*Remember that these impressions are from a beta and in no way reflect the final game, or what it will be like when it's shipped.*
I must say that the Battlefield: Bad Company beta has to be the most issue-packed beta I've ever be a part of, and I've been in quite a few. The game is filled with problems, both cosmetic and gameplay-wise. I recently starting playing some more to see how (and if) the game changed at all. The game has seemed to change in a negative way sadly.
I'll start off with the cosmetic issues I have with the game. The first is something so pathetic, something so obviously wrong that I can't believe it will ever find it's way into the final game. There is no ladder animation at all (think Shadowrun); you basically just fly up the ladder with one leg/arm raised on one side, "Up, up and away!". It may seem like a little grudge, but it is extremely distracting every time you see it happen, are we all superman here? The destruction system is impressive, but if you pay attention you'll notice that every house blows up in the same way. While much of the world is destructable, you'll soon see that most explosions are pretty much the same. The game does look rather nice, but I did experience some screen-tearing at times.
The rest of the problems are mostly tech-based, or just bad design choices. One issue I find ridiculous is the fact that you can't open a door. I know that the game is about destruction and they want to show it off, but honestly why would I blow a hole in a building when I can just as easily open a door. They may think that's cool, but I personally think it's an absolute horrible design choice. The destruction aspects of the game are a bit inconsistent as well. A grenade launcher can blow a huge hole in a wall, but a thrown grenade doesn't do a thing. I did experience one situation where a thrown grenade blew up an entire fence and house which shocked the hell out of me (though this only happened once and never again). I don't find it hard to believe that a grenade being propelled through a nade-laucher would be more powerful than a thrown grenade, but the level of difference seems to be a bit much.
I have to say that when the beta initially went up it ran smooth and I rarely ever experienced lag, but now the beta seems to be full of lag half of the time (especially with a full room). I doubt this will be much of a problem when the game ships because Modern Combat ran really smooth. Speaking of the last game; Bad Company has one of the worst issues from the previous game; no voice chat. I sometimes see a mic pop-up on screen that says someone is talking, but I never hear a thing. I even played with Major Nelson at times and either voice chat doesn't work, or he is one quiet guy. I also found that the hit-detection isn't always perfect, but is in no means horrible (just a little tweaking and it should be good).
For the most part every gripe I have with the game is definitely fixable and I don't think that EA will ship the game with all of these issues. You do have to remember that this is still a Battlefield game. So many game-play issues that plagued previous games still plague Bad Company like spawn camping and the lack of respawn invulnerability. I've always been a fan of the Battlefield series (even the console version), but if the issues aren't fixed then I will have no desire to play the retail version. I'm hopeful that these issues will get fixed, but right now I can't help but be worried.
Marc Kusnierz
Well it seems like all PS3 owners will be homeless for a little bit longer (or forever, who knows). Though I am not at all surprised by the delay, I really wish that Sony would just release a patch that gives us some new features. I am optimistic for Home and I understand that they want to make sure the "world" is fully functional when it goes live, but with every delay I care less and less. If they just gave me some of the simplest functionality that is in XBL; I wouldn't care how long they spent on refining Home.
