14 DAY TRIAL // Battlefield is one of the biggest first-person franchises out there, especially in the multiplayer department, so it was only natural that it started feeling insecure when Modern Warfare, and especially, when its sequel, MW2, came out. So, when Infinity Ward made a huge blunder with the PC version of its mega hit, DICE was just one step behind it, ready to make that mistake even more obvious. But having enough common sense and the wits to go with it, the Swedish developer didn't nail IW to a wall and execute it for its mistake.
Instead of lashing out at the competition, the developer saw this as an opportunity to further promote its own product, Bad Company 2, by assuring us on numerous occasions that its upcoming game wouldn't betray PC gamers like Infinity had done. And, while there were plenty of side-by-side comparisons made by DICE with Modern Warfare 2, the original Bad Company still remained the major shoes its sequel had to fill.
So, it was only natural that the game's first objective was to improve on the original's delivery. While talking to CVG, BC2's producer, Gordon Van Dyke, admitted one design flaw of the first Bad Company that he said wouldn't return in this second installment of the series. “I think we made it too hard to kill people,” he pointed out. “In a shooter game people want to kill people. So we've upped damage and the pacing is a lot better, it's tuned more.” Which is a good thing to hear. We shouldn't have to shoot people six times in the face before we finally bring them down. We're not fighting the Terminator here.
“I think Battlefield as a whole, we've been doing it so long we're like a chef who knows the exact amount of spice to put in if they want it a little bit spicier, or how to make it a little more savoury or a little more sweet,” he added. As far as the Bad Company series finally coming to the PC is concerned, Van Dyke assured us that this wouldn't be just some meager port of the console version.
“Frostbite is a leading technology,” Van Dyke added. “It's not for the faint of heart. For PC we're able to squeeze more juice out of it and get it up to 32. Also it's a version that's being developed specifically for the PC. The core guts of the game and the idea is there but everything is being re-tweaked and everything is being balanced specifically for the PC.” And balance is going to be a very interesting thing to achieve on the battlefield, considering that DICE promises around 15,000 character specializations.