First Impressions

[OldDog]

Well, I've played a ittle over 4 hours now, both SP and MP. Had some initial difficulty connecting, and maintaining a connection to some servers, but found that it was probably the servers' problem, not mine (or the game's), as I was able to play on quite a few servers with no problems.

I like the game...its fast, and full of action. Its a bit confusing, but war is like that. Some of the game play depends upon the commander, and I've had some nitwits (or, people who have assumed the role, but do nothing), but you can still run (mostly) and gun if you wish. Its a good idea to try and coordinate attacks, though, as a lone player usually has no chance, unless they're really fast, and lucky.

Haven't really mastered (ha! barely competent) the vehicles yet. Crashed a whole bunch of helicopters and jets, so far, so I've stayed away from them, and, you CAN crash and burn in a road vehicle...to death. My favorite is the Special Forces guy, although I tried sniper a bunch of times. And I rarely ride with anyone, so I'm continually running from one place to another...pretty stupid, I know. On one server, someone chimed in with a "I can't figure this game out!".

As an SF guy, you can really do some damage, if you get close enough, because he's the ONLY guy who carries C4. Odd, that, you would think the engineer would do so, but the character is misnamed, IMHO, it should be "mechanic"...he can repair stuff. As a former Combat Engineer, myself, I find this somewhat insulting. The SF guy can blow up radar and bunkers and HQ trailers and artillery pieces. I don't know about the anti-tank weapons...whether they can, too...haven't tried them yet.

The sniper is very vulnerable, but can be pretty powerful once in a decent position. Unless its a big server, though, you have to move around to find targets, and that makes you fair game for anyone (I got run over by a vehicle). The rifle itself seems to operate on real principles...I emptied 2 full magazines at a guy who was basically just standing there, until I realized that I had to aim slightly higher for longer distances, and slightly lower for close-in. For those of you who shoot, for real, the weapon seems to be zero'd at around 100M-150M. The guy I was shooting at was almost 300M away (I guessed), so I aimed slightly above his head (finally), and potted him easily (after wasting a ton of ammo).

Back to the game...

[MajorWoody]

Let me preface by saying I never played BF1942 or BFV. So maybe i would be in awe of those games as well.

I must say that BF2 is amazing. I could sit and be entertained by the big battles without even playing. I love watching a veteran pilot fly a jet around the map, it's like being at an airshow. I was lucky enough to be a gunner on a big old helo (huey?) and racked up 15 kills with my gatling gun. Had i been flying i would have taken off, done a loop and crashed nose first into the ground.

I'm finding getting used to all the options and controls difficult. I think i need a joystick or something. Flying a jet a 700mph with a mouse is pretty weak.

The game has some glitches to it, i don't know if it gone gold yet or not, but there are some things that need to be fixed. I have a pretty high-end rig and get skips and lag in the menu system. That's pretty bad.

I can't wait until the full game comes out, i think CoD will still be my main game (waiting for CoD2), but this will keep me entertained until that comes out.

Server side, i'm happy to say that setup is a breeze. There's a server launcher included with the demo which is easy to navigate. When BF2CC goes final it will make running a server even easier. The server lanucher that comes with the game is missing lots of options that are present in the beta of BF2CC. Also, i don't think there's a way for the launcher to restart a server.

I setup a 64 slot server just to learn to fly, and i still suck at it! :eek:

[OldDog]

I should have said that I have never played any of the BF games, either, and, the controls were a little awkward for me as well. I wasn't as lucky with the helicopter...a bunch of us just stood around on deck staring at each other (I don't think any of us wanted to be first...:undecided), so I hopped on, badly, as pilot, and proceeded to drop us in the drink.

I'm with Woody...I have a pretty high-end setup myself, and I had some quirkies going on. I assumed that it was the 'demo'...hope so.

[rudedog]

Great report guys.

I love flying. I play way too much POE for BFV and love the helo's. Just wish I could sit down for a couple hours and get the controls mapped to my preference.

Still don't know too much about the commander mode, at first I did not think I would be interested in that part of the game. But hearing from a lot of people it sounds like fun and great to get team play working in your favor.

Hopefully I can get some playing time in. I would love to setup a server just don't have the damn time right now.

Man I tell you EA seems to plan every one of their major game related event around my travel schedule.......:p

[Boneman]

I've been playing bfv - poe since dropping MOH and have been having a real good time - the demo looks good and the graphics are just plain well done
(even though i don't do demos, i did this one - just to get a glimpse)
the control panel is cool

the one thing that i really didn't like was my joystick didn't work ingame
for example, when was setting it up, the pitch up was assigned axis 0 - and so was pitch down - and left rudder was axis 3 and so was right rudder - this was the case for all controls - and also makes for a very interesting flight plan :)
i can only hope it will have saitek evo support out of the box :)

i haven't tried any work arounds yet or even looking for a workaround - the game will be on the shelf by the time i get the demo tweaked - and the only reason i installed it was to look for anything new and see what/how a bf2 map looks like and is laid out.
from what i see, its going to be worth it - it just plain beats the tar out of MOH/COD, any mod, any realism and requires more skill and teamwork than MOH/COD ever did.

i'll give it a thumbs up

[SNYPE]

I have never played the BF series either but I am hooked on this. It does take a while to learn to fly, but with practice it can be mastered even with just a mouse. The graphics and physics are great. I like the weapon kits, lots to choose from. The player classes are a nice touch, thats the one thing I liked about PA. Lots of opportunity for team work using squads.

Has anyone tried the VOIP yet? Seems like a good option.

[rudedog]

I must say, I'm a damn good flyer both fixed wing and helo's with just the keyboard and mouse :salute: .

However I would love to try a stick along side my keyboard and mouse. Any suggestions boneman? does your joystick work well with the keyboard and mouse?

As for the VOIP, I have not tried it yet.

This commander mode in BF2 works much much better then I ever expected. You really interact with your team mates, it actually works for a FPS fast action game.

[Boneman]

well...since my stick doesn't work with bf2 yet...i can only address bvf

i use all 3 - kbd - mouse and joystick - its integrated well - i found mouse flying awkward and lacking in the close and fast maneuvering area....i can tell a mouser whos flying a chopper, but a mouser in an aircraft is a different story...

my kbd is angled on my left, joystick next to right hand and mouse to the right of joystick
all this stuff is kinda spread out, but in keeping with simplicity, the kbd does all speed controls for everything - mouse is all ground control and the joystick does all flying

i did MOH, q1, q3, keyboard controls for so long, i couldn't make the change to new keys!! LOL
so i migrated the fwd and bckwd and speed controls to those 2 keys and kept the rest pretty much default - i didn't go wild on the joystick controls (just plain toooo many :) ) - but i did assign quick views to the 10 view thumb button front view and rearview and a return to cockpit so i don't crash into anything for bombing runs to see if i hit anything :)

as far as the voip, i'm going to set it up tonight and just test it...i have limited BW for the server (i'm hosting it on my 512K up dsl - ugh i know - but its a static IP!) so game and voip won't be able to coexist - but i'm going to D/L the linux demo and see if i can get the voip going on one of my other static's and see i can just run the voip

i'd really like to see my joystick work on this demo though.... the last thing i want to do is have to learn to mouse fly just for a demo... hehhe

[OldDog]

The servers I've been playing on have the little icon indicating VoIP, but no one answers! My setup is ok...the testing worked...I'm wondering if the bulk of the players don't have mics.

As for flying...I still need a LOT of practice. I have a private pilot's license, and I can't get the helicopter to stay upright! Not using a joystcik...my old (very old) Flight Sim setup won't work...maybe I need to invest... I am successfully (sortof) flying the jets now, so all hope is not lost...:rolleyes:

The commander mode does not seem to be an option on the servers I've been playing on. I got myself annointed and tried to 'command' and no one paid any attention. It feels that most people are still playing 'run and gun', and just, by coincidence, all ending up at the same target. More later on this as I browse around other servers.

[Boneman]

update on linux voip

just installed the linux port....voip doesn't seem to be there - all i saw was a start.sh which started the server
whats the poop rudedog? no voip port?

[MajorWoody]

no voip port?
Even though the Windows server feels like beta as well, the Linux server is actually labeled beta. That might be part of it.

[Boneman]

LOL most linux ports are always betas and rarely get out of beta :)

[Boneman]

well i've been playing for about 4 days on ranked servers and found that this might not be a bad idea - ranked that is - i'm not going to address the cost of running a ranked server even though i think ea's decision sucks

i've boiled it down to this - team and squad tactics
be part of the team or die ALOT running around doing dumb things with no help, backup, or teammates in the area or transportation...squad members provide transportation for each other :) they also don't go out of their way for the loner ie noob run and gun types
i'll be playing this game for awhile to come - i'm really liking it - it really trips my trigger
the graphics are really what makes it click for me - no more fuzzy figures out there that you can't make out who's team they are on :)

can't wait for the patch and a MUCH better ingame browser - this one really sucks :)