ive NEVER played a Battlefield game, im guessing from the massive amount of posts in this thread its worth a look ?
if i bought it now would i just get raped by others online who have been playing this since it came out, like what happens with COD, or would i have a chance
Definitely give BC2 a go - it's a great all-rounder of an FPS imo. As I said in the 'What have you been playing this week' thread - there are plenty of 'n00b' servers out there. These are really great training-grounds as the server runs a Rank cap (50 is the highest you can get to) of 20, 25 or sometimes a lot less. It evens up the gameplay nicely, without getting trounced by Battlefield veterans and those with LOTS of BC2 playtime. And the cap does work. I've accidently joined one (it was set to Rank 14 and I was about 25 at the time) and I lasted about 10 secs in the game before getting booted off - lol.
There are four classes to pick from in BC2 - recon, engineer, assault and medic. I would say that the last two are the quickest and easiest ways to rack up points early. The assault class has an ammo box unlock which you can leave on the ground and resupply your team-mates with ammo from. You get double resupply points from providing ammo for your squad mates - which in turn promotes squad play rather than lone Rambo-style tactics. Squads can have a maximum of four people. Similarly, the medic can drop med-kits with similar results for your team and squad-mates, but the medic can also revive downed players with the de-fib.
The recon specialises in sniping and calling in mortar strikes on the enemy - also gaining points for spotting the enemy for your team. My favourite class however, is the engineer. This character specialises in attacking and repairing vehicles - using AT mines and various RPG-type launchers for the former and a repair tool for fixing friendly vehicles. The engineer class also unlocks the UMP-45 which I would arguably say is the most potent SMG in the game.
It is a much more simpler game than say Battlefield 2142. That game (which still is my favourite online FPS) took the squad idea a few steps further. Ultimately each side had a commander, who played an indirect role to the procedings. Mainly sat looking at a map view than actually playing the game, the commander spotted enemies for his side, called in artillery, EMP strikes and also supplies when his guys needed it. The commander issued commands via this interface to his squad leaders, who in turn either acted out his commanders orders and issued them in turn to his squad, or flatly refused the orders and did their own thing.
Naturally, cohesive online play is a rare event to find. But when you had an intelligent commander dishing out sensible and realistic objectives to a squad leader who acknowledged the order and told his squad to move out - and they in turn did so, the gameplay dynamic was second to none. Tie that in with vehicle support, both from the air and on the ground and BF2142 is still the pinnacle, as far as I'm concerned.
They've dumbed-down the interface for BC2, but its still very playable and enjoyable as a result.
D.
