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With the release of the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta January 28th those of us that pre-ordered have been been playing for almost two-weeks now. I took the opportunity to sit down and speak with a few members of Area 51 Gaming that have had the chance to play the beta. Members of what will soon be the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 team have been on nightly playing the beta and having a ball of a time. They've also been giving some time and though process into how the game is going to function and whether or not we are going to spend the time trying to play it competitively, so far the general consensus is a resounding YES. I spoke with GoneMAD a long time 51 member and former Call of Duty vanilla and united offensive player, and Skitch 51 manager for going on a year now.

GoneMAD has played a multiplicity of games and is a computer programming wiz, where Skitch rarely plays anything other than Counter-Strike 1.6 (because if its not CS 1.6 he piss moans and groans, just ask him about CS ProMod, but back on subject) so I wanted to get two rather differing perspectives on Bad Company 2 as a whole. I spoke first with GoneMAD:

What're your overall thoughts on the game thus far? "I believe the game has lots of potential for competition. I know it has some registry issues but then again, it is a beta. I really like the bullet drop [and having to lead targets]." What're your thoughts on some of the features in the beta? "I really like the destructable environment, and the fact you can use it to kill people. I love being able to hotcarl people (an affectionate name given to one of the unlockable rocket launchers in the game), the variety of weapons that can be used use with each class, and having the same weapons on each side. I also like being able to spawn on anyone in your squad so the squad leader doesn't have to sit around and camp, although, I think it could be abused in league play." What do you think about EAs decision not to include airplanes? "I don't fly, so to me its really not a big deal. I'm more for limited vehicles and more infantry type stuff." What are some things you'd change about the game? "The blowing up of objectives by C4, which I've heard they fixed in the release. I don't like being able to blow up an entire building to destroy an objective. Registrations, but like I said it is a beta. I'd like to see iron sights at least on all guns, like the shotguns don't have iron sights they just zoom in slightly, I'd like to be able to have iron sights. Finally, I'd like for the medic LMGs not to lose all accuracy when moving." What kind of components you running in your rig and whats your FPS? "Intel Q9450 - 4 gigs DDR3 Corsair XMS RAM - GTX 280 40-60FPS"

Next I moved on to Skitch who until earlier in the morning of the 7th he hadn't played much BC2. I come to find out --as I was thinking of writing the article-- that Skitch had stayed up playing BC2 after I went to bed and had a better understanding with what was going on within the game.

What're your overall thoughts on the game thus far? "Considering its a beta: I'm surprised thus far. I'm also optimistic about the developers outlook on fixing issues and glitches like they did with the release of the game and dealing with server and lag issues. All in all its a fairly polished beta version" What're your thoughts on some of the features in the beta? "I like being able to spawn on anyone in the squad, although I don't think it'll be abused to heavily in league play." What do you think about EAs decision not to include airplanes? "I don't think its really that big of an issue, you've still got UAVs and helicopters. If the community wanted planes added at a later date I'm sure they can just patch them in." What are some things you'd change about the game? "I would like to see customizable uniforms like airborne patches etc. I'd also like to see the environments a little bit larger, which will probably be release in the full game. I think they should have also released two game types with the beta, the rush, and one showcasing the new squad co-op type gametype. They also need to have the server browser capable of filtering servers by things such as latency, again, something that will probably be in the full version." What kind of components you running in your rig and whats your FPS? "Dual Intel Xeon 3.0 - 2 gigs DDR2 Corsair XMS RAM - XFX 9800GTX Black Edition 25-40FPS"

Based on the same question set above I'd like to add my $0.02 worth of input on the game, with a little less structure, more of a... ramble. When I first loaded the game I had an issue with my model wanting to spin left at a constant speed. Come to find out after unplugging the joystick all is well, I'm sure that'll be an issue that will get fixed. The brightness/gamma in the game is almost unmanageable especially looking through a magnified scoped rifle, I know GoneMAD was also complaining of the same issue. Overall the beta is fun but does get boring after a few hours of playing, doesn't really keep me coming back for more. I'm sure with more gametypes weapons and experiences in the full game that will all change. For online play with my friends I love being able to spawn on anyone not having to run two miles just to get in range of someone, I on the other hand believe if not disabled/patched it could be horrid for league play. On the issue of airplanes, I personally love flying them, but sucked at doing so. Not in the sense that I crashed a lot, but the fact that I was somewhat of a novice pilot that appeared to have Maverick or Iceman pilots chasing him. I think I've mentioned the things within the game I'd change above, but to add the registry definitely is a main issue I think need to be addressed before the full game is released in March.

I also run: Intel Q9550 - 4 gigs G.Skill DDR3 PC1600 - GTX 260 - 60FPS

Screenshots (Courtesy of Steampowered.com):