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.
]]>I had a bit of a blast on this last night. A few thoughts spring to mind: the map design is pretty good, although a bit chokepoint-heavy on a couple of the maps. I'm not that much of a fan of the flamethrower. It's fun to use, sure, but you almost always get killed a few seconds after lighting up. Must make you easier to target or something. The overall Vietnam ambiance is great. Also, and I suppose I should have realised this, your level in BFBC2 carries over, which is a shame because I was kind of looking forward to having to unlock everything, and it's already unlocked. Hmm.
We should have a server up later in the week, I will post when it's sorted. For now: a launch trailer, with a deeply trendy interpretation of the Vietnam war. Mm, launch.
]]>Strictly speaking this was revealed last week, but I have been away from my instruments, and therefore unable to continuously monitor The News. DICE have said there is a fifth BFBC2V map, but it's not going to be available right away. Why not? Well, it needs to be unlocked. They explain: "You and all your friends playing on PS3, PC, or Xbox 360 need to perform 69 million team actions across Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam. So what’s a team action? Well, it’s any and all of these: resupply, revive, heal, spot, and repair. We start counting on December 21st, so make sure you contribute from the start!"
Hmm. There's a trailer for this shackled map, below. Exciting!
]]>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.
]]>Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam. Naaaaaaam. Naaaaaaaaaam nam naaaaaaaam nam naaaaaaam. Naaaaaaaaaam. Nam. Naaam nam, nam, Nam, naaaaaaaam naaam naaaam nam nam. NAM! Naam nam, naaaaaaaam nam naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam. Nam! Nam! Naaaaaaaam.
That's an early draft of my movie about some American veterans talking in a bar. They're somewhat reminiscing, and somewhat excited because they're looking forward to the DLC pack for Battlefield Bad Company 2, Vietnam. There's a new trailer below. It'll be playing on a screen in the bar.
]]>Except when it is! And especially when we get some BFBC2: Vietnam footage via the international eye of GameTrailers, a sinister eye which is currently floating silently at the shoulders of NYCC attendees and beaming back these pictures. That's the New York Comic Convention, of course. They don't just talk comics these days, no sir. And bless their juxtapositions of words and pictures, our undead editor Kieron Gillen is out there being stalked by X-Men fans as I write these soon-to-be-forgotten words. I bet he hasn't played any Battlefield. He's rubbish at FPS games. There. I said it.
Anyway, look at this! More footage of Vietnam, and more people being ended by tanks and helicopters. Ugh, I am going to end up playing a hundred hours of that without blinking. I should probably blink more often.
]]>If there's one thing we know about Vietnam, it's that the scenery is destructible. It makes sense, therefore, that Battlefield Bad Company 2 should be taking a trip there for the purposes of a multiplayer expansion. DICE say: "Featuring four new maps playable in classic Battlefield modes including Conquest and Rush, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam will be available worldwide this winter." There's no price been announced as yet, and - for what it's worth - I've posted the essentially content-free teaser trailer below.
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