BF Apocalypse: Brückenstück

Juralis has also finished this week's Modder's Journal entry. Let's see what he has to say about BF2 and the Mod Tools...

Modders Journal: Second impressions...and a burning question So we?ve had the full version of BF2 in our hands for a week now, and we?ve all gotten a chance to poke it and prod it. Is it everything you expected? Is it everything you hoped for?

If you ask the guys around here, you?re going to get some pretty varied reactions. In some, it has evoked an extremely visceral response (that?s a bad thing!). Others have found a lot of positives in different aspects of the game.

I?ll try to start on a positive note here. Most people seem to agree that visually, the game is impressive. There are problems here and there?some odd texture issues, places where you can see seams (like in the skyboxes), things like that, but for the most part, the visuals are solid. Take a look at Kubra Dam. It may be difficult to find your way around the thing, but the detail of the dam is really nice. I haven?t heard too many complaints about the game?s performance once you get into a map, even with the visuals cranked up. There have been some lag issues, and interestingly enough, it sounds like a lot of those have been on the official EA servers.

The bigger issue there seems to be actually getting into the maps. Verifying client data? What the hell does that mean? It takes so damn long that I?m starting to think they?re running a credit check every single time I try to join a server! Another common complaint is the slow, clunky menu system. And why is it so hard to find the IP address of the server?

After playing the demo, I mentioned that the weapons felt a bit weak to me. I stand by this assertion. They feel way less accurate than the guns in BFV or even BF1942. We?re supposed to be moving forward, aren?t we? These weapons are supposed to be more modern, more effective. The spec ops guns seem to me to be the easiest to use. They?re supposed to be less powerful than some of the others, but at least I can hit what I?m aiming at more often!

Personally, I really like the squad dynamic to the game. I like the element of teamwork that it adds. I played the game for several hours at a LAN party last weekend, and we used the squad system and commanders to great effect. However, there is an inherent problem in the system that was pointed out to me by Hitpawz. When you play with a group of friends, it?s all well and good to rely on the command structure. But when you play online with a bunch of strangers, you are completely dependent on everyone else playing their role, and as we all know, there are a whole lot of smacktards running around out there. One problem is that a commander can?t communicate with an individual player who isn?t in a squad. Also, how many people want to play as a medic and run around healing everyone? How many people want to play as a support guy and run around dispensing ammo? Not many. Most people who play this game are more interested in being the guy who?s racking up the kills, not in being the backup guy. So you spend your clips, or you drop all your C4, and with no static ammo boxes, you?ve got to run around trying to find somebody who can rearm you. I get the idea, I understand what DICE was trying to do?I even like the idea under the right circumstances, but I realize that it?s not always going to work.

Part of the issue is that most fans of the BF series have gotten so ingrained with that run-and-gun, lone wolf style of play that it's hard to adapt to a more team-oriented structure. I'm sure EA and DICE are hoping that players will evolve into playing better within that command structure, but undoubtedly there is a lot of tweaking that needs to be done. Just how much tweaking they'll do....that remains to be seen.

Now for that burning question...

Where the hell are the mapping/modding tools? Once upon a time, EA said that the tools would be released ahead of the game, and they made it sound like they meant a month or two before the game. Then it was said that they would be released pretty close to ? but still ahead of ? the game. Next, we were told that they would be released ?probably? the same day the game hit the shelves. That was then amended to say that the mapping tools would come out the same day as the game, and the mod tools would be released some time around the following Friday (which would have been last week). The most recent story we?ve gotten is that the whole package of tools would be released by the end of the month. Did they mean the end of this month? Because that?s today!

Ordinarily, the slippage of dates would be no surprise. But the thing that makes this so ridiculous is that EA told us all along that we, the mapping and modding community, would be getting the exact same tools that the developers used to make the game. So?.let me get this straight. The game is done. The proof of that is installed on my computer. And the developers used these tools to make the game. The same tools that EA can?t give us yet, because they?re not done building them. Does anyone else see the disconnect there? Come on, EA?you said you were really going to put a lot of effort into supporting the mod community this time around, and we really, truly want to believe you. But how can we? All I can say is that whenever we do finally get the editor, I sure hope it will be worth the wait.