Modern Warfare 2 Online vs Bad Company 2 Online

2010-06-29

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Battlefield Vs. Modern Warfare 2 Online

Modern Warfare 2 has one of the most played online modes in both the Xbox 360 and PS3 community, it has so far enjoyed being pretty much unchallenged as the best online multiplayer FPS on both consoles, recently more and more gamers are turning to Battlefield Bad Company 2 in search for a more challenging online experience, so what makes it different and potentially better than Modern Warfare 2?

Map Sizes

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The most obvious difference between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield when you first play is the map sizes – Battlefield’s are so large that they are split into sections(rush mode)during gameplay. This helps to avoid huge problem that many people have with COD.

Spawn Killing – In COD this is a huge problem, especially in games like Domination where the spawn points for each team can be guessed fairly accurately. In Battlefield this is only an issue if you decide to go it alone rather than partake in a squad (which I think is pointless as you spawn ridiculously far back from any objectives). If you do join a squad you can chose to spawn on your team-mates, and since they don’t show up on enemy reader unless they have been spotted you face pretty good odds of spawning safely. Spawning on team-mates means that the other team can’t camp and repeatedly spawn kill you – problem solved.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Squads

Advantages

Battlefield’s squads are extremely helpful if you are willing to be a team player. Healing and reviving others and resupplying them with ammo will reward you with experience points but if you heal, revive or resupply a [squad](/tools/Advantages Battlefield’s squads are extremely helpful if you are willing to be a team player. Healing and reviving others and resupplying them with ammo will reward you with experience points but if you heal, revive or resupply a squad mate you usually get twice as much points. Squads allow you to spawn on team-mates as opposed to spawning in a distant spawn point. Squad revives are much more likely than being revived while playing without a squad as your medic may spawn on or near you. Also squad heals are more attractive because of the higher experience payout so squad mates will generally heal or revive a squad mate before a non-squad mate. Disadvantages Unlike Modern Warfare 2 online you cannot talk to whomever you wish – in Battlefield you can only converse with whomever is in your squad. Honestly this is usually enough but if you did happen to have an amazing team-based operation in mind you can’t discuss it with the entire team.) mate you usually get twice as much points.

Squads allow you to spawn on team-mates as opposed to spawning in a distant spawn point.

Squad revives are much more likely than being revived while playing without a squad as your medic may spawn on or near you. Also squad heals are more attractive because of the higher experience payout so squad mates will generally heal or revive a squad mate before a non-squad mate.

Disadvantages

Unlike Modern Warfare 2 online you cannot talk to whomever you wish – in Battlefield you can only converse with whomever is in your [squad](/tools/Advantages Battlefield’s squads are extremely helpful if you are willing to be a team player. Healing and reviving others and resupplying them with ammo will reward you with experience points but if you heal, revive or resupply a squad mate you usually get twice as much points. Squads allow you to spawn on team-mates as opposed to spawning in a distant spawn point. Squad revives are much more likely than being revived while playing without a squad as your medic may spawn on or near you. Also squad heals are more attractive because of the higher experience payout so squad mates will generally heal or revive a squad mate before a non-squad mate. Disadvantages Unlike Modern Warfare 2 online you cannot talk to whomever you wish – in Battlefield you can only converse with whomever is in your squad. Honestly this is usually enough but if you did happen to have an amazing team-based operation in mind you can’t discuss it with the entire team.). Honestly this is usually enough but if you did happen to have an amazing team-based operation in mind you can’t discuss it with the entire team.

Battlefield is Much More Difficult

Whether you regard this as an good or a bad thing is up to personal preference. In general I think being challenged by a game is a good thing. There are numerous reasons why Battlefield is much more difficult than Modern Warfare 2 Online.

Destructible Terrain

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Another obvious difference between Battlefield and Modern Warfare 2’s online experiences is that Battlefield hosts a destructible terrain. This can be viewed as either an advantage or disadvantage – having a destructible terrain allows you to limit the places for snipers or other players tempted to camp, it also allows you to kill numerous enemies if they are situated within one building.

Having a destructible terrain is a disadvantage if you are used to playing in a set terrain like COD’s, as it is easy to quickly scout out likely camping spots for easy kills, and knowing the terrain will never change makes planning ahead much easier.

Vehicles

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Like COD’s World at War, Battlefield contains vehicles in its online mode. Modern Warfare 2 does not. Many will view this as a blessing, which I agree with to a certain extent. Although I do enjoy jumping into a tank and taking out multiple enemies in Battlefield, it is extremely frustrating when you have a team that is constantly using aircraft to circle objectives and take out your team. Taking out enemy aircraft is very difficult and does get very frustrating when your opposition is repeatedly waiting for a vehicle to respawn so they can flank you with it. It is not a huge gripe I have with the game but it does get on my nerves at times.

Levelling

The Battlefield levelling system is much lengthier than Modern Warfare 2’s. The maximum level you can reach is 50 in Battlefield while in MW2 it is 70. Of course in COD you can chose to prestige and basically start all over again, which is really satisfying as you unlock your favourite weapons and equipment. I enjoy the prestige element of COD because, if you are a decent player, it does not take a huge amount of time to reach level 70 and having to face the game again without your weapons of choice makes the game more challenging instead of staying at level 70 with everything unlocked, which I would imagine gets boring. The Battlefield levelling system takes so long and has so much to unlock along the way that I would not choose to start it all over again if I did have the option.

Radar

A large portion of Modern Warfare 2 players depend a lot on their radar, this is because most players tend not to use silencers so any shots they fire show their position on the radar. A huge number of players also use the UAV Killstreak Reward to instantly show up any enemy players not using the Coldblooded perk. Having the majority of the enemy team showing up on your radar puts them at a huge disadvantage.

Battlefield’s radar system is very different – a player will only show up if they are ‘marked’ by an enemy player. Being marked only lasts for a certain length of time but it will also ensure that all enemy eyes are on you as you are the only enemy position that is definite, this makes showing up on the radar in Battlefield much more deadly.

Not having any radar to guide you towards the enemy makes Battlefield much more difficult than Modern Warfare 2, but it also keeps you on alert for enemies more. Having an enemy marked on the radar can be a bit distracting as you will instinctively want to hunt them down which can allow you to let down your guard as you hunt your prey leaving you open to the rest of the enemy team.

Gravity

Modern Warfare 2 is extremely unrealistic, especially in comparison to battlefield. When sniping in Modern Warfare 2, from any distance there is no bullet drop whatsoever. It seems in the land of Modern Warfare 2 gravity doesn’t exist. Battlefield have made a very convincing stab at reality in their online mode by including bullet drop when firing. This is only obvious when firing from long range. Not only is there bullet drop but it is also influenced by the distance of your target, which means that you will have to guess (or measure) the distance between you any your target in order to factor in bullet drop successfully.

Instant Kit Vs. Classes

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Battlefield allows players to change their load-out at any point during gameplay, but it will not take effect until their next respawn, fortunately for those in a hurry you have the option of suicide for instant spawning. Modern Warfare 2 offers a classes option which can only be changed outside of an active game. These two systems are very different, and I am sure many Modern Warfare 2 players would love to be able to change their kit at a moments notice. I personally like both systems and think they are suited to each game perfectly. If Modern Warfare 2 allowed players to change their kit at will it would not work as it would allow players to create spammable classes at will (think nube-toobing with one-man army), I am aware that people who want to spam will usually have these classes set up, but the option of creating an instant kit would allow spammers and the players being spammed to choose a spammable loadout at will where many may have not set these up as a class. This is not an issue issue in Battlefield as traditional spamming techniques such as the noob-toob can only travel a moderate distance and therefore cannot spam on such large maps

The only problem I have with the Battlefield system is that by allowing players to customise their load-out at will, many people find their vehicles and building being destroying very quickly as enemy players change to an anti-air or terrain destruction kits.

Modern Warfare 2’s Biggest Advantage

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Modern Warfare boasts much faster gameplay than Battlefield. MW2 games are over before Battlefield games have barely begun (Certain game modes of Battlefield can last up to 30 minutes). This allows players to hone their reaction skills and to plan and re-plan their movements in a matter of moments. Fast gameplay is a huge attraction to most of its players. Battlefield, on the other hand, is much slower and allows you more time to plan your movements, even taking objectives takes more time than in MW2 allowing for tactical Squad planning.

Conclusion

Choosing which game is ‘best’ is really a matter of personal preference. I personally feel that Battlefield is a much better game technically than Modern Warfare 2, the attention to detail in the game in phenomenal, from the graphics to gravity Battlefield is as close as you can get to reality in a war-based video game. Playing in a team in Battlefield is very rewarding whereas there is not much encouragement in Modern Warfare 2 towards teamwork. Modern Warfare 2 does have its positive points but for the more realistic experience I will always choose Battlefield.

This post is part of the series: Modern Warfare 2 Reviews

A collection of reviews of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.