Zero Punctuation: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

[MattyDienhoff]

My response to "realistic" (non-stealth) shooters:

1. Games aren't really supposed to be realistic. IT'S WHY YOU'RE PLAYING A GAME.

There is a difference between "realistic" and "real", you know. Any game with a real-world setting has to be realistic to some extent.

2. Having incredibly low health in a non-stealth game that is supposedly all about multiplayer just encourages too much cheap tactics and people working their level best to find game breakers, of which there are usually many, becausethedevelopersdon'tcareaboutbalanceImeandoubleshotguns,really-(long, increasingly unhinged tirade)

I agree, there's a reason you don't see a whole lot of multiplayer-focused tactical shooters, it's damn hard to pit human players against each other in a hyper-realistic FPS without making it incredibly frustrating to play. It can work (Red Orchestra: Ostfront, Insurgency) but even the best examples such games will always be niche due to their steep difficulty curves.

I just wish people would stop calling pseudo-realistic games like BF:BC2 and MW2 "realistic" as if they're simulators or something. Those games don't make an honest effort to be realistic in anything but looks.

As far as "realism vs. fun" goes, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. What level of realism is appropriate for the game experience depends strongly on the kind of game in question. Most of the mainstream FPS games on the market nowadays (like MW2) are strictly on-the-fence in realism terms, they're anything but simulators, but they're not meant to be.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

For sake of argument that the multiplayer of BFBC2 is a grilled cheese and the single player is a pile of cow dung. Would you eat the grilled cheese if the cow present is on the same plate? The grilled cheese in theory would be just as good if it was not touching. But you wouldn't because the smell and sight is just going to make you gag. Serve the Grilled Cheese by it self if you must, or give us another kind of sandwich instead of the cow dung to please people of different tastes, but don't give us a pile of %$#& and let it get away with it.

Interesting analogy. I'd say that BC2 is probably more like a bacon cheeseburger, with the multiplayer being the cheeseburger and the singleplayer being the bacon. Now, I don't like bacon, but I acknowledge that for most people, bacon is a lovely addition to a perfectly good cheeseburger. I can happily order a bacon cheeseburger without the bacon and still have a satisfying meal, but if I ordered a bacon cheeseburger without the cheeseburger, I would probably feel a bit let down. A couple of slices of bacon on a plate, while nice, does not constitute a meal. It would be foolish to write a review of a restaurant that said 'I ordered a bacon cheeseburger without the cheeseburger and all I got was a slice of bacon, that restaurant was rubbish'.

Or something. You get the idea.

I honestly can't tell if your agreeing with me or not.

 

[Sentient6]

Wow, Yahtzee REALLY hates this one. Well, I suppose that's what happens when you only play the Single player of a Multiplayer-centric game. So technically - he's not wrong. The Single player does suck. Except no one gives a flying fuck, because they're too busy playing online...
PS DUST!!!

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

the part i most agree with is russians r evil. seriously, the russians are just normal people. in games america is a ultr awsome hero team while russian is evil for some unexplained reason

Of course, they are. So are the arabs and the chinese.
Don't worry, the Russians are always villians just because someone has to be one.

personally, im russian myself, but i prefer americans to be evil. cos thier stockipiling lotsa nukes.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

the part i most agree with is russians r evil. seriously, the russians are just normal people. in games america is a ultr awsome hero team while russian is evil for some unexplained reason

Of course, they are. So are the arabs and the chinese.
Don't worry, the Russians are always villians just because someone has to be one.

personally, im russian myself, but i prefer americans to be evil. cos thier stockipiling lotsa nukes.

How can the Americans be evil in a game developed in America?
That would be rather weird.
As far as I remember, in most Russian games the good guys are Russian.

 

[seamusotorain]

Derp de derp herp multiplayer derp. I enjoyed the multiplayer demo, and I'd heard the story was pretty weak. If you want a FPS not made out of a grey and brown colour palette, Duke Nukem just hit the XBL Marketplace, and you can always go and play Serious Sam again.

I guess you didn't notice the jungle maps, or the pacific island maps, or the snowy mountain/forest maps when you played then? BC2 has its fair share of dusty hellholes, but to say the entire game is brown and grey is just plain untrue.

The demo is set in a snowy location. I was using a stereotype of the modern FPS - that they often use a rather muted colour palette - for effect. It was such an enjoyable effect that I almost orgasmed upon finishing it.

You don't need to defend the game, I enjoyed the multiplayer.

 

[Klepa]

Bah, was hoping for something different. The whole thing sort of loses it's edge, when you know that he's not going to talk about the multiplayer. I agree with a few points though. That google maps loading screen was a cop out, especially when both CoD4, and MW2, did it better.

 

[loser6]

You know, when I fisrt started watching zero punctuation I thought it was funny and that the reviews made some sense. This review, however, is retarded. BC2 is a multiplayer game. To even start to review it based on the single player is just retarded. The single player is a complete joke compared to multiplayer. Did zero punctiation pirate the game or something (so only single player would work)? If you are going to review a game with mulitplayer at least mention the multuplayer mode. If you are going to review a battlefield game based on single player, promptly pull your face out of your ass.

And BC2 is not all that realilistic. Same great formula, same great gameplay.

ZP pull ur head out of ur ass please. You used to be funny but now ur getting sad.

 

[MultiColouredWonder]

FINALLY! Someone understands how friggin' annoying dust is!
DUST!

 

[Chameliondude]

Quite funny, he said he preferred games when they had health packs, hello online!!!!! seriously play it, its epicycloidily better than the story, and in my opinion, better than cod, feels balanced and spawning works, can choose map and omfg vehicles. also dedicated servers for those of us with internet deficiency.

Oh and get this, people actually play as a team, rather than just lying down camping the objective, literally cant get enough of it.

 

[hi0marc]

This is usually where the major fan of the series pops up with why Yahtzee was wrong. I am a pretty eager fan of the DICE logo but agree with the whole genre poking he does, although i still think the game is class. The whole russia thing is odd, as DICE are swedish and i only thought it was the american developers hating russia, while the swedes would make a game where we kill, erm... Danes. The cover is practically of flat-pack quality anyway in BC2 so we're nearly there

 

[awatkins]

Hmmm, well Yahtzee you might want to take a look at what Russia has been up to "recently. Starting with the fact that they decided to attempt to assasinate a pro-American/Western Democracy leader in Ukraine during an election. Then of course we've got the entire Georgia incident, which lead to them cutting off the fuel pipeline to the EU just to prove that they could, and threatening Poland with nuclear annihilation for hosting defensive missle bases that would you know... make it harder for them to threaten Europe as a whole with nuclear annihilation.

quote]

Yeah, not to mention they have been threatening or 'probing' Canadian sovereignty in the air and sea around the north pole. One of which times was during a royal visit from the queen. Luckily we caught them and told em to fcuk off.

 

[codernator]

It doesn't really matter how Yahtzee feels about a game. What makes for a bangin' review is gratuitous use of humorous metaphor to describe either the game play or the making of the game. (Re: Pillock, for example) This review had its humorous bits, but it was flat and sounded more like a gripe session than a great Yahtzee review. Ah well.

 

[carelesshx]

For sake of argument that the multiplayer of BFBC2 is a grilled cheese and the single player is a pile of cow dung. Would you eat the grilled cheese if the cow present is on the same plate? The grilled cheese in theory would be just as good if it was not touching. But you wouldn't because the smell and sight is just going to make you gag. Serve the Grilled Cheese by it self if you must, or give us another kind of sandwich instead of the cow dung to please people of different tastes, but don't give us a pile of %$#& and let it get away with it.

Interesting analogy. I'd say that BC2 is probably more like a bacon cheeseburger, with the multiplayer being the cheeseburger and the singleplayer being the bacon. Now, I don't like bacon, but I acknowledge that for most people, bacon is a lovely addition to a perfectly good cheeseburger. I can happily order a bacon cheeseburger without the bacon and still have a satisfying meal, but if I ordered a bacon cheeseburger without the cheeseburger, I would probably feel a bit let down. A couple of slices of bacon on a plate, while nice, does not constitute a meal. It would be foolish to write a review of a restaurant that said 'I ordered a bacon cheeseburger without the cheeseburger and all I got was a slice of bacon, that restaurant was rubbish'.

Or something. You get the idea.

I honestly can't tell if your agreeing with me or not.

I don't know either. I didn't really understand where you were going with that analogy, but I found it funny so I just ran with it. I think we can both agree that both grilled cheese and bacon cheeseburgers are awesome though

Derp de derp herp multiplayer derp. I enjoyed the multiplayer demo, and I'd heard the story was pretty weak. If you want a FPS not made out of a grey and brown colour palette, Duke Nukem just hit the XBL Marketplace, and you can always go and play Serious Sam again.

I guess you didn't notice the jungle maps, or the pacific island maps, or the snowy mountain/forest maps when you played then? BC2 has its fair share of dusty hellholes, but to say the entire game is brown and grey is just plain untrue.

The demo is set in a snowy location. I was using a stereotype of the modern FPS - that they often use a rather muted colour palette - for effect. It was such an enjoyable effect that I almost orgasmed upon finishing it.

You don't need to defend the game, I enjoyed the multiplayer.

Oh fair enough then. I misinterpreted your post as 'waaaagh realism is brown waaaagh' so sorry about that.

 

[MR T3D]

Playing a Battlefield game and complaining about the quality of the single player is like driving a Ferrari and complaining about the back seat legroom.

 

[Huffman_D]

Playing a Battlefield game for single player is like having sex with your grandmother. She's great for making you cookies and buying you toys, but you're not supposed to be doing THAT .... dude

 

[Gunuku]

Please don't buy this if you only intend to play the single player. Its multiplayer blows most other FPS out of the water and is the only reason to buy it.

 

[MrLefty]

Here's a vote for Yahtzee actually considering the main point of the game next time. (In this case, Bad Company 2 is clearly about the multiplayer, which he ignored entirely.)

 

[MrLefty]

PS there's lots to criticise about the multiplayer, too. Particularly if you're in Australia, as Yahtzee is.

 

[Gunuku]

PS there's lots to criticise about the multiplayer, too. Particularly if you're in Australia, as Yahtzee is.

If you are referring to any censorship then the blame lies with your government, not the game.