Remembering Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Taking part in the Battlefield 3 beta has got me thinking lately about my time spent with Bad Company 2 and the affect it had on my gaming. Prior to Bad Company, I hadn't really ever been into multiplayer shooters, my twitch gaming skills were all but non-existent and I still am lucky to play most shooters on anything above normal. I had spent quite a bit of time with FEAR's multiplayer and enjoyed it, mainly thanks to getting together with an aussie group online that took me under their wing and taught me the ropes. Killzone 2 caught my attention with it's evolving objectives and less twitch based gaming, then really got it's hooks in me with it's class and team-based focus. It was my time spent with Killzone that convinced me that I should give Bad Company a try. I'd played Batlefield 2 before this and hadn't really gotten into it. I liked what it was trying to do, but found it hard to get into and glitchy. Still I went into Bad Company hopeful. Stagnant and awful single-player aside, I really enjoyed my time with the game. The multi-player was something I'd never experienced and I loved the different modes and focus on team work and objectives over K/D ratios and constant slaughter. I relished as a medic, raking in points healing and reviving my squad, as well as defending and completing objectives. Finally, here was a game that didn't care I couldn't shoot for shit and let me play it my way. And I got to experience some pretty incredible moments that I'd like to share now. All these happened within one game, made even more memorable as it's the last game I played of Bad Company 2.

The first was a kind of ridiculous death that could only happen in Battlefield. It occurred as I stepped outside a building after just single handedly securing the flag for my team. I was feeling pretty good as I'd been alive for close to ten minutes now and in that time had successfully defended two command points, shot a bunch of people in a helicopter and captured a flag. It was at this moment that I noticed a large shadow over my head. I looked up and was killed by a falling helicopter. I just about fell off my chair laughing. Sure, I was crushed that my great run had ended, but at the same time, some guy had just killed me by dropping a freaking helicopter on my head. How freaking awesome is that!? Shame it just counted as "you died" and whoever it was didn't get points, but I congratulated them of chat and much merriment ensued.

Not long after this, I was wandering through one of our captured bases on the way to the last flag the enemy held. This was on one of the largest, if not the largest Bad Company map, filled with vehicles galore. The air was filled with gunfire, screams and explosions, but it was relatively calm around here. I'd lost my squad earlier when they hopped in a tank and left without me, so I was sprinting across the map, hoping to get to the flag without dying or time running out. It was then that I noticed an enemy tank ahead, facing the wrong way. I quickly ran to a nearby stationary missile launcher and fired. The tank exploded beautifully and I smiled to myself, a smile that instantly vanished as another tank came tearing through the smoke and fire. My heart raced as the weapon slowly reloaded and I knew I was gone. It was then I noticed on the map a couple of green dots and an rpg flew from my right and hit the tank, buying me precious seconds of distraction. The tank wiped out whoever had rushed to my aid, but didn't survive my attack. I breathed a sigh of relief, only to be greeted by a third tank. this one was coming around my left side, clearly at the end but still gunning right for me. The gun reloaded painfully slowly ad the tank bore town on me, intent on running my stupid stunned arse over. Blissfully, the gun reloaded and I fired, just as the tank ran me over. He blew up. Revenge. And so ends the tale of when I took out three tanks by myself.

My final memory is a short one, and from a different, earlier match, but a particular favourite of mine. It was during a particularly intense game of Rush and mine team was getting it's arse kicked. The attackers had blownup all but our last M-COM station. I was running around laying out medkits and desperately reviving anyone I could find. I rounded the corner, only to run straight into an enemy rifle man. I panicked and without thinking to check what I was holding, I pressed fire. My character promptly slung a medkit at the guys face, who brushed it off (like a boss) and shot me dead. We both commented about the same time:
him: "did some idiot just throw a medkit at me?"
me: "I think I just tried to kill someone with a medkit."
Much merriment ensued.

So there's my few Bad Company stories. I'm sure there are many more and, as always, I look forward to hearing your own. I'm excited for BF3, even if the beta tarnished that with it's stupid Operation Metro, Caspian Sea has returned that feeling of Battlefield to me. Te levelling is fast, the rewards great, I like that the medic and assault classes have merged, the vehicles are fun, the map is huge and I'm already level 3 after a few games, which is awesome for me. I'm just hoping it can live up to everyone's expectations. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below. As for me, it's time to hunt down that bastard who sniped me with a fucking pistol. Time to play "whack-a-noob".

Has Time Left Shadow of the Colossus Behind?

This is going to be a difficult and probably controversial article, but it's one I feel needs to be discussed. Before we begin, I'd just like to say that Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favourite games, an incredible work of art and experience. The first time I heard of it I spent months trying to hunt down a copy for my PS2, ended up paying close to 100 dollars on eBay for one. The experience was unmatched by anything I'd played before. The scope of the game, the sheer size and spectacle of the Colossi, the heart-breaking story and desolation, the relationship between boy and horse, everything blew me away. So when I found out Team Ico was releasing a HD collection, including Ico (which  hadn't played before because I couldn't find a copy), I pre-ordered straight away. But something strange happened when the game arrived. I fired up SotC and was instantly blown away by the loving detail it had been rendered in. The new textures, lighting and frame rate improves shone through, it felt like a true remastering of a classic. It was like someone had breathed a whole new life into it. And then I started to play the game and began to notice things. Little things. Things like the finicky and unresponsive horse controls, the camera that seems to exist in it's own world completely independent of your control, the ever increasing AI quirks, the unresponsive climbing controls. And ten I realised, with the spectacle of the Colossi removed, and the connection to the world and the story already experienced, what was left was a very flawed game. A very flawed, frustrating and often times very un-fun game. I was shocked. Had it always been like this, I wondered. Was I simply looking back on my experience with nostalgia glasses, forgetting all the frustrations and only remembering the good times, a la Uncharted 2? I can't honestly answer the question.Perhaps the quirk were always there, but the initial experience was enough to mask them. My sister is playing through the game for the first time alongside me and hasn't noticed any of the problems  have, so perhaps it is true. Perhaps time really has left Shadow of the Colossus behind. Now in o way am I calling into question SotC's quality. It is a truly incredible experience, and everyone should play the game once. But the thing is, it doesn't stand up to a second playthrough. I've had to stop playing, it's just too frustrating for me. The frustration is increased by the fact that I feel betrayed. I want to have as much fun as I had the first time, as much fun as my sister is having now. I want to relive the mystery, the grief as each colossus fell under your hand, the triumph, the heartache the spectacle, but I just can't. And that's a real shame. Have I just grown old and cynical? I honestly don't know, but I feel like a part of my childhood has died with this game. As my character desperately clings onto a colossi's head as it shakes it around violently for the tenth time in a row without break, a motion it will continue to repeat at least twice after I've fallen off without stabbing it once for the fifth or sixth time, I feel Wanda's pain. I get up, eject the disc, place it back in it's case and file it away, vowing to hold onto the memories of the good times, instead of weathering through the storm in the hope it gets better.