Chaos Rising First Impressions

I only really got into the single player of Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising recently as I got really frustrated with my Bad Company 2 crashing.  I've played several missions and realized that this game is definitely for veterans of the original DoW2.  Tough missions will test your skill and tactical prowess.  New players will probably have a difficult time.  I haven't encountered the old mission formula of destroy several things then go fight the big bad boss.  Missions tend to be more dynamic and try to push the story more.  You'll get a taste of this early on the second mission.  I thought it would follow the big boss formula but no, this mission forces you to attack the enemy encampment then run back to your starting point to defend one of your companions.

I haven't used the corruption mechanic in the game.  Corruption basically is the alteration of your character skills and can be increased by doing (or failing to do) certain objectives.  Your squads gain different skills like Thaddeus gain the raptor jump in replacement for the assault jump.    I have yet to use the skill but based on the description, it looks really powerful than your normal jump.  For instance, one mission you'll have a choice to either destroy a gate to get to your enemy or use jump packs to open the gate.  Destroying the gate will make you reach your target faster but will leave the guardsmen more vulnerable.  I believe that being corrupt will lead to a different ending and I do not yet want to see that.  Another way to increase your corruption is to equip corrupt items.  I've noticed that corrupt items deal far more damage than the regular ones maybe this is why I find the game difficult.  I'm not playing evil.

I should definitely go... for Chaos!

Bad Company 2 Crash

RAGE!!!!

(This will be a very incoherent post - more than the usual)

EA/DICE - your game, Bad Company 2 has some real crash issues.  Before the patch, you have connection problems to your servers.  After the patch, my game crashes every 15 minutes!  Fifteen!

I can't play and finish any game, all I seem to do is run to the frontlines, get killed then crash.  The patch seems to have erased my single player save so I have to redo the first 3 missions and slog through the crashing.

I've tried updating and downgrading video card and sound card drivers, disabling on board sound, over clocking and under clocking my video card and cpu but nothing changes anything!

I won't be playing this for now until you fix this EA / DICE!  (well maybe until ATI catalyst 10.3 pops up)

Bad Company Hardcore

Are you a tough soldier?  Do you like realism?  Or do you simply just like being killed without knowing where it came from?  Hardcore mode in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 shows off how a realistic the game can get.  You don't get any crosshairs in hardcore mode thus firing from the hip relies that you make sure your target is at the center of your screen.  I probably spend most of my time finding a good position and aiming my gun against enemy targets.  Players who run and gun will find this strategy nullified in hardcore mode.  I can't stand people who go lone wolf in hardcore, they're just going to get themselves killed.

Another thing one would notice is the lack of a HUD.  You can't see how much ammo you have nor do you have a minimap to pinpoint enemy positions.  The "reload" message pops up when you're running low but you won't know how many total rounds you have left.  Without the minimap, spotting and the motion sensor are rendered useless.  Sure, you could pull up the large map that blocks you're view but that's of no use in a firefight.  If you relied on the little orange arrow to spot on enemies then you will have a problem now as the only names and symbols you can see are you're own team.  I prefer using pistols at short range in hardcore as you can  aim and move around at the same time.

Vehicles also do not display their hit points.  You have to rely on the vehicle alarm when you're about to be blown up.  I love the feeling of being in a tank and just spotting enemies.  I'd go "Enemy target - 10 o clock, in the house, 50 meters".  The tank driver would then aim and fire. We'd have a cup of tea in the vehicle as we watch the house crumble before our might.

Players need more medic kits and ammo boxes in hardcore as they can't heal themselves nor know how much ammo you have left.  Using the spot button, players will still call out for enemy infantry and tanks but without the arrow or minimap, spotting becomes useless.  A player with a mic can call out the same thing at greater accuracy.

I've enjoyed being a sniper in hardcore mode as snipers always do 1 hit kills.  Conversely, I can't stand enemy snipers hitting me and I can barely see where they came from.  With my sniper phobia, I sometimes take pot shots at shrubs thinking they're snipers.  I like the strategic feel of hardcore where at long range, I'd specifically set my load out to have a 4x zoom and an increased rifle accuracy.  At shorter ranges, I'd take out the zoom for more grenades and body armor instead of the accuracy bonus.  I probably switch to more classes depending on the situation in hardcore rather than sticking to one class and loadout in the normal mode.

Rush mode is far better than conquest in hardcore as each side has a definite side.  Defenders are on one end and attackers are at the opposite.  I feel I get surrounded in conquest mode often.

Bad Company 2 Issues

Yesterday, I probably had the worst experience with Bad Company 2.  It has nothing to do with the gameplay but merely with the servers.  It took me maybe half an hour to search for servers only to get the failure to connect to EA online error.  I then tried joining games people in my friend's list were in.   I have unbelievably bad ping in their games so I quit out.  It then took me another half hour to search for another game to connect.  I failed to connect on several servers and accidentally clicked a hardcore server.  Annoyingly, I connected to that server.  I decided to play there thinking I don't want to waste another half hour trying to connect online.  The great thing there is that I had a definitely good score.  I also had a decent squad where we would hide in some area and ambush enemy squads then hide in some other area.  Yet, all good things end when you lose your EA online connection.  I then had to wait another few minutes to connect to another game (a decent one at last) which I played for an hour and realized I should get to bed or else I'd be sleepy on the next day.

I think they're doing server maintenance to fix things up.  Go EA, don't be like Activision or Ubisoft..get this problem fixed!

Bad Company 2 Tips

A few of my multiplayer tips in Battlefield: Bad Company 2:

1. Fire in short bursts - As much as possible, fire your gun in controlled 2-3 bullet bursts.  Firing like this leads to better accuracy at medium and long range.  You can hit people some distance away even with the submachine gun when fired in bursts.  Only go full auto when in close quarters.

2. When using the LMG - crouch and fire.  The light machine gun is pretty accurate at long ranges and deadly at close range.  It's weakness is that it's pretty inaccurate while moving even at short ranges.  Try and crouch and fire at medium range preferably with a engineer or assault team mate for support.

3. Throw ammo and med packs everywhere.  Resupplying or healing other people gives you points and helps them.  I've run into times as an engineer running out of bullets for my sub machine gun and even my pistol.  In hardcore mode, med packs are a life saver as you can't heal normally.

4. Use those motion sensors.  Recon specialists gain this at their first level up.  Drop these things around capture points to show any approaching enemy.  You can also drop this if you're snipping on a building.  This will warn you against anyone sneaking up behind you.

5. Fire rockets at the back of the tank.  It takes twice as much rockets to destroy tanks from the front rather than the side or back.  Plus, you might waste all your rockets firing in front only to realize that someone has repaired it from behind.

6. Repair the tank only when it's safe.  Don't just jump out the tank when another tank is blasting it with cannon fire.  Wait until the cannon fire ceases then jump out and run to the back to repair.

7. Use the command/spot key.  Spotting reveals enemies at a range and puts a target on the minimap.  Commanding to attack and defend gives your squad mates a bonus +100 points at the end of the round.  They'll thank you for that.

8. Stick with your squad.  Going lone wolf is cool but you're probably going to wind up dead without proper support.  Guns aren't that accurate nor do they do much damage in this game as compared to Call of Duty.

9. Flank your targets. As long as you're in a squad, you can flank an enemy squad and confuse them on the direction of the attack.

10.  Avoid open spaces, Find Cover.  If you're out in the open, you're easy to spot that means you can be killed as easily.  Stick close to the edges of the map if possible.  This is very important in hardcore mode as you don't want enemies to surround you.

11. Don't run off with the bus.  Always wait for some team mates when you go take a tank out.  You want a gunner on top against any infantry.  You also don't want to leave your team mates behind running after you while you drive off.

How to Reach High Ranks in Bad Company 2

I have been accused of cheating in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.  I've placed top in several games consistently without being the one with the highest kills.  My score is sometimes even double to the person next to me.  I kill people at a distance with my light machine gun.  I guess that you would think I was cheating too until you actually join me and find out I'm one of the best medics in the game.

Medics are by far the best specialist to gain points.  The hardest point for a medic to gain points is probably the first level when he's basically doesn't have the med kit nor the defibrillator.  Once you hit level 2, you get the med kit.  The med kit is probably the 2nd thing that will gain you the most points.  Just join a squad with either a assault or engineer class and follow them around.  Ignore recon classes as they tend to just stay far back and take potshots at infantry.  Just keep dropping your med kit all around, especially when your squad mate stops.  Healing any teammate will give you +10 points per heal and +20 for a squad mate.  So if you're team is under fire, you'd rack up maybe +200 points for healing them on the average.

Once you hit the level when you have the defibrillator unit, things get far better.  The defib unit revives any dead player and gives back the team point (the one that counts down per death and you lose if your team reaches zero).  A revive will automatically give you +50 points for a teammate and +80 for a squad mate.  You will want to stick close to the action to keep reviving downed team members.  I usually get at least of 5 revives per match so thats another +250 points.

The third comes down to your shooting skill.  I get an average of 7 kills per match which translates to +350 points but I sometimes reach the top with just 4 kills (but probably 10+ revives). 

Finally, I reveal the secret point racker for bad company 2.  If you're playing on the PC, it's not the trigger button which is the most important, it's the spot button.  The default spot button is the 'Q' key and I believe that the 'back' button is for the 360 version.  What does this magic key do?  When you see an opponent at any distance, hit that button.  Automatically, they'll get an arrow above their heads and your team can see them on the map.  If any one kills that person which you spotted, you get a +20 points.  Not only does spotting gain you points, it helps in seeing targets when there's a lot of visual disturbances like smoke and trees and such.  If you spotted someone, aim for the little triangle with short burst from your LMG and you're bound to kill them eventually (especially if they can't see you).  Spam the spot button, which will help the team and rack you some more points!

So lets add up your basic points, in a mediocre game I rack up 200 (healing) + 250 (revive) + 350 + 40 (spotting) + 50 (kill assists) = 890 medic points.  This score can go up to the thousands depending on how much you heal and revive.  So after the match, you'll gain pins which then add to your points.  You'll get +100 for 5 revives, +100 for killing 7 people with your LMG.  If you've been working closely with your squad, your team work might even lead you to the +200 best squad pin and if you are the best player another +200.  That's another +600 to your 890 which means you'll get at least +1000 points per match.  So you see, medics are definitely the best point racking class.  It looks like cheating.

Bad Company 2 Impressions

A bullet to my back ends my life.  A sniper fires his weapon and off goes my head.  I hide behind a wall only to be blown up by a large tank.  This is the real modern warfare - brutal, deadly and indirect. 

The Battlefield series has always been different from run and gun shooters like Modern Warfare 2.  In this game, when you see an enemy soldier, you run for cover or drop down to crouch, aim your gun and fire.  No running around firing your gun like Rambo and being a hero.  Here you really need to work as a team.

Without working as a team, tanks are vulnerable to enemy engineers.  Soldiers have to run to the front lines instead of riding a tank or jeep.  Lone soldiers can be picked off by a group of assaulting soldiers.  Maps are so large that if there's just one guy, you can sneak around him and he wouldn't know.  When working with a competent squad, riding a tank feels like being in a tank company.  One guys the driver, the other mans the machine guns, and two other guys hop out to either defend against sneaky engineers or repair the tank.

I'm enjoying my initial impressions of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 even if I get killed 50% of the time.