Battlefield: Bad Company Beta (Impressions so far)

So the Battlefield: Bad Company Beta servers went up today and they are getting worked right now. It is hard to get in games currently and the DICE guys noticed it too which they are trying to fix this as quickly as possible. I was able to play 3 matches at least (1 in Ascension and 2 in Oasis). The only mode available is Gold Rush, which the attacking team has to destroy a set of gold crates to win the match while the defending team tries to defend it by lowering their reinforcements bar (just kill them a lot of times). These games can last long especially in Oasis where there is like 5 sets of 2 crates for the attackers to destroy. Ascension is more of a smaller map than Oasis, which seems more vehicle-focused, but the action does fell tense up close. As with previous Battlefield games if I can remember correctly, there are classes to choose from (I mostly sticked with Assault) with a demolition class, sniper class, etc. These will actually play out more on Oasis with the amount of tanks and helicopters going around. 

The graphics so far are good despite it is only 30 frames per second compared to 60 in CoD4. Those usual gray-ish filters (as seen in Burnout Paradise) are in when you are low on health, and it kind of distracts the overall flow of the action to me. The explosions also look great and this game is living up to the message with the whole destructible environments / buildings because they can be destroyed pretty quickly. Sound-wise, it is okay with the guns sounding like guns and explosions sounding like explosions. 

The spawn system goes by spawning at a home base or within the action along teammates. Spawning with your squad can be risky at times if spawned in the middle of a firefight, but at least u get to the action quicker if u prefer that route. There's the whole awards and medals thing for certain tasks as well such as new weapons and whatnot. EA's thing with microtransactions for new weapons is a little funky, since it is EA and they want money, people are willing to cough up the dough. Other than that, it feels like a Battlefield game with guns having secondary fires, vehicles that might ruin the balance of the game, and teamwork, which I didn't notice since no one was using their mics.

I'm going to play more of this when the servers are somewhat working (maybe later today). Maybe I'll just play the new Boston pack DLC on Rock Band instead and those songs kick ass (specifically More Than A Feeling as expected and Peace of Mind, better charts than GH versions). Sorry, no picture for this post.