Battlefield interest

[Nachlader]

Given that I now have a modest injection of money given to me at the beginning of every month (£20-£25), I now look for decent games that were produced from up to late 2005 on amazon(.co.uk) and look for used copies prices that are often below £10 (some bargains at £6 even). I recently aquired some 5 games for less than £20 and now one interest coming up is Battlefield.

The reasons I am interested in Battlefield are as follows:

• There are quite a few Battlefield games available (as well as exp. packs).
  
• It's mostly about playing online, 2142 can hold up to 60 players.
  
• Also because of that, it will actually generate a 'battlefield' atmosphere and not just some CoD type game where they give war in MP as they would in Quake or something and that 'everyone is for himself'.
  
• I am interested in future warfare with blasters and sheilds and so on.
  

However I don't know much about Battlefield (but I'm lucky that Brandon does). When I felt the same about CoD, I decided to get CoD1 instead of CoD2, but I'm not too impressed with the graphics of 1942 so I'm a bit turned on by the modern era (onwards) games.

[GoSailing]

2142 can hold up to 60 players.

Actually, it holds up to 64

I think BF 2142 is a great choice. I know Brandon has BF 2 but doesn't own BF 2142, and I'm the opposite. I don't really know the difference, but BF 2142 is awesome. It does actually feel like a real battle with the commander, squad leader and control points. Of course that is all in BF 2 as well. BF 2142 is more advanced (obviously) and has an expansion being released this week. However, it is newer and will cost more. Also you can only get the expansion thru a download. Its your choice between newer tech and more features and price.

[Nachlader]

Well the cheapest price I found for BF2 was £10, the exp. pack being another £10 but the two combined in a 'Gold' package comes to £16. BF2142 is £16 on itself but the upcoming exp. pack, which is new of course, is only £6 (uh... cheap?). Overall I only have about £9 or so (spent quite a bit on my other hobby, which is thriving!) and the prices quoted above are minus the private packaging and delivery, not to mention that sometimes some private sellers demand that you chase the package in the post yourself...

Meanhow, I'd like to sniff about the series a bit more.

It does actually feel like a real battle with the commander, squad leader and control points.

Does this encourage players to stick together like in a real battle? Because that would be unlike in other FPS MP games like in CoD2 where even in TDM, you are forced to just hunt about looking for kills and not even depend on others.

[GoSailing]

Yes those do encourage sticking together, especially the squad leader part. The squad leader acts as a spawning point, so you can actually enter the game near him. Also the VOIP (voice over internet protocol) attached to the game helps, but not everybody uses a headset. Often they just listen to whatever you say and use Page up (affirmative reply) or Page down (negative reply). But that still is nothing compared to squad leader success points or squad member bonus points. Squad leaders can issue orders to their squad, and whenever you kill somebody inside the area, you get a point that goes towards unlocks. Its very useful.

Of course, a lot of squad leaders are noobs so sometimes you have to join a few different ones to be able to get a competent leader. The expansion is cheap because its simply a download. There is no packaging or DVD's or shipping on the part of the developer, so they can make it cheap with the same amount of profit.

[Rotaretilbo]

Alright, here's my opinion about BF2 and BF2142.

If you have BF2, don't buy BF2142, because its like buying an expansion for BF2 that doesn't require the game to play for $50. BF2142 features very few new features with the exception of Titan Mode, which is nifty. That, and the fact that many of BF2142's ideas appear to have been "borrowed" from a little known game called Planet Side turn me off when it comes to the new game. Ya, it has lasers and invisibility, but that just takes the skill out of the game. Cloaking angers me more than when BF2 Special Forces came out and all those barely balanced unlocks became available (IE: n00b with G36E, which is the SF Medic unlock, tends to do better than average player with M16A1, which is US stock medic, or average player with L85, which is standard medic unlock).

However, if you don't have BF2142 and you can get it for cheap (my friend got two for $50, which was nice), then go for it. However, I prefer BF2. It is like BF2142, but requiring more skill (albeit the SF unlocks took some of that away). The capture points are Battlefield specialties and are in all games, but the Commander, Squads, and Ranks were all introduced in BF2.

It all comes down to what you like. If you like the future stuff with walkers and lasers and cloaking, BF2142 is a decent game, but if you like modern stuff like choppers and assault rifles and shotguns and stuff, BF2 is probably a better game anyway.

Overall, for you Jimbo, I'd probably recommend BF2 cuz that's what I've got, and that's what CS will probably get (due to the fact that 2142 comes with a curtesy does of EA spyware). Its like BF2142, but requiring more skill and is modern rather than Sci-Fi.

[Nachlader]

I'm more tempted to get BF2 now, it is cheaper after all. As I said a few posts up I may as well get the gold version with the exp pack, that costs less than just getting BF2 while I can afford it and then get the exp pack (gold costs £16 and the two games seperately, £20. these are used games btw).

I'll prolly get 2142 at some other time because I'm still interested in that.

[GoSailing]

Ya, it has lasers and invisibility, but that just takes the skill out of the game.

No lasers and you can see invisible players. Also there is infantry ID for them, which lets you see them on mini map if support people are near.

[Rotaretilbo]

My main problem with 2142 is that it seems to be weapon oriented. The people I know who play it and prefer it over BF2 say that they were getting it handed to them until they got a certain weapon. That's not the way things should be. That's about as bad as BF2SF unlocks. And balancing imbalances with further imbalances (can you see non-cloaked players with this infantry ID?) doesn't fix the imbalance.

[GoSailing]

Thats not how it is. You get it handed to you until you aren't a noob anymore . You can see cloaked players no matter what you have. Its not perfect. There is shimmering and stuff. Infantry ID puts it on squad member mini maps.

[Nachlader]

That's about as bad as BF2SF unlocks

What's that?

[Angry Sheepdog]

Just because of this thread, I decided to download the illegal version of BF-2142
It will take 2 more days to complete the download though (I leave it downloading while I'm at school and it finished 1/3 of it today so 2 more days for the other thirds)

I don't pay for my games

[Rotaretilbo]

In Battlefield 2, you've got an unlock for each of the seven kits. All teams can use these unlocks. The unlocks are nice, but a good player with a stock weapon can still beat a n00b with an unlock (a few exceptions, like the PKM and maybe the L85).

When Battlefield 2: Special Forces was released, another series of unlocks was released with it for regular BF2. These unlocks included the G36E, the SCAR-L, the MG36, the F2000, and several other weapons.

The G36E is a medic weapon. It fires in semi-automatice and burst. It is almost perfectly accurate from about 200 meters while firing rapidly with burst. You can expend a clip in a matter of seconds and not miss a target the size of a dinner plate. Add this weapon to Med Kits and Shock Paddles and you have the ultimate n00b weapon choice.

The SCAR-L is a special operations weapon. It fires in semi-automatic and automatic. When on automatic, it is about as accurate as the G36C (which is the standard special operations unlock), but has a nicer sight. However, when fired on semi-automatic rapidly (about as fast as automatic), the weapon rarely misses its mark from about 150 meters. Add this with C4, and you have an unbalance.

The MG36 is a support unlock. This machine gun can fire in burst or automatic. It has a large clip and is decently accurate. It is about as unbalanced as the PKM.

The F2000 is an assault unlock. This weapon fires in automatic and semi-automatic. It also includes a grenade launcher with a buggy sound affect (as in sometimes the GL fires silently), but more importantly, flash-bang grenades. The rifle is slightly less accurate that the SCAR-L, but the flash-bang grenades and grenade launcher make this weapon a n00b favorite.

Those were problems with BF2. The weapons have since been nerfed a bit, though the unbalances still exist. However, from what I can tell, BF2142 seems to have already existing unbalances in their weapons.

[GoSailing]

Nope, not at all. They are all very balanced. The Assault Rifle Rocket Attatchment is a real pain in the ass, but it takes 2 or 3 direct hits to kill a person. Thats the only tiny problem, but they are only 3 in a clip and 3 clips so you can heal before the enemy kills you anyways. They are just useful for softening up a place, which is releastic and needed if you are going to try to get a tough flag. All the weapons are balanced pretty damn well, I'd say. The Ganz and the shotgun for support are fine, as are the Engineer weapons, the Zeller sniper is awesomely powerful but reload is slow and 3 bullets to a clip... Assault unlocks are balanced, except maybe the Baur H-AR is a little weak for its muzzle clim/kickback. BF 2142 is very balanced, I'd say.

[Angry Sheepdog]

Grrr... The file I downloaded is a .iso file and when I tried installing a .iso player it didn't work
Does anybody know of a good .iso player?

[GoSailing]

No, sorry.