Dear diary,
So I was playing the Battlefield: Bad Company Xbox 360 multiplayer beta today. For some reason I woke up at 5:00 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. Finally, after tossing and turning, I verified the time by checking the clock radio. It was now 6:00.
“Hmmm,” says I, “’tis the 25th, and EA’s Battlefield Bad Company beta servers are supposed to go live. Let’s go see if those servers are indeed live, shall we? OMG they are up!” Thank the beta-loving maker.
I poked through the options and controls, reviewed the various games going on, and within two button presses I got in. Holy Lagtacular, Batman!
But that didn’t stop me from trying to enjoy it.
Ahhhh, Battlefield … it’s been awhile. The game type offered in the Bad Company multiplayer beta is somewhat similar to headquarters for COD4, but mixed with Territories from Halo 3. Two maps are available, one of which is more suited to vehicles, the other being designed for close-quarters combat.
After picking your class you’re offered spawn choices. A nice new addition in Battlefield Bad Company is the ability to spawn by your squad. This can be deadly in the right hands — and perilous in the wrong ones. As for the rest of the gameplay? It’s classic console Battlefield: if you see it, you drive it. Everything else…just shoot it.
I ranked up and was able to unlock a weapon.
After playing for 90 minutes, I had to hang it up and head to work.
At work I stalked the forums for updates, to see if anything was changing while I was away from my Xbox 360. One fellow gamer reported lag-free matches from the UK, but my afternoon was spent reading through more posts that people couldn’t connect and/or found that connecting took an awfully long time. Good, I wasn’t alone.
I bolted home at 3:00pm to try to connect. I tell you, whoever picked that music track deserves a medal; it’s familiar but not irritating. Good thing it wasn’t irritating, too; it took roughly an hour to finally connect.
When I did, I discovered that I still rock driving a tank. Tank driving is all about distance, and the tanks in Battlefield: Bad Company handle a lot better then Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, although finding the reverse (it’s X) took a while.
The game had the same friendly atmosphere through the headset that BF gamers have come to expect: “How do I jump?” “A button.” “Thanks, man.” “By the way, no parachutes.” “Dang.”
So far, my Battlefield Bad Company beta experience has led to some good games. I may have started off slow, but somewhere in the middle or near the end of each game I always managed to break 100 points. Now if I can only connect better tomorrow….
— Phillip Vollmer
