How Not to be a Noob at Battlefield Bad Company 2

Last edited by C-3PO on Fri Feb 26, 2010 8:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

A lot of gamers out there have been playing Modern Warfare 2 constantly since the day it was released. Most of them have gotten really good at it too. It just makes good (good) sense that the First Person Shooter skills players have learned over the last couple of months would therefore translate really well to EA’s forthcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2, it being similar at face value.

Well reason be damned, because the Bad Company 2 Multiplayer Demo is chock full of Modern Warfare masters who can’t shoot for shit, can’t arm an M-COM, and possibly the worst offense of all: couldn’t Spot a Bradley if it left a track mark across the back of their skull.

Worry not, here’s How Not to Be a Noob at Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Link

1. Learn to Spot and Do It Always

While Bad Company 2 does support in squad voice chat it’s only with your 3 squad mates. It’s imperative that you quickly let everyone on your team know where the enemy is hiding, flush them out and fix ‘em from all angles. Do this by placing your sights on an opposing player and pressing the Back/Select button. Yes, THAT button. We know it’s not normally reserved for gameplay and its usual job is to pause, bring up a menu, and sometimes even “go back” or “select something”.

Just press it!

You hear your character saying “There’s a douchbag hiding in the rocks with a radioactive twinkie!” or something similar? That audio cue is accompanied by a small bright red arrow above your enemy’s head. This indicator also appears on screen for all of your teammates for a limited time allowing them to turn their sites to the enemy and start blasting away in concert with you.

Congratulations! You just contributed far more than you ever did playing Battlefield before. Now do this ALL THE FREAKIN’ TIME even if it means practicing daily finger yoga to prevent your left thumb from coming off of the left stick. It’s important!
2. Know Your Role

“I’m a Sniper! I’m a Sniper! I’m a Sniper!”

No, you’re not a Sniper. The closest thing to being a Sniper in Bad Company 2 is the Recon class. Yeah, it looks like you’re a sniper; you’ve got a high-powered rifle with a high powered zoom and a sick-ass ghillie suit to hide in the brush but there’s more than meets the eye.

In fact, there’s more to each class than what the title lets on. You need to know how to use all of them properly and don’t try to do stuff that’s too far outside the strengths of your class. Yeah, it’s a no-brainer but you’d be surprised how many times people whine “How do I get the machine gun? There’s no Heavy class!”

Here’s what you need to know:

Assault: Shoot people in short bursts only at medium to long distances. Use your grenade launcher when bad guys bunch up. Refill your teammates supplies if you hear them ask for it. It’s not fucking ambient noise, they need more ammo to kill bad guys and they’ll say so when they’re running low.

Engineer: Hide most of the time, engage enemies at short range in short bursts. Hide some more, pop out and send an RPG at the side or back of a tank and other armored vehicle. If a friendly vehicle is near by magically repair it with your impact wrench thing.

Medic: Throw med-packs on the ground near buddies to heal them. Hit dead guys (who look like lightning bolts on your HUD) with the Defibrillator to revive them and gain back reinforcement tickets. Most importantly, stand your ground and light muthafucka’s up with your machine gun. Fire in sustained bursts without losing much accuracy.

Recon: Shoot people from far away while hiding. Run up to tanks and plant explosives on them. Calmly run in the opposite direction when encountered by anyone who’s not holding their dick.
3. Don’t Be a Pussy But Don’t Waste Tickets Either

In Modern Warfare you can be a pussy and get away with it.

Much of the time even the good players are camping behind a refrigerator or in a bathroom stall. Conversely, there’s really very little downside for shit players to run out with guns blazing. If you get shot and killed, you come back in a couple seconds with full ammo and re-enter the meat grinder.

Chances are that someone on your team will get hot and order a tactical nuke meaning that you win AND you got to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms. Not so for Bad Company 2. Having only one really good teammate means you still lose. Battlefield is more like the Electric Slide than a breakdance.

Your teammates need you to balance cowering like a little pussy with running out into the open and taking ground or objectives when necessary. When you need to take over a building, advance on the enemy, or sacrifice yourself to blow up a high value target, do it. If things go well someone will revive you. If not, they’ll see you on the other side.

That said, there are 2 punishments associated with dying and you should avoid subjecting yourself to both. 1. You have to wait to respawn. While waiting the enemy can do bad stuff to you like steal your ride or blow up your apartment. 2. If you’re on offense you have a limited number of tickets; each ticket representing a new life. When your ticket count reaches 0 the game is over and you lose.
4. Think Before You Spawn

After dying you can respawn either at your current base or on (literally ON) one of your squad mates. Before selecting your birthplace check it out. Is there a brand new tank gleaming in the desert sun at your base? You should be the proud owner of it.

Is a teammate arming a bomb and needs help defending it? Pop out of his ass and heal him. Likewise, if he’s in a no-win situation don’t subject yourself to instant death too. This isn’t Thelma and Louise.

The choices you have for spawning after death boils down to one thing that you just won’t get in other games: spawn camping is 99 percent fixed. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best respawn mechanic you’ve ever used in an FPS.
5. Use Everything At Your Disposal

A lot of people play “their style” of play and never deviate from it. In Bad Company 2, as in real war, you don’t get to decide you’re going to fight one way all the time. In fact, there’s lots of stuff to do that’s not running a mile to a bomb and desperately trying to arm it.

You can and should also:

* Pilot a radio controlled helicopter (the UAV) to Spot enemies from the air
* Ride on the back of a Quad bike to quickly flank your opponent
* Shoot a mini-gun out of a fast moving Apache attack chopper
* Position a tank with a long barreled gun on a hill and rain death down on your enemies
* Transport your buddies while mowing down trees to increase line of site to the target
* Lots more stuff that you will figure out by hitting buttons when you get into a vehicle

You should do these things not because you’re bored of walking but because you will win if you do them in moderation. Large explosions from tanks and Hellfire air strikes can blow walls (and people) out of structures and you can rack up lots of points by just spotting, spotting, and spotting some more runners for your mates on the ground to exterminate. Try swooping down with the UAV and bowling through an entire enemy squad. It’s fun and effective!

Lastly, if you don’t do these things you will complain that people on the other team are cheap when they do them to you, and that would make you a noob.
6. Yes, the UAV is an RC Helicopter

You’ve probably seen UAVs in other games, movies, or since the United States has been fighting 2 wars for the last 8 years, in real life. You may not have seen one that looks like a mini-Apache helicopter. This one does, get used to it. To pilot the UAV find the computer monitor with the anti-glare hood over it near your base.

On Xbox 360, the left trigger and button make it ascend and descend. The right trigger calls in a Hellfire strike (hold the reticle over your target until its good and dead!) and the right button fires a machine gun which is effective in short and long bursts if you lead your prey.

Don’t forget to Spot, avoid enemy fire and hard objects and yes – you can blow up an airborne Apache helicopter using the UAV. If you do you will yell in excitement.

Lastly, if the opposing team is hurting you something fierce using their UAV then send someone to go kill the operator or better yet, light up the entire computer terminal like its Christmas at the Griswold’s.
7. Aim High and Be Patient

Everything is affected by gravity. It’s just a fact of life. This includes bullets and other projectiles. It also means that you can shoot stuff that’s far away by aiming high. It will take a little effort to forget the false science that Modern Warfare 2 has taught you but you’ll eventually get used to it, especially if you spend a lot of time manning the gun on a tank.

Oh, and don’t complain that your bullets don’t reach their target instantly. While alarming and a little frightening at first you will soon find that having to wait for bullets to travel super long distances adds to the realism and suspense of Bad Company 2.
8. Switch Kits

When you kill an enemy he’ll drop what looks like his gun. It’s not actually his gun. It’s MORE than his gun. It’s his soul contained within an magic idol that looks like a gun. Picking it up will cause you to “switch kits” but retain your existing outward appearance (i.e., your ghillie if you spawned as a Recon).

You should do this not if you have a mid-life crisis and get tired of playing as your current class, but you should do it when it’s to your tactical advantage.

For instance, let’s say a firefight just took place between an enemy Medic and your buddy the Assault. Alas, both have died. Fear not, pick up the dead enemy’s Medic kit, revive your buddy and switch back to being an Engineer and erectin’ dispensas.

What else? The Ghillie suit is good for hiding and the Engineer’s silenced SCAR is quiet. Together they might make a nice combo for hiding amongst the weeds.

Think devilishly and pick up fallen kits when it makes sense.
9. Use the Back Button for Other Things Too

You know that the Back button is used to Spot and how important that is. That Back button is used for other things too, chiefly to communicate with your squad mates to tell them things like “I need ammo”, “Attack Bravo”, and “Hey, I just got shot in the face and need a serious Band-aid”.

Point yourself at various things and press the Back button to find out more.

Also, don’t forget to use it to SPOT!
10. Don’t Take It Lying Down

Speaking of Band-aids… (read this section as quickly as possible):

You can’t go prone like in Modern Warfare 2. You can stand and you can crouch. No, it’s not realistic but this is a video game and its supposed to be fun. Now quit yer’ bitching and go play Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Good video...

good vid thanks 4 sharing

I don't even play this game but I watched the video anyway and I learned a lot. Thanks for sharing!

Nice vid but ive learned nothing im still bitchin and a noob lol Razz