FIELD OPERATIVE
CALL OF DUTY, BATTLEFIELD & F.P.S. blogWhy I like the new Black Ops 2 (on Xbox 360).
- The near future setting gives us a break from the contemporary and/or historical setting. That is a refreshing, welcomed change in the COD series. It’s also interesting to notice some subtle influences from other console FPS series: Halo and Resistance. It’s good because it keeps the series from become self-complacent.
- Thanks to the near future setting (see #1 above) we have some cool new weapons and new attachments.
- The multiplayer portion gives the feeling that it’s been finely tuned and balanced really well. I love the possibilities that the Pick 10 system gives you. Triple attachments? Check. Double perk slots? Check. ❤
- I love the select fire attachment, especially for single-shot or burst fire assault rifles! As somebody who was frustrated in COD4 because I loved the G3 but didn’t have a quick-enough trigger finger, I’m happy as a pig in shit with my M8A1 and FAL in automatic fire mode!
- Once you prestige and access again a weapon after reaching a certain level, you have the attachments that you’ve unlocked in the previous prestige. If you want to keep getting XP from using that particular weapon, you can prestige it, which locks again the attachments. You can prestige a weapon twice. Once you do it, you’ll be able to customize the weapon’s appearance with your clan tag and emblem!
- Eventhough we still don’t have dedicated servers (with all the frustration and inconvenience this causes), it seems that lag compensation is working? Possibly yes, judging from all the posts at the official forum where players with top-notch fiber connections who used to pwn everybody in the previous games thanks to their connection’s merit alone, are whining like kids from whom somebody took their toy. It was about time!
- The gun sounds is more satisfying that what we’re used to in the COD/MW series.
- New mode hardpoint is really cool!
- Most maps are of medium size, which contributes in making the action more intense.
- This is an anti-camper COD! Treyarch has took some drastic measures in that direction, making Ghost work only when you run, control scorestreaks or disarm objectives. No more happy camping bitches!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 PS3 owners upset at broken DLC codes as Activision battles online issues [via EUROGAMER]
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-15-call-of-duty-black-ops-2-ps3-owners-upset-at-broken-dlc-codes-as-activision-battles-online-issues
From Battlefield 3 back to the COD/MW series with Modern Warfare 3, then Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2
Continuing last year’s retrospective of our FPS activity, when BF3 stopped being fun to play on console, I switched to Modern Warfare 3…
Quite honnestly that was something I didn’t expect! Having experienced the dedicated server goodness of latest DICE’s games (Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Medal Of Honor, Battlefield 3), I never thought I would switch back to COD’s host-based hell…
The fact that I did though, is quite enlightening as per the FPS battleground on console. Despite the COD series’ domination of the FPS genre on console,
there is a position to feel in the console marketplace with a miltary arcade/fast-paced FPS running on dedicated servers.
Nowadays, due to lag compensation algorithms, even player with ultrafast fiber DSL connections are loudly complaining, often of being even more penalized than regular joes.
Back to my story, I enjoyed Modern Warfare 3 on Xbox 360 a lot – enough in order to reach prestige level 20! I loved the maps and the better balance of the game, eg. the defensive score streaks. As with most COD games, a couple of weapons were far better than the others (G36, Skar, MP7), which is a letdown compated to the Battlefield series.
Since last week I’ve plunged into Call Of Duty: Black Ops2, and so far I’m really excited about it …
[To be continued]
The next Call of Duty is a Modern Warfare game – report (via EUROGAMER)
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-15-the-next-call-of-duty-is-a-modern-warfare-game-report
Field Operative is back! Why BF3 didn’t make it for us, what we have played during the past year and our current passion: Black Ops 2.
It’s been ~1 year that we’ve been off the radar.
The reason why is that except the usual daily grind, the blog has somehow lost its purpose. Indeed, I started out this blog when I’ve been converted from the C.O.D. to the Battlefield series back at the Modern Warfare 2 fiasco. I was enthusiastic about Battlefield: Bad Company 2 which was a fucking great game, and I felt like sharing my enthusiasm, without neglecting to write about other FPS/shooter titles….
After playing BFBC2 for hundreds of hours I highly anticipated Battlefield 3. I have enjoyed very much the beta and played fanatically with my comrades Metro, the only (but memorable) map available.
Unexpectedly enough and after the first few exciting weeks of discovery,BF3 turned out to be less exciting than what it was supposed to be after the promises made by the fantastic Bad Company 2. As I have pointed out back at the time, this comment/critic applies to the console versions where online matches feature smaller teams than on the PC and the action is therefore less intense…
Apparently DICE has succeeded back at the time to come for Bad Company 2 with a formula that offered intense, unmitigated action both for the PC and console versions of the game. Battlefield 2 being a PC game, Battlefield 3 has apparently been built upon the same general framework. I can’t go into details because I have never played Battlefield 2. I am a console gamer, I have never hidden that… I respect PC FPS enthusiasts and I have felt that BFBC2 brought both the PC and console FPS fractions closer together. Too bad that the formula has been broken for Battlefield 3…
[To be continued]
Use the MAV to reach new heights [VIDEO]
Wondering why there is not enough action in BF3? Well maybe it’s because people are busy have fun doing crazy shit like this instead of actually playing the game!
Battlefield 3 is not as fun as it was supposed to be (at least on console…)
Yeah, I hate to say this but it turns out that the initial excitement has given place to boredom and frustration…
The Xbox 360 version (and most likely the PS3 too) is simply not packed with as much action as we anticipated it to be. Bad Company 2 was more intense, more fun, more engaging.
Maybe it’s because BF3 was primarily designed as a PC game like BF2. I suppose that with more players per match things are more exciting…
I’ve been playing mostly the Rush mode until now, which was pure mayhem back at BFBC2. Instead of that, you can spend 30′ or 40′ playing a single round and only shoot 5 or 10 enemies. Not because you lack skill, but because either the enemies don’t attack and camp in the hills sniping, either because you try to attack but the rest of your team doesn’t follow and your squad keeps getting decimated then spawning back at your camp, etc.
Maybe the situation will ameliorate as soon as the most motivated players will remain, those who truly intend to play the game. But it’s not only a matter of motivation but also the maps are also to blame: most of them are too open and the action is too loose. Maybe all of them are not fit for Rush after all?
Operation Metro, Tehran Highway, Seine Crossing are fun. Other maps like Caspian Border or Operation Firestorm can be excruciating, spending most of the time running where the action is supposed to be, or waiting for the enemies to get their shit together and finally attack.
Possibly it’s too early to issue a final verdict, but right now I am playing more and more Modern Warfare 3, eventhough it doesn’t feature dedicated servers, eventhough match making is flawed. That’s an irony knowing that I abandoned the COD series overnight when I first played BFBC2… I hope to be wrong.
Modern Warfare 3 single player campaign: FUCKING AWESOME
The reason I got into multiplayer games is that after playing the single player campaign of Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I couldn’t get enough and needed more. Eventhough the host-based networking of the console version has largely disappointed me and made me switch to Battlefield, I am still a fan of the Modern Warfare series and reckon that Infinity Ward (with the help of Sledgehammer this time) knows at least how to craft some of the best single player campaigns…
Modern Warfare campaigns are all about big, blockbuster spectacle in a world where all hell breaks loose. Nukes explode, the old cold war fears come true with the Russians trying to invade the western world, new York becomes a battlefield, the Eiffel towerin Paris collapses, unlikely twists and turns happen all the time… and in my book that’s irrestible!
Modern Warfare 3’s campaign is better than Modern Warfare 2’s. The scenario is better, the action is more intense, and a lot of flashbacks are made to COD4 giving a sense of completeness to what appears to be a trilogy. There’s new weapons, gimmicks and gadgets, as well as a new protagonist, a russian named Yuri alongside with the old gang: Captain Price, Soap, and Nikolai. There’s a lot of great locales, and some levels appear clearly to have been created according to the fans feedback on the previous campaigns. This means that are obvious references to the popular parts of the COD4 campaign. For example, there’s some fighting in an aircraft, which is an obvious reference to the Mile High Club stage (and which I take pride to have completed it in Veteran difficulty).
Having started but not finished yet the BF3 campaign, it’s hard not to make a comparison. The MW3 single player campaign is a roller coaster sort of experience, an action movie in which you are participating with a big smile on your face from start to finish. BF3 tried to mimick it, but one of the reasons that DICE has failed is that by trying to be pseudo-realistic they have failed to make it fun.
Take for example the cut scenes between levels. In the MW series they are bombastic, a visual and audio feast with great dialogues. In BF3 it’s just the old soldier-accused-of-mutiny-getting-interrogated rehash that has been already done in the past and better, like in Black and COD:Black Ops.
I haven’t played the Spec Ops mode yet, but if it’s as fun as MW2’s (and I am sure it is), then it’s safe to say that Modern Warfare is the best single player and co-op experience out there, as far as military shooters go at least.
BF3 multiplayer Q&A
I have anticipated wildly BF3 and since its release I haven’t written much about it, because I was actually playing it!
Instead of writing a plain review, I have started the BF3 multiplayer Q&A page, which I will update regularly… Check it out, feel free to comment and leave your own questions to be answered.
FIELD OPERATIVE 