Competitive Shooter Rundown (MW2, BF:BC2, KZ2, MAG)

Didn't know where to put this but all well here we go
Modern Warfare 2

• Best polish, attention to detail, and perfection of many finer points.
  
• Deepest character progression system and load out configuration. This really rewards long term play.
  
• Lots of gameplay variety in terms of different game modes and options.
  
• Kill Cam: It’s a small feature, but it’s really helpful to see exactly how you got killed.
  
• Spawn Trapping: Lots of matches devolve into one side blocking the other side from leaving their spawn points. The helicopter/attack planes can really make these spawn traps impossible to break out of.
  

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (based on demo)

• Best vehicles. Most vehicle variety, well integrated into play, and very fun.
  
• Highly polished and detailed core mechanics. Excellent tech, play balance, and strategy.
  
• Environment destruction.
  
• Have only played the demo (obviously). Does this game hold player interest with extended play?
  
• Battlefield 2 (on PC) had similar pros, but the game was unusually buggy, and I found the DLC fragmented the community and was too frequent and overpriced. Will this have similar problems?
  

Killzone 2

• Rotating missions/objectives within a single match delivers a lot of variety.
  
• Most stylized visuals. Coolest particle effects, wild environments, and helghast soldiers look the best.
  
• Most unique character progression + load out options
  
• One you reach general rank, you feel like you have pretty much seen everything.
  

MAG

• Best human chain of command squad/platoon system.
  
• Unique sense of being part of a larger coordinated conflict. There are other games that support large player counts and squad management systems, but this game does it the best.
  
• Control points, secondary abilities, and support actions are well done and add a lot of strategic replayability.
  
• The visuals are very good by most standards and are more than adequate for this type of gameplay, but they are way behind the competition.
  
• Lack of variety. There is really one main game mode (domination) that you will spend almost all of your time playing.
  
• Least amount of overall polish + detail.
  
• Unbalanced factions.
  

Others


I left out plenty from this list. Rainbow Six, Metal Gear Online, SOCOM, Resistance 2, Uncharted 2, and many others all have respectable competitive modes that I just haven’t put enough time into to really comment on.
Overall


If there is one genre of game that the current crop of game developers have really nailed with exceptional quality, variety, and polish, it is the competitive shooter. The range of choices and the level of quality is amazing.

Pretty good and unbiased comparison. I'm impressed I have to agree with the battlefield issues since I have played Battlefield 2 and own Battlefield 2142.

same for Mag, so true with the lack of map variation, i know the maps are big, and it's hard to explore it all, but in all theres really only 9 multiplayer maps (3 more training maps, and 3 more maps for the faction multiplayer training, which is prob the least popular), and for those who want xp, they play domination, which leaves 3 maps... and the map choser (or in my eyes) has no problem smacking you on the same lvl 3 times in a row, on the beta i only tried Ravens defence map, and i played dom allot >_<

Btw a reply to gib's post in other double post of this topic: it's taken care of
I agree with the point about KZ2 about when reaching general rank you have seen about everything, but the game still continues with the valor ranks and the 3 ranks that come after general.

Nice post there Ace! I agree with the things you said... Im not sure bout MAG cause I never playted it though...
And as you said, graphics may not be as polished as COD, but we can understand that, 128 players per side after all...

well i tried the battlefield demo and i'm just not impressed. sure its maps but i just didn't like it. hated the controls for one. i will say environmental destruction is scary lol. i was hiding in a building and was like OMGWTF?! when the enemy tank reduced my cozy little building to just a door frame with a window

Yeah GIbbs, im in the same boat... Didnt like BC 2 that much also.... So ill be forced to be on MW 2. Or maybe give a better look on MAG. I know I wont be getting BC 2.

Gudyleila wrote:

Yeah GIbbs, im in the same boat... Didnt like BC 2 that much also.... So ill be forced to be on MW 2. Or maybe give a better look on MAG. I know I wont be getting BC 2.

exactly. well i may pick up MAG early we will see. i have a nice 6 day weekend starting today lol.

5 day weekend starting at 2:00 pm Friday lol. I didn't like the BC2 demo as well. Sure I sniped people like hell through the bushes but same problem here with the destructible enviroment. I mean, people just went in a tank and destroyed all the hiding places.

krazykiller416 wrote:

5 day weekend starting at 2:00 pm Friday lol. I didn't like the BC2 demo as well. Sure I sniped people like hell through the bushes but same problem here with the destructible enviroment. I mean, people just went in a tank and destroyed all the hiding places.

exactly, and the lack of prone is really dumb and unrealistic.

no faith guys?

LOL Ace. For me at least, no faith on BC 2. I wont be getting it... On the other hand, im cosidering on getting MAG.

Same here, no faith in BC2, I'll get MAG as well

definitely no faith and i got mag hahah.

nice gibbs, i will come pwn you when i get on i btw might change my char, i've forgot that i spend some of the points badly, and i think i can reach my lvl pretty fast again, just have to know which faction

well im raven. you know you can respec your character right? you need 3000 respec points (i almost have that). not sure if i will though....i think i've done alright so far (tac grip, faster reload, reflex sight, and stability on the assault rifle and then the 4x reflex on the sniper (just because 2 points have to be spent on tier 1 to open tier 2. need 1 more point for the new sniper rifle).....really need to get the med kit though

DON'T get the 3 point sniper xD thats where i fucked up, i already respeced from a commando to sniper class (next respec is at 5000), i should have waited for the 5 point sniper... the 3 one is okay, 2 shots a kill, and it can have the 4x zoom, but even with bipod its not all that good lol the recoil puts people all the way out of the scope, stupid on long range if someone is running and you don't hs his ass, i got way more kills with the first sniper (that with bipod... OWNAGE, its so freaking easy to put 3 shots into the same spot in half a sec, its just BAM BAM BAM, dead at quite long range too, and no sway with bipod, have to lie down tho), tho it have a pretty bad scope xD

but don't you need the lower tier to get the 5 point? because when i tried to get the 3 it said you need 2 points in the lower tier first......guess they need to explain the system better....because that is what i want to do with the assault rifle (the 3 isn't worth it but the 5 is)

yea you do but theres always 2 things to pick from and the alternate from the 3 pointer is nearly always 2?

slimlacy wrote:

yea you do but theres always 2 things to pick from and the alternate from the 3 pointer is nearly always 2?

oh ok so just get the bipod and it will work for the tier 1 sniper too?

yeah its pretty awesome, only downside really is the lieing down lol not always easy to find a good vantage point when you have to lie down. found a awesome spot in domination, i got around 60 kills with a tier 1 sniper and bipod, i had like 3-5 diff snipers trying to get me, but i was ready to shot within half a sec, they had to adjust for their sway and stuff like that, i just had to aim for the head xD

yeah that is the only thing im not liking is the sway (no breath holding ) but im really finding i like sniping more....especially since there isn't a killcam in this game haha. it makes it scary and the sniping distances are awesome (way bigger than any mw/mw2 maps)....plus i tend to get trashed if i run in with my assault rifle hahaha.

Ok fill me in that second sniper being crap and third being good, since ill be only sniping in this game I gotta know things before starting dumping points on crap... So, can I use the first sniper and get the third one already, skipping the second one? Thats what I want to know.

Gudyleila wrote:

Ok fill me in that second sniper being crap and third being good, since ill be only sniping in this game I gotta know things before starting dumping points on crap... So, can I use the first sniper and get the third one already, skipping the second one? Thats what I want to know.

use the MAG Tool site i posted about. you can see the specs on all the weapons and the skill trees for the factions. there are 3 sniper rifles, you start with the first unlocked and have to purchase the next 2. you don't have to purchase the second rifle, you can just purchase the parts to use then with your first rifle until you can afford the last rifle with 100/100 on damage (see the weapon stats portion of the MAG tool site). from looking at the stats all of the sver weapons have higher damage stats than the raven and valor weapons (except all tier 3 snipers have 100/100 damage stats so that is at least fair).

well second sniper has the advantage of being able to hold the x10 scope, but thats around IT xD better get the 3rd which also can hold it, and 2 more points and you get the variable scope, so that you can change betwen 4x to 10x