bully your broadband connection into the full 2.6Gb for now. This seems rather cruel, to be honest. They give with one hand, and take with the other, but oh well. Both Steam and the non-Steam versions should auto-update with the new patch right about now.
]]>Just two months ahead of release, Battlefield 3’s singleplayer mode remains something of a mystery – oddly so, given this game is DICE’s attempt to make their biggest franchise as appealing to lone gunners as team gunners. So getting eyes-on with a never-before-seen singleplayer level yesterday went some way to explaining BF3’s approach. That approach: MEGA-GRAPHICS, MEGA-EXPLOSIONS, MEGA-WAR. And yet, somehow, it's also far more subtle and convincing than COD and its recent raft of wannabe crown-stealers.
]]>For the past few weeks I have found myself returning to my favourite multiplayer game of last year, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It's a punchy rascal of a game, but it also hints at plenty of things that could be better in the future, and reminds us of lots of things that have been better in the past. Things that might be better in Battlefield 3. Or 4. Anyway, what follows is a consideration of what Battlefield games have done right and wrong, and what Battlefield 3 needs to think about.
]]>Multiplay have given us a Battlefield: Bad Company 2 server to use while we warm up for Battlefield 3. It's live now. Join me! You'll probably need to search for it in the server browser, so the full name is Multiplay :: Rock, Paper, Shotgun UK Server. I believe the search is case sensitive.
]]>Electronic Arts are making some serious progress into the sphere of free-to-play games, and it's interesting to watch this established and old school mainstream publisher gear up to explore that fresh frontier. One of EA's pioneers heading off into that great unknown is Ben Cousins, who is the general manager of EA's free-to-play branch, Easy Studios. I talked to him about Battlefield Play4Free. Battleforge, and more.
]]>And now for the bad news. Blues reports that Battlefield 1943 has actually been cancelled for PC, despite prior news to the contrary. This forum post has the news: "We know some of you eagerly have been awaiting Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Onslaught on PC, " says Karl Magnus Troedsson. "I’m sad to say that these two titles are now officially cancelled. Instead, our talented teams will focus on delivering the greatest possible gaming experience in our next behemoth release. We’re confident this will lead to an even better experience in Battlefield 3, not only on PC, but on all platforms."
]]>How is everyone fixed for some shooting of men from around 7pm GMT on Sunday 16th? We shall play Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
]]>EDIT: I didn't realise this was a mandatory update. Expect to download 2.6gb next time you play the game! Ugh.
There are two pieces of Battlefield news! First is that the latest BFBC2 map pack will arrive some time today. It's looking like the best of the map packs so far, with four new maps. FOUR NEW MAPS. JESUS CHRIST! There are two maps from the original Battlefield Bad Company multiplayer, and two from BFBC2's single player. They're all redone to make for BFBC2 multiplayer awesomeness. I am going to be playing the hell out of them on the RPS server a bit later. Also, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam will be appearing on 18th of December on Steam and EA Store, and 21st everywhere else. We shall also be playing that. Then.
I've posted the splendid, explosive map pack trailer below. Go. Me.
]]>This weekend I found myself on the RPS BFBC2 server - as part of our rather oversubscribed RPS Game Club - and I began to remember why I have played more of that game than any other this year. Despite its flaws there's a big bag of What Is Right About Multiplayer Manshoots in there, and I love it. Having done that and then taken a look at this new excellent new video for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam I began to get rather more excited about the upcoming historical expandalone than I had been up to this point. I'm starting to understand how Vietnam will change the dynamic - bringing the combat in even closer - and it's looking pretty fantastic.
I notice there's still no release date for this, despite it being slated for "Winter 2010". I guess that must mean it's out in December. It'll be download only, initially only in the EA Store. I will be downloading it.
]]>DICE says: "The article published by PC-Gamer is not accurate. We are currently researching if Onslaught will be available for PC. No release date."
]]>PCG have gone and got DICE to confirm that the Onslaught co-op mode, in which four of the multiplayer maps are reworked for 4-player co-op, will be coming to PC. Although it's not clear what this means for the server model, which was the reason that was given for it not being released earlier. There are also no details on price or release date, but we're assuming it can't take too long... Can it? Hmm, given the back and forth over recent patches, we can see why DICE weren't forthcoming about this originally, and haven't provided any dates this time. We'll see it when we see it, I guess. And then we can start imagining there might be mod tools? No, you're right, I'm just being silly. I want the moon on a stick, I do. And the strength to wield said lunar lollipop. I'd used it to swat space monsters, or kraken. Probably. I'm all about saving the earth from gigantic horrors.
]]>The reason being for hmming that Map Pack implies new maps, when this is actually expanded game modes for existing maps. Still, it's free I suppose, which is nice enough, although no set release date for PC. It'll provide for Squad Deathmatch on Nelson Bay and Squad Rush on Laguna Alta. Looks like BigDownload scooped the trailer, but thanks to the gentle magic of internet sharing, we have posted it for you below. In it you see dudes shot, and some buildings permanently crippled. Harrowing stuff.
]]>And it's apparently going to fix the browser issues, hooray. PC Gamer post the full change list, which doesn't specifically seem to mention any changes to weapon balance, although they are promised. Could this be a nerf to the medic's Light Machineguns Of Doom? I hope so. Bloody healers. DICE aren't going to reveal the weapon tweaks just yet, as they want "unbiased feedback", whatever that is. I suspect there might be a game on the RPS servers to investigate the changes. Join our Steam group so you get a message thingy when we're playing.
]]>International man of mystery Skeez187 has kindly donated a North American-based Battlefield: Bad Company 2 server for your gaming pleasure. It's called Rock, Paper, Shotgun US Ranked [RPS], it's currently a standard settings Rush server. (Still no hardcore, sorry! We're a bunch of softies.) Thanks to Mr 187 for that, and I hope our North American ranks have a fun time slugging it out on there.
]]>Hurrah for the UK's excellent online gaming service Multiplay, for they have given us a Battlefield Bad Company 2 server of our very own. They're one of the companies hosting servers for the game, should you be interested in such things, and they can be rented here. Read on below for more RPS server stuff.
]]>So, Plans A & B may have failed. That leaves us Plan C. That's the one where I stop using broad strokes to paint a picture of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for you, and whip out the single horsehair brush to start filling in all the minor details. This is where the highlights and lowlights are done, chaps.
Unsurprisingly, the new Battlefield game is doing rather well with fans of the series. It's providing similar thrills we've found before, on a slightly smaller scale, but with far more attention to detail. We've got destructible environments, prettier landscapes to kill each other over, and an EA Server system that lets each little bit of contribution to your side get logged and added to the overall tally system of unlocks. This is roughly the third iteration of Battlefield (so long as you ignore stuff like Battlefield Vietnam, or Battlefield 2142, or Battlefield 1943. Oh alright, it's Battlefield Mk 6, although it's not Battlefield 3, that's still to come.)
Let me break it down for you. This is the breakdown, broken down into bits of broken words:
]]>Looks like the new BFBC2 patch (which just rolled out on Steam and has been available to non-Steamers for a couple of days) is chock full of problems. Tom Francis over at PCG has collated some of the problems people claim to be having, which includes crashes and connection problems. I can report that it's crashed to desktop for me since I patched on Steam this morning, although I've had stability for three games in a row now, so maybe it's okay. Hmm. (You can opt out of the patching on Steam, but that means starting it up offline, I think.) Which is probably a good thing, because I have stacks of work to and an interview to transcribe, but...
]]>Okay, this is absolutely brilliant. My affections are always available for the high price of a really good gag, and EA/DICE just bought mine for Bad Company 2 with their fantastic spoof of Modern Warfare 2's painfully awkward Fight Against Grenade Spam video. The original video featured heroic Phillies (baseball) pitcher Cole Hamel presenting a PSA-style advert about the problems of grenade spamming in Modern Warfare. It was a cute idea, made hideous by the astonishingly ill-advised decision to use the acronym "FAGS" - as if there isn't enough of that word being screamed over Xbox Live already. With a deft touch, DICE continue their PR assault on Activision's cash-cow (following on from their announcement they'd be releasing free Bad Company 2 DLC on the same day MW2's first DLC map pack appears) with this piss-take. See both below.
]]>I was playing Borderlands yesterday, and an enemy dived behind some cover. Naturally, I pull out a missile launcher and squeeze off a rocket. As the smoke clears, something strange happens. The cover is still there, untouched by the explosive death I spat at it. It stands, defiant and unmarked. This is what Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does to you. It ruins everything else.
]]>I think it might be a sign of the utter beating the PC gamer has been taking over the last couple of years what a relief the Battlefield Bad Company 2 PC trailer proves to be. I want to hug DICE's leg and never let it go. The PC version of the game (and let's remember, a sequel to a game that never even had a PC version) appears to have been optimised for us in a thousand ways. From the obvious (and yet so rare) reworking of the UI to properly support the mouse, to the significant superiority of the graphics, the PC version is looking like the definitive port. There's multiple monitor support, retuned weapons to support twitch combat, DX11 support with remarkable lighting and shadows, and perhaps most of all, 32 player battles over the Xbox's 24. On the dedicated servers. Accessed via the PC-specific server browsers.
]]>The true casualty of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 isn't the hundreds of soldiers who die each round, or even the dozens of vehicles that lie strewn across the battlefield, slowly reduced to scrap and rubble by continued ordnance as they're used as cover by desperate marines. The true casualty is the scenery. You're presented with a pristine (or mostly pristine) landscape that is about to become a battlefield. The soldiers are like a horde of locusts, sweeping through for their conflict, leaving the entire place ravaged and skeletal, each building a carcass stripped of all its outer walls, and most its inner, until it's little more than a few support columns and what remains of a roof. Bad Company 2 is devastation: arbitrary and completely unhindered.
]]>So it's about time we caught up with what's going on with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, since the multiplayer footage has seemed so solid. DICE have coughed up a single player trailer (below), which is all very spectacular, but kind of predictable in that military-hardware porn with a rock soundtrack that we're kind of getting over-familiar with now. Anyway, there are a couple of other bits of news that might be of interest. The first is that despite bleating about their dedicated server support when the stuff about Modern Warfare 2's atrocious online service came to light, those dedicated servers can, apparently, only be rented from DICE's pre-approved partners. Setting up your own server if you happen to have a host-capable box won't be an option. So it's better than the MW2 situation, but it's still not great. The multiplayer beta for PC begins on the 28th, so we will at least be able to take a look at these approved partners - which are the usual suspects of mass games server hosting - and see how their options hold up.
]]>Below is the first part of our intricate guide for PC gaming in 2010. There's a horde of muscular-looking titles on the horizon, many of them likely to stop you and demand your money, like ludological bandits. Meanwhile, others that we expected to land, such The Old Republic, have already fled to 2011. Read on as the clouds in our crystal ball roll back...
]]>Electronic Arts might be making a load of noise about reclaiming the FPS crown with the re-pumped Medal Of Honor, but I think they're also making decent headway in that area with the Bad Company sequel. What we've seen so far from the multiplayer sessions has been very exciting, and the latest footage from the game's "Panama Canal" map looks just as intense - particularly the quad-bike stuff. After that they could throw us a Battlefield 3 bone, and we'd be happy manshooters. Go take a gander at the footage below.
]]>Apparently this new piece of footage from Battlefield Bad Company 2's multiplayer is a map that will feature in the beta. It's confirmed as a pre-order beta at the moment, so I've no idea if we'll be able to get our hands on this for general play with an open beta for PC in December. It's looking remarkably solid, with the environmental destruction stuff right at the forefront of the game. It makes me wonder whether certain maps will have logical destruction patterns in them once you've been playing for a while, like you always destroy a specific wall or fence in the first 30 seconds of the game because it opens a route, or removes sniper cover. You'll find yourself performing the same makeshift demolition tasks over and over again, like some kind of builder's nightmare.
When the Modern Warfare 2 thing kicked off I said to my fellow RPSites, "gadzooks, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is so going to capitalise on this." And lo, I see on Blues that EA have posted a Dedicated Server FAQ on the game. "Other games use player-hosted or 'peer to peer' solutions," says Gordon VanDyke, presumably with a smile, "often resulting in a "host with the most" situation; where the player hosting the match has an advantage over other players connected to their game. Everyone else is dependent on the host's internet connection and if they don't have a great connection neither will you regardless how great of an internet you have." (Further PC related info here, via Planet Battlefield.)
Well, it made me laugh. It's a bonus that the game looks pretty good (see old trailer below). Roll on Battlefield 3, I say.
]]>Or even BANGBANGBANG! Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has many best things, as you'll see in this trailer of the multiplayer aspect of the game, below. We've heard only good things about the game so far, better things, indeed, than the previous game. It's good to see some of that confirmed in a riot of game footage. Destructible scenery, vehicles, beautiful animation and particle effects... all splendid in the virtual violencing. I'll stop prattling, I'm almost delirious with exhaustion. Go watch.
]]>March 2010 will see the arrival of the sequel to an FPS spin off from the Battlefield series that never actually showed up on PC the first time around. Once again the focus will be on environmental destruction, with the new game finally challenging Red Faction in the breaking-stuff stakes. You'll be able to blow holes in walls with light weapons, and flatten entire buildings with more serious ordnance. It sounds like there's a lot more focus on multiplayer for Bad Company 2, with lots of random extras, including the weapons from Battlefield 1943 as unlocks.
Anyway, GamesCom trailer lurks below, in which stuff gets shattered, knocked over, penetrated, cracked, and otherwise exploded. It's a cinematic, but a clever one. Goes a bit meta at the end there.
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