So it's been quite the year for me in respect to online shooters that have hit the market in the past few months. Most notably is the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (CoDMW2), Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BBC2), and MAG which is a PS3 exclusive.
Now, needless to say I've probably clocked more time into those 3 games collectively than I have in any modern video game within the past few years (with the exception of WoW). Namely, I've spent the majority of my time from the month of November - February on Call of Duty, until equally dividing my time between both Battlefield and MAG. Which one is the best for online experience?
Well you're probably thinking that, since I've spent the majority of my time on Call of Duty, that clearly MW2 is the clear winner. Naturally that logic seems to be the case more often than not, but is it in this instance?
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: For the first few months of MW2's release, I was simply incapable of putting the game down for any other game. Hell, I didn't bother going through the campaign until the middle of January, because I wasn't able to pull myself away from the fast paced online action. Truth be told, I never touched my Assassins Creed 2 game (which I got the same night) and happened to ignore a game I've been looking forward to for years, Darksiders. Sadly however, everything seemed to have changed, and not for the best in the month of January for the Call of Duty series. Some negatives of this game is that there really is no teamwork so to speak. Everyone is instead trying to be their own action star and generates a lot of lone wolves. My biggest complaint with the design of the game are the kill-streak rewards. Any game that rewards someone for doing well while systematically punishing those who do not, removes any balance this game has. Also, noobtubes... the sure fire irritant of many players from the most OP weapon ever created in a game... add that with the Scavenger perk and you have the most irritating person on the map, next to the guy who lunges 15 feet with a knife and the glitch-ridden dual shotgun Model that will kill you with a single shot halfway across the map. Of course, this goes without saying...
Exploits and Hacks seemed to become a prominent issue with the game, specifically the care package exploit which allowed the majority of games I've been in ending with a nuke. And even to this day, the exploit hasn't been properly fixed. Interface manipulations have become a major issue for MW2 as manipulating the appearance of the characters and their names to try and cause a momentary sense of confusion when you're killed from what looks like a member of your own team. Needless to say. Combine all the technical issues that both Activision and Infinityward (who seem to care more about their self inflicted legal woes than actually trying to fix these issues) are ignoring. Then to follow up with a threat to start charging a subscription fee for future MW games to play online (according to Game Informer Magazine) because they don't have enough financial resources to dedicate to the game? No, I don't think so. I don't buy that for a moment, mainly in part because MW2 is one of the highest grossing video games of ALL TIME. I'm sorry, if the independent title Fairytale Fighters is able to patch their game, than I don't see any reason that a multi-billion dollar corporation can't fix the glitches. So as it stands now, Call of Duty has alienated me, and seemingly a lot of their fans based on their unwillingness to improve the online community, punish hackers, fix the exploits, charge a future subscription fee and on top of that release 3 NEW glitch filled maps and 2 recycled ones from CoD4 for a rip-off of $15.00, I can safely say that unless some SEVERE changes are made to the Call of Duty franchise, I will not be buying MW3. A six hour campaign doesn't justify a $59.99 purchase, when I in turn have to hand over on top of that a $50.00 a year subscription to Xbox Live, and then a monthly subscription fee in order to actually play the game.
MAG: MAG, oh where do I begin? Made by the same company that brought us the Socom series (another series plagued with hacks and errors) and promised a battleground of 256 players at a single time... And it works. And what also works, and works extremely well for MAG is the fact that you have to work with your squad in order to even stand a chance in succeeding. As a member of Raven Squad, one of the most fun games to play is Acquisition (a team based capture and destroy the vehicles from opposing factions.) Now, being that I LOVE having objectives and am more of a team player than a lone wolf, I absolutely can't enough out of this game. This game makes you work with other members of your squad and rewards you for doing so, something that Call of Duty severely lacks. Sure the graphics aren't the best, considering that they have to try and keep a game of 256 online players at a time blowing tons of shit up running as smooth as possible (and it does beautifully), but that's a minor complaint on the whole spectrum of things. However, this game is not perfect, and has a lot of things going against it. For instance, the potential for a 20 second respawn is amongst the top of the list. Another complaint is the sound isn't the best, as I felt that the guns aren't nearly as meaty sounding as some other games and really detracts from the overall feel. There is NO killcam to speak of (which is both a plus and negative, cause nothing sucks more than having your awesome position being handed over to the poor sonuvabitch you just killed.) However, the largest, most irritable problem with this game is a lack of variety in the maps. I have found that in a period of about four hours, the map had never changed and I was stuck trying to sabotage Valor's base every game. The only other complaint I can really think of is that there really is no solid team death match, but being that I enjoy Acquisition as much as I do, it's not the biggest deal.
Battlefield Bad Company 2: I've been a fan of this franchise since 1942... at least, the game 1942. Rightfully, I think this game singlehandedly is by far the best of the shooters on the market at this moment. Team based missions filled with fun little vehicles, both ground and air really bury the competition in this game. Rush is by far the most entertaining element of the game, as (much like MAG) FORCES you to work as a team. Lone wolves in this game are worthless. There are no gimmicky perks that MW2 try and shell out, but instead a fast paced in your face kind of experience. Other than Red Faction, this is one of the only online games I've played with destructible environments I have seen. And I'll tell you, it makes the world of difference. Having to run inside to escape from a tank, only to have the entire structure come down on you when a tank blows the building a part is something that has to be seen to believed. I honestly can't say enough positive things about this game. However, it is not perfect. I play this game on my PS3, and I notice a lot of latency issues. I am constantly being kicked from the server from it timing out, which is the #1 reason why this game isn't perfect. I will try this game on Xbox Live to see if the latency issues are more of a console issue, however I don't have nearly this many problems with either MW2 or MAG on my PS3.
While each game has their pluses and negatives, to me Battlefield Bad Company 2 is the one that remains the strongest of the 3. It has the most balanced team play, various game modes, an upgrade system that works for you and just doesn't unlock a weapon you're never going to use. While not perfect by any means, I find that Bad Company 2 was created with the player in mind, and really helps create one of the most intense online experiences around.
*****UPDATE: Nope, the Xbox Live version of Battlefield loses connection as frequently, if not more so than the PS3. So far the ratio for dropped games on XBL is every other game dropped. Similar to the PS3, however I've had better luck on the PS3 with only 1/3rd of them being dropped.
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