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Battlefield 1942 - Secret Weapons Interview

Posted by simoniker on from the never-expect-the-secret-weapon-inquisition dept.

John Callaham writes "HomeLAN chats with Digital Illusions producer Mikael Rudberg as he talks about Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons, the upcoming second expansion pack to their hit multiplayer shooter for publisher Electronic Arts." Seems like Battlefield 1942 has been one of the out-of-left-field smash hits of recent, and from the guys who honed their skills on Pinball Dreams for the Amiga, too.

3 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. eh by u-238 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    and maybe included in this update will be some solidity in the man-on-man combat? in the current version firefights between foot soldiers is nothing more than a joke. sniping provides the exampe from which all understanding of the foot soldier fighting mechanics can be derived.... if any of you reading this have actually TRIED sniping in BF42, you know exactly what i'm talking about. accuracy is nonexistant, and thats an understatement. at first, i thought it was an attempt at realism, shoot in front of the enemy as to lead the bullet into them (the game attempting to recreate real life physics, i.e. predicting the trajectory of the bullet by aiming ahead of an enemy who is running perpendicular to you, much like in doom/quake when you shoot a rocket at a running player you do it a bit in front of them so that they run into it), but after using the games many sub machine guns i realized it was nothing more than quakes notoriously pathetic netcode. it is precisly because of this that the popularty of the many quake3 mods in existance today cowers in the shadows of thoes for the half-life engine. the only reaonse BF became as popular as it has is because of all the novelty added... tanks, planes, trucks, stationary machine gun/anti aircraft turrets. they're IMMENSLY fun and have propelled the game to the status it currently enjoys.

    why can't it be like half life? i just played DOD 1.0 a few hours ago. i point the sniper crosshair at the chest of the enemy, i shoot, he dies.

    i figure so long as the quake3 engine net code continues to hamper man-on-man combat and bullet physics, quake3 engine based games will rely on novelties like planes and tanks to sell themselves.

  2. EA has taken it, and will turn it to crap by pommaq · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is the second so-called "Expansion pack" to hit BF1942, and the game hasn't even been out for a year. Really, the new stuff in Road to Rome was *NOT* worth paying for - they could just as well have released it as a patch. I smell EA behind this (The Sims and its thousand expansions, anyone?) and I think it'll only get worse from here on, unless people see this for what it is... highway robbery.
    I mean, they can't seriously expect me to cough up $30 every four months for a couple new maps+weapons, can they? BF1942 is an incredibly cool game as it is, so just keep supporting it with patches and fixes. Leave the new maps, weapons and features for the modders, or BF1943.

    1. Re:EA has taken it, and will turn it to crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yeah, it's an expansion pack, but it offers new game modes (destroy the objective). Judging from the screenshots, the objectives could be something like "steal the secret US jet plane" or "blow up the V-2 rocket." That's a fun, immersive new game mode. Works well in games like Blackhawk Down.

      I'd like to see an updated game engine, but frankly Desert Combat gives me all the fix I need for something new.

      Finally, the stuff about sniping is ridiculous. Practice and you'll be able to hit running targets in the head. That's WAY easier than flying an apache in DC!