Despite how much I despised the last go I had at the closed Medal of Honor Beta on PSN [jump to my June MoH closed Beta post], I decided to give it another shot with the open beta currently running on Steam. The only reason I went in for seconds was because of some live streaming footage I saw on Justin.tv of the game where I had noticed some vast improvements in a lot of the key problem areas. Could it be that EA is actually using this Beta to fix things and not just as a marketing ploy as so many publishers are doing these days? Keep in mind, this is the trend most developers follow. The Beta is almost always the spitting image of what you get on release day, thus my absolute disgust with what I had initially played. I’m very happy to say that even from closed to open Beta MoH has made leaps and bounds. Either that, or it just seemed better on my PC then on the PS3.

Before I start the process of removing my foot from my mouth, allow me to give you a descriptive play by play of my first jump back into the multiplayer action. Ready?

“Spawn! Die! Spawn! Run, die! Spawn! Duck, die! Spa/Die! Spawn! Change weapo-DIE! Exit game!”

Wow, that was fun! I think MoH suffers from too many players on such narrow terrains. At this point though, that is about all the game suffers from. This of course can be remedied by the ability to chose 6 on 6 team games, let’s hope they include this toggle in the final product. I found myself backing out and going into the “find server” mode and looking for games that only had 6-8 players in them. Once I loaded into a game like this, the fun started to pour in.

Let’s talk improvement.

The in game menus are vastly improved, it’s much easier to navigate, make class changes and way more esthetically pleasing over all. The character models have been penciled in finely, the details are a sight to behold. The levels themselves are amazing looking. The closest thing I have seen to photo realism to date. Battle chatter is nothing short of awesome, the OPFOR especially. The voices are very authentic sounding (based off what I have heard in recent war documentaries), nothing sounds over acted or forced. Once I was in a smaller team game I could actually make out what the US military was saying. They voice things that are happening on the field as you progress through objectives. I was rushing in to plant a bomb on one of the control points when my character automatically blurted out that what I was doing to command, then command responded with an acknowledgement. It was pretty cool to say the least. Hit detection has been dialed in, weapon models have been ramped up, snow even collects on your weapon and clothing as you move about one of the icy maps. Most importantly, the absolute Battlefield Bad Company clone feeling is gone. Is it still similar? Yes.

[video by: TheGodlikeTube] (Randomly selected video, not me playing.)

I will more than likely trade in my copy of Halo: Reach and pick up MoH on release day. This will be a great way to pass the time between now and Call of Duty: Black Ops. However, I won’t be picking this up for the MP portion of the game. I’m looking forward to the single player campaign on this one. I found myself wishing I was able to access it in the Beta. I could honestly care less about playing yet another military FPS. COD is my brand of choice for MP, but I’m always up for a great story and that is something that Medal of Honor has always provided. I loved the older editions of the series, why not see what this new edition has to offer?

I have a friend who is an actual T1 operator as a member of DEVGRU. Since the announcement of this title and the inclusion of T1 military input into the development of the game, I have been anxious to see a glimpse of what he may be seeing on a day to day bases (as arcade a version it may be). I don’t pretend to think it is anything actually like what he does, but it will be interesting to compare the two and see just how authentic a rendition they’ve gotten it.

If for no other reason, I want to pick it up because military officials have decided to ban it from being sold on any bases due to the enemy being appropriately titled and portrayed as the Taliban. This day in age, that’s just ridiculous! In America we have this little thing called freedom, who is any military official to say what is and isn’t appropriate for anyone else? We can assume the roll of German, Vietcong and Russian military and shoot Americans in crap tons of games, why is this one any different? To be fair, I’m speaking from the point of view that has no bearing on the matter though. If I was actually there and saw friends die at the hands of the Taliban, then came home to watch people play a game were you assume the roll of the same entity and are awarded points for killing an American likeness, maybe I would have an issue as well. Still doesn’t change the fact that this is America and you have the freedom to do things like that here.

Anyway, I’ll be back mid-October with my review on this installment of Medal of Honor. Watch this space!

For those who may not know what the OnLive service is, it’s a pretty radical innovation in delivering games to your home. No this isn’t another mail order system where you have to wait for your game to arrive via snail mail and then hope that the crevasse ridden disc doesn’t start skipping right at the final boss battle. Nor is it some direct to your drive download site that hogs up hard drive space with games and patches. No, OnLive is a revolutionary vehicle to provide gaming experiences to Core, Casual and Non-Gamers with the ease of pick and play instant gratification. 

Imagine if you could play a game demo on your PC without having to download anything, imagine if you could then purchase the full retail version of the game and start playing within seconds. Now imagine being able to do this with no internet connection from your TV while sitting on the couch. Soak that in for a moment. PC gaming without any memory eating installations, no patches to worry about, no more light wallets from trying to keep your system requirements up, just you and the game. Skipping the PC, imagine gaming from your Television without the need of anything but a “MicroConsole” that directly connects to the OnLive service so as to not even require an internet connection to access your games. “The stuff of the future”, you say? I’m doing it now!

A couple weeks back I entered my information with OnLive.com in the hopes of possibly getting chosen for the Founding Members program. This program grants you a year subscription with OnLive free, plus a redeemable code good for one full game. After I entered my information I sort of moved on and didn’t think much about it figuring I wouldn’t be selected anyway. Low and behold if there wasn’t a congratulations email sitting in my inbox this morning. 

My experience with the PC interface of the OnLive service has been more than enjoyable to say the least. Keep in mind, I’m probably what you would call a Core Gamer. I own a Xbox 360, PS3 as well as a Wii and do a fare amount of PC gaming to boot. I spend a good amount of time gaming and keep up with the industry so I can annoy my girlfriend with bits and pieces of news she cares nothing about, haha. You can imagine how surprised I was at how legit this service is once I tried it first hand. I’m more interested in OnLive than I am about anything announced at E3.

After a one click run of an application found on OnLive.com, I had the launch button ready to go on my desktop. I signed in and was greeted by a rather impressive boot up splash, think of the Xbox 360 or PS3 start up animations. It made me feel like, “Ok, this is an actual gaming system I’ve logged into”. Once in, I explored a bit. The interface has large title buttons and is very user friendly. I had no trouble navigating at all. There seems to be a “friend” system integrated much like you would find on next gen consoles, just a bit more indepth. You have a menu of games to choose from complete with gameplay videos and what I would call a “jump in and play” demo, ready to go. Mind you, these are current titles that you would find on the shelf at any GameStop. There is nothing comparable to OnLive’s ability to allow the user to jump in and instantly try a game the way they have it setup. Normally you would be in for a lengthy wait while you downloaded and installed the demo, assuming you had the Hard Drive space. Not to mention how long you have to wait to download and install the full version if you actually liked the game. Of course you’d need to do the same for any updates, patches and hope your system was par to run the game. Instead of all that, I checked out OnLive’s “Arena” feature. I can only describe this as pure genius in connectivity.

Picture a giant wall of HD displays running different games being played by actual users from all over the world (full motion in thumbnail). Now click on any individual stream and get a full screen view of some one’s current game perspective. They’ll receive a notification that you and whomever else is currently spectating. You can then rate their gameplay with OnLive’s Cheer or Jeer options (think Facebook thumb). You may add that player as a friend if you’d like to keep in touch, jump into a multiplayer session with them or just move on checking out other play styles and games. Just think, you could be sitting on the couch watching your buddy play Splinter Cell: Conviction in HD from a different country, laugh at their mishaps, then take over and show them how it’s really done! Not to mention the ability to find new friends with similar tastes in games and game play styles. Good times.

For me the “Arena” feature helped me decide where I wanted to spend that redeemable voucher code. I was watching someone play a bit of 2K’s “Borderlands”, a FPS/RPG title that I had previously overlooked. Seeing the user’s extended gameplay had sparked my interest, but I still wanted to try it first hand and see how the controls felt. This is when I experienced just how amazing OnLive’s service is. I literally clicked the demo button and was instantly in the game trying it out. No long drawn out tedious wait, just instant gratification. Yes sir, the American Dream. After trying the game out and deciding to unlock the full version, I was still taken back by how nice it was to click “Play Pass” and be ready to jump in game. I can’t stress the liberating feeling of this leap in development enough, we’re talking literally seconds from starting up OnLive to playing a full current title you’ve been wanting to play!

None of this convenience would matter if the actual gaming experience wasn’t on par with what we are used to on current consoles and PCs. My hands on time with Borderlands has been identical to gaming on my PS3, Xbox 360, etc. The graphic quality was in high definition, the sound was full and there was absolutely no delay or lag in control response time. So how do they do it? Here is a diagram and wiki explanation:

The service is a gaming equivalent of cloud computing: the game is synchronized, rendered, and stored on a remote server and delivered online. The service was announced to be compatible with any Windows PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, or any Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X and on smartphones. A low-end computer, as long as it can play video, may be used to play any kind of game since the game is computed on the OnLive server. For that reason, the service is being seen as a strong competitor for the console market. Steve Perlman states that a 1.5 Mbps connection will be needed to display games in SDTV resolution (typical output of Wii and previous generation console titles) while 4-5 Mbps will be needed for HDTV resolution, such as those output by the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The average broadband connection speed in the US at the end of 2008 was 3.9 Mbps, while 25% of US broadband connections were rated faster than 5 Mbps.

Of course there are some concerns about the quality of connection, any issue with connection quality will hinder your game experience. The fact that you don’t physically own the games you purchase has alerted some, if the system goes away, so do your games. Additionally, the mod community has pointed out that you can’t modify any of your games because they are hosted on the OnLive server. These issues have brought about a fair amount of skepticism from game journalists and up till recently all that could be done was wait and see. With snobby-picky gamers such as myself happily jumping on board I think it’s safe to say that OnLive is the real deal. It may not satisfy the modders and the collectors out there, but for those gamers who want to connect with the community and game as fast and as hassle free as possible, this will be a slam dunk. For the casual gamers and those who don’t game because they’d rather not invest in something they might not like, this is a dream come true.

How much does it cost? OnLive’s console, controller and subscription will cost less then the cheapest console on the market according to OnLive CEO Steve Perlman. If your gaming on your PC all you need is the subscription. You can rent a “Play Pass” or  purchase the full game for unlimited play. There is a subscription model with tiered levels of access, but as of right now the only service available is the Founding Members offer which is open until July 15th, 2010 at 11:59 PM PDT. Here is a link to send in your request for participation: http://www.onlive.com/signup 

There is a good deal more that I haven’t even covered, such as OnLive’s Brag Clip section, the Showcase section, the User Created Profile sections, etc. If you are serious about your gaming and want an easier way to access games, you really need to try it for yourself.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Let’s get right to it. EA has gone on the record as saying that their current title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as well as their soon to be released Medal of Honor (reboot) will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “killers”. So, this will be the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review/Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comparison.

Has EA’s first salvo struck a blow to Activison’s giant? Well, it’s a little hard to hit something that’s currently in the process of punching it’self silly.

Right as BFBC2 was hitting shelves across the globe, Activision was shelving the two heads of Infinity Ward (development team for Modern Warfare 1 & 2) Jason West and Vince Zampella, allegedly for a breach of contract. This added to the steady decline in online satisfaction due to glitchers, hackers, connection issues etc., as well as the recent announcement that the new Map Pack DLC for MW2 will cost 50% more than MW1’s content even thought it’s lacking in new map content comparatively. Needless to say, this news is not going over well with the masses.

If you ask me, EA doesn’t need to worry about publishing games that “kill” Call of Duty, Activision is doing a good enough job of that on their own. They just need to concentrate on making great FPS experiences that add a little something to the already over saturated market. 

They haven’t quite done that with Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Though it is a top notch game, all things considered.

Single Player:

The single player campaign in BFBC2 is forgettable. There is nothing interesting or new going on here. The dialog is boring, humorless and uninspired. The gameplay is linear, you travel down the set path and kill the enemy while your NPC squad mates crack jokes and lend you a hand. Much is borrowed from other FPS games especially Modern Warfare titles, blatantly so. The NPC characters even have dialog set aside specifically to nudge joke comparisons between BFBC2 and MW in game features. I’ll let you play through to hear and experience them for yourself.

Your squad mates, made up of the original cast from Battlefield: Bad Company are back and on point tactically more so than ever before. They do an incredible job of spotting enemies and laying down cover fire so you can maneuver to a flanking position and take out your targets, all while never stepping into your line of site. This makes them a welcome addition to the game despite the fact that they can speak.

The mechanics of the game play are solid and you can change the control layout to the original Bad Company if you prefer. The one they are running with in BFBC2 is the COD control scheme with the exception of crouch and melee. Everything feels good, the weapons are vast and you can pick up “collectibles” on each map as you play through. These collected weapons are stored for you and are accessible at any ammo drop you may find conveniently placed throughout each level. At these drops you can change your load out how you see fit provided you have found the weapon somewhere out there on your travels. This adds a bit of exploration to the game as you go off the beaten path a bit, crashing through abandoned houses looking for new hardware. It’s a slightly improved element found in the original Bad Company. All in all a sound single player experience that was basically tacked on to a multiplayer game, it’s something to do when the servers are down and it justifies the price of the product.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer is the reason why anyone purchases a Battlefield title and this game is no exception to the rule.

The maps are huge, levels are broken up into 3-5 subsections with each section varying in size but averaging one full size map in COD for example. Almost everything is destructible, so yes, certain buildings can be completely leveled. Your environment is constantly changing so you have to be aware at all times, this is also a great feature for canceling out any camping. Dynamic weather effects will block out your view of a distant explosion as a gust of wind throws sand in front of your sites. The sound of that explosion delayed as the boom travels to your location, just as the building behind you let’s out a roar of folding steel as it topples onto a pile of what used to be your M-COM station. It’s amazing.

There are a wide variety of vehicles to choose from depending on the map and game type you are playing. UAV is an addition to the game in the form of a remote controlled helicopter drone. You can unlock upgrades to allow your UAV to fire rounds in addition to the standard missile strike you can call in between intervals of rearm. While operating the drone you will be vulnerable to attack at the drone terminal, which is located at a designated base. The UAV is a bit over powered in my opinion so he who controls the UAV is the law.

This forces a bit of squad tactical play which is the theme of BFBC2’s online experience, for better or worse. Better because now teams are broken up into squads of 4 with the idea being that players will mix their class types to complement each other and work together to spread out and conquer objectives simultaneously. Worse because DICE has failed to program in the ability to speak to anyone other than your squad. So you are often stuck doing everything you can whilst the “fuckin blue guys” (other squads) all choose the Recon Class and camp on a hill four thousand miles away from any game objective, thus forcing you to team kill until you lose. If you could simply speak to other squads in some tiered chat com fashion, you would be able to coordinate much better. This would greatly improve game play and solve a lot of the issues players are currently having.

I mean, imagine you’re standing by a player from a different squad and you see an enemy sniper on a hill or a enemy about to flank, you have no way of telling him before he takes a bullet. You can use the in game “spotting” feature by pressing select (PSN) or the B button (360) to mark the target, sure. This works great a lot of the time, but there are too many situations where this communication tool is just too primitive. You need to be able to speak to everyone on the battlefield.

Weapon customization is limited and it seems as though the option to have camouflage patterns for your hardware as well as alternate uniforms has been monetized. You can purchase them as DLC at a later date. Yikes.

None of BFBC2’s downfalls don’t come even close to hindering the rock solid fun you will have while fighting your way though epically challenging matches. Make no mistake, this game is 3-4 times harder than any Call of Duty match and you will realize this as soon as you take a Sniper’s bullet to the head every single time you sit still. This is pushed even further with the addition of “hardcore mode”. A much needed addition to the otherwise bullet sponge-a-thon from the previous title. Not as sensitive as COD’s version of hardcore where you can die from shot to the pinkie toe, but still very affective with one or two shots putting you face down. You will need to use lots of tactics, bait and switch, marking targets, communication, suppressive fire, diversions, traps and a ton of luck. If you can fight passed your anger to get some items unlocked and some hours under your belt, you will love what this game has to offer. Just don’t approach it like you would Modern Warfare.

A side note is that the uniforms for the characters in these Battlefield: Bad Company games make no sense to me, at least the American ones. Am I the only one? The US Military doesn’t wear anything like that in any branch to my knowledge. Also, some work needs to be put into making the characters look different than each other. At times it’s hard to tell who the enemy is, we need some sort of diversity that we can latch onto and say, “that’s a bad guy.” All the Medics look the same on your team, all the Engineers, etc. This would have been a great place to get a leg up on the others in the market. The details really count.

The ranking system is much improved, it takes a great deal of doing to actually move up in rank. Unfortunately, all of the unlock-ables will be done long before you are anywhere near being done ranking so there is no incentive to finish ranking up. You just will with continued game play.

Head to Head Comparison

Let’s get into some side by side comparisons (since that seems to be the goal set by EA): Modern Warfare 2 vs Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Single Player Campaign:

MW2 is better. Neither is all that original, but Modern Warfare wins over with it’s authentic military feel, serious acting approach and attention to detail.

Online Multiplayer:

-Gun detail goes to MW2

-Character detail goes to MW2

-Map and layout goes to BFBC2

-Sound goes to BFBC2

-Overall scale of action goes to BFBC2

-Community and connectivity goes to MW2

Summary and Rating:

So, there you have it. Where one lacks the other exceeds. My suggestion is to get them both and play them for their strengths and enjoy them for the unique experiences they both have to offer individually. It’s important not approach either with the same set of game plan you use in the other and you will find yourself at the top of the leader boards in no time. Riiiiiiiiight. MY RATING: 8/10

The title is “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl” a FPS/RPG game based on real life events. If you are unfamiliar with what happened at the Russian Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the mid-80’s, watch the following youtube clip.

[Clip below is a real documentary of what happened at Chernobyl]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl [PC/2007] takes place in the year 2012 wherein you play as a “S.T.A.L.K.E.R.”, a mercenary/treasure hunter. The game is free roam with no scripted or set paths and has been compared to the likes of Oblivion or Fallout 3 in the way it handles main missions and side quests.

Apparently in Shadow of Chernobyl, the power plant and surrounding city are now inhabitable and are infested with marauding scavengers, squatters, traders, mutated humans and military personal who will shoot at you on sight. You’ll need to manage your extensive inventory, stay fed, accept missions, buy and sell items and maintain relations with the local in order to survive. Further details from the developer THQ…

• Artificial Intelligence

We see AI in our game as a system of realistic character behaviour. Game characters live in a world the player can only drop into, they have their own joys and sorrows. We thoroughly work out artificial intelligence for the player never to feel artificiality of the happening. This principle basically refers to our approach in general, and not only to efforts on AI. We work out all the possible actions of the player and prepare natural reaction of characters to them. As character would react in life, so as he should react in the game. If the player attacks and kills one of the guards, the rest will go to seek hiding, radio their headquarters, and won’t stand still, or what’s worse, run out towards the player.

• Communication with NPCs

The Player’s communication with the game characters will serve an essential part of the gameplay. By means of communication the player will find out important information, acquire tasks, trade or make deals to accomplish a task co-operatively. Apart from humans, the player will also be able to communicate with sapient mutant creatures. The game will be strongly influenced by communication and NPCs’ attitude towards the player. For example, under a bad attitude, trader will refuse to trade or will charge an exorbitant price, and stalkers will open fire as soon as they recognise the player.

• Trade

Trade will be realistic, as you are given a chance to purchase, exchange or sell everything: ammunition, equipment or artifacts. You can trade with the army, dealers, stalkers and scientists. To give you an idea how this will look in the game: the player comes across with a veteran stalker in the Zone, they greet each other, agree to remove weapons, then come closer to each other and start trading. They exchange phrases through a communication system. Soviet roubles will go in the game as the currency.

The developers have gone out of their way to make the game’s environment as accurate to the actual location as possible.

They’ve added on a good deal of exaggeration to the game of course, but with such an eerie place as Chernobyl not much needs to be done before the chills start setting in. I haven’t had the chance to play the game as I use a PC running a Vista OS which is not compatible with the retail release of the game. However, a really good review of the game can be found at acegamez.co.uk. *UPDATE* Found a patch page at THG-Games.com.

Gameplay & Inventory Management System:

Press average based on 32 ratings: 8.1

Note - If the Chernobyl imagery looks familiar it’s because it was used heavily in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.  Image Comparison Video