I've had a lot happen this week [including going to the Hospital!] and haven't been able to finish any of the many posts I am working on at the moment, but I wanted to quickly mention a couple little tidbits of Gaming that have either happened this Week or is going on this very Weekend...
Trove is out of Beta and was fully Released just two days ago! I was in the Closed Beta after buying a 'starter/support pack' of in-game Credits and was enjoying the Open Beta off and on. Similar to games like Cubeworld, Minecraft or Lego Worlds, it's a fun little game with a large, explorable MMO world that has Monsters and Crafting and Building to do everywhere, with RPG elements ('levelling up' a character, classes to choose from with various abilities, etc). I am working on a First Impressions And Screenshots article for it [that I started in the Beta] and hope to get that done Soon™. Try it out at: http://www.trionworlds.com/trove/2015/07/09/trove-launch-the-adventure-begins/
Marvel Heroes is having a major giveaway [which is more of a Sweepstakes, in my opinion, since it's not a simple 'here', you have to 'hunt' for it] where playing the game and finding Drops has a chance of winning you $5000 (there are only five prizes available). Check it out at: https://marvelheroes.com/news/news-articles/marvel-heroes-2015-25000-giveaway
For those that played Battlefield Play4Free, just a reminder that this coming Tuesday is the Last Ever day for BFP4F. I've given away a couple of Play4Free Funds codes here at The Blog [that EA had given out] and also noticed that EA has lowered the 'Deal Again' price for The Daily Draw way down to 99 Funds - super cheap, if you're sitting on leftover Funds in that game. Get over there and get some new gear while you can at: http://battlefield.play4free.com/
And of course, some Deals and Sales are going on at various companies/websites this Weekend. I sometimes post when some Sales are going on, but not all the time - and this weekend I can see Steam has some Deals going on and Good Old Games [now GOG.com] has a nice Weekend Deal that includes Series' of many games, like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief and Hitman - ooh, I might pick up Urban Chaos for a buck-ninety-nine... See if you find anything you want here: http://www.gog.com/promo/weekend_promo_square_enix_100715
Oh, I've uploaded a couple more videos at The Game Tips And More Blog's Plays.Tv page, including "Part 2" of a Minecraft Playthrough I call "To The End", where I play 'up to The End' area/stage in Minecraft, but not further - I don't want to 'spoil' the ending [as much as it is an 'ending'] for the game, but I'll play and record completely up to that point - creating a New World every version/update [something I started back in Beta, but lost most of the past videos for, unfortunately]. There are also some Battlefield: Hardline clips (a Tutorial and 'Living The Dream'), Hitman Series clips (some Glitches and Speedruns), a couple of Trove vids (with a short Tutorial one) and more. Check it out sometime, at: http://plays.tv/u/GameTipsAndMore
These are just a few things that are going on... but that's it for me, for now - See You In The Games!
Just an update for those of you playing Battlefield: Play4Free, which is sadly coming to an end, which it will on July 14th, 2015; EA graciously posted a code in the Official Forums that initially gave Soldiers 10,000 Funds to spend on whatever their little digital hearts desired. That initial code has been used up - but a new one was released on the 17th (but it still works, I just tested it today (the day of this posting), so quickly use it if you haven't yet!
A quick note again, that these codes are Per Account, not Per Soldier - but hopefully it will help alleviate some of the pain from this game ending....
For those of you playing Battlefield: Play4Free, you were no doubt sad to see the above picture (both in the game Launcher and on the Forums), announcing the action-packed 'Free To Play' online game coming to an end, which it will on July 14th, 2015. EA has graciously posted a code in the Official Forums that can give your Soldiers 10,000 Funds to spend on whatever their little digital hearts desire. The code for the Funds is:
76UE-ZJAZ-X9RU-XDC2
New Funds code (found June 25th), also from EA:
7A5Y-G9W8-XQTP-ZUT8
As a bonus, you can also punch this code in on Battlefield: Heroes (which is also getting it's life support turned off on that date), for another 10k Funds:
DWVK-GTK3-LE4A-8HNV
A quick note, that these codes are Per Account, not Per Soldier - but still, a nice gesture from EA, to help alleviate some of the pain from the loss of two gaming friends in the Battlefield series of games, Play4Free and Heroes - indeed, we must soon retire the flags for these two loyal shooters that gave so many hours of fun....
See You In The Game (For A While)
Update:
Although given to the public by an Official EA Representative here, this appears to be a limited-use code. I apologize to you all, I thought this would be a one-time-per-account but unlimited use, for everyone code, since it was from EA - but that appears to not be so. In any case, I hope that some of you got the Funds and were able to have some Purchases before this game truly ends.
Just a quick primer for those that don't know; Battlefield Play4Free is a Free-To-Play title, which means it doesn't cost anything to join in, but you can purchase weapons, armor, clothing and other items for Real Money. In this game, you do so by purchasing "Play4Free Funds" that you can then use in the in-game Store. There is also a nice feature offered where you can win 'prizes' (weapons, armor, clothing, etc) from a game called The Daily Draw at the main Battlefield Play4Free website. You can play once every day, choosing a card from a random draw of eight and the card you choose will be an item 'underneath'.
The items possible to win range from temporary one-day-use-only weapons and clothing, to seven-day-use ones, to permanent items your character (Soldier) can use in the game forever (for example, a scope that can be attached to a gun for that soldier for all time). This is great for those who can't afford to purchase many in-game items, as it not only offers the possibility of getting some great gear 'forever', it also gives a nice preview of a weapon, mod or clothing, so that you can see what it will look like/feel like, if you decide to splurge and purchase it for yourself (supporting the game and developers as well) sometime in the future. The Daily Draw also gives a chance to win 'Boosts', where you can earn extra Credits [for instance], as seen in the screenshot below:
The AEK-971 Assault Rifle
I recently won the AEK-971 in The Daily Draw on my Assault class soldier and thought I'd try it out and see how it felt and quickly write a post about it [I call these 'PlayTests']. Now, I am not a gun expert or know a lot about the statistics of the guns, so I will mainly be discussing briefly here how the gun 'feels' and 'plays', especially compared to the default G3A4 Assault Rifle.
The AEK-971 unlocks nice and early at Soldier Level 3, but the main reason for this seems to be that it isn't supposed to be very different from the Default Assault Class Rifle. As you can see from the comparison above, which is the main Store/Inventory screen information for the weapons, the only real difference is the amount of damage it can do. It has the same accuracy rating as the G3A4, the same range, and the same amount of ammo in the mags. After winning it in The Daily Draw, I played a few rounds with AEK-971 and originally recorded a couple of full matches. Here is one full match, shared unedited for you [a 'Raw Gameplay' video], testing out the AEK-971:
I was also testing out the Trial of CyberLink's PowerDirector 12 for editing.
A Review article about that application - with Tips - Coming Soon™!
Despite not being listed as any more accurate than the G3, I felt more 'capable' with the AEK (as though I could 'put up a fight' a lot better), probably due to the increased damage. It feels a little more accurate too, even though it isn't really supposed to be, according to the Store/Inventory info for the gun. So, I figured this is a great time to do some testing![Yay, tests! lol]
AEK-971 Accuracy Analysis
I did some basic analysis on the recoil pattern of this rifle and it is indeed similar to the default assault rifle, but the AEK is ever-so-slightly more accurate, in my opinion. Here is an example of a test I did, a screenshot of the spread patterns, collecting the bullet markings, below:
Coloured spray paint marking the AEK-971's Bullet Spread, on average
(Click to see Full Size)
The left side is the spread while 'shooting from the hip', not using the sights, just standing there holding down the trigger [the spray painted arrow is red-coloured as in, 'try not to do this at all if you can, unless in very close quarters combat']
The right side is the spread while 'zoomed in', that is, using the sights on the gun (it would use a scope if there was one), still just standing there holding down the trigger [the spray painted arrow is yellow-coloured as in, 'try to avoid this']
In the middle is the spread while zoomed in/using the sights, crouching down, still holding down the trigger though - but also now compensating for the recoil of the gun (attempting to contain the spread into a small area) - in this case, slowly pulling DOWN the mouse while firing since the recoil of this gun pulls the barrel UP [the spray painted box is green-coloured as in, it is recommended to do this (even better if you can tap the trigger instead of holding it down)]
As you can see, even though the rated accuracy for this gun is "Low", you can get a pretty decent containment of the spread, by kneeling down, using the sights, and compensating for the recoil by moving the mouse accordingly [this little tip helps with all guns].
In most games, you can try to compensate for the recoil of a gun by slowly moving the mouse in the opposing direction to where the barrel travels. For instance, if the recoil pulls the barrel of the gun left, when shooting, moving the mouse to the right then, will cancel out some of the recoil and make for a smaller spread of bullets and easier/faster repositioning for the next shot. Try to remember that each gun will be different in it's recoil and which direction you should compensate, when using each weapon though. [Note that due to game programmers making bullets 'miss' (no matter what), in an attempt to imitate reality (which has imperfections in the gun and bullets, air changes, etc), it will never be possible to fully compensate/correct for the 'spread' of bullets in a gun (this goes for most games)].
In my tests, the Assault Default G3A4 seemed to pull up and away to the left slightly, when shooting it. Holding down the trigger longer, the gun climbs way up into the sky easily (hence the "Low" Accuracy rating, I assume). For the AEK-971, it does still pull up, but it does not pull to the left in the same way as the G3A4, especially when using the sights. It sort of does a light 'stepping' to the left and then to the right, somewhat randomly [whatever the algorithm is in the programming]. This, to me, makes it ever-so-slightly more accurate in the 'feel' of the gun, because while it still 'goes all over the place' when shooting, it sort of compensates for itself just a bit, and the end result is more of a direct climb up in the recoil, something that felt, to me, easier to compensate for than with the Assault default G3. (I assume this very slight change in the spread/recoil is not enough to win this gun a "Medium" rating in Accuracy, but it is enough to make you have to Level to 3 in order to be able to purchase it..).
Close-To-Medium Range Kill with the AEK-971 in Myanmar. Even with the 'side-stepping' that the gun does (and the enemy strafed around as he ran out towards me from behind the rock in the center of the screen) I still got the kill, mostly due to the Very High Damage Rating of the weapon
(Click to see Full Size)
In Conclusion
Overall, the AEK-971 was similar to the default Assault class rifle, the G3A4, when playing. To me, it did feel slightly more accurate, but not by much. If you are having a really hard time hitting people with the G3A4, your accuracy won't increase very much at all if you purchased this rifle. However, if you are getting used to the default Assault gun, this one packs a lot more punch, and you'll be getting more kills overall if you upgrade to it. Because I recently won this gun Permanently [during the course of compiling this article, yes it does happen in The Daily Draw! woot] I can't see the current price for this rifle anymore, to purchase it from the in-game Store; but last time checking, it was only 300 Credits to try it out for one full day. It was also listed as [what I call] 'Earnable' because, if you can rack up 45,000 Credits, you won't have to pay for upgrading to this rifle with any Real Money at all (you can just use the Credits). If you did buy some Play4Free Funds and have 1,250 to spare, you can purchase it at anytime (not having to wait until Soldier Level 3), permanently. So in closing, PlayTesting the AEK-971, I found it slightly better than the Default Assault Class Rifle, even if it only 'felt' that way due to the higher damage it does.
Long Range Kill with the AEK-971 in Myanmar. The thin iron sights of the gun (default sights) help a lot with targeting farther away. With the Very High Damage Rating - even though the gun has a Low Accuracy Rating - single-shot/tap shooting can still make it lethal at range, when needed
(Click to see Full Size)
Have fun trying it out for yourself sometime and See You In The Games!
Gameplay Disclaimer: Any gameplay videos or animations uploaded are only one example of one possible path of game play and is not representative of the gameplay experience of the entirety of the game material as it is non-repeatable in exactness (movements, actions, viewpoints, etc) to a high degree of accuracy (especially in regards to online multiplayer play and interactions) and therefore is not a representation of a large portion of the game content (this includes complete Walkthroughs/Playthroughs, Raw Gameplay Footage and Tutorials). All material and content uploaded attempts to respect copyright and is presented for Educational and Entertainment purposes only, utilized under Fair Use and can be construed as Free Advertising. No copyright infringement is intended and cannot be inferred. Any possible representation approaching any infringement, to those seeking infringement action, requires double notification and will be honoured by permanent removal of the infringing material. This information exists for entertainment and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical attention.
Battlefield Play4Free is a Free-To-Play title, where it doesn't cost anything to join in, but you can purchase weapons, armor, clothing and other items for Real Money by purchasing Tokens (now called Play4Free Funds) that you can then use in the in-game Store. There is also a nice feature where you can win prizes (weapons, armor, clothing, etc) from a game called The Daily Draw, where you choose a card from a random draw of eight and it will generate an item for you.
The items range from temporary one-day use weapons and clothing, to seven day usage, to permanent items your character (Soldier) can use in the game forever (for example, a scope that can be attached to a gun for that soldier for all time). This is great for those who can't afford to purchase many in-game items, as it not only offers the possibility of getting some great gear 'forever', it also gives a nice preview of a weapon, mod or clothing, so that you can see what it will look like/feel like, if you decide to splurge and purchase it for yourself (supporting the game and developers as well) sometime in the future.
I recently won the XM8AR in The Daily Draw (for one day of use) on my Medic and thought I'd try it out and see how it felt and quickly write a post about it [I'll call these PlayTests]. I am not a gun expert or know a lot about the statistics of the guns, but I will discuss briefly here how the gun actually feels and plays, especially compared to the Medic default, the MG3 Light Machine Gun. I played a few rounds with XM8AR LMG and recorded the first three full rounds. Here they are, shared unedited for you [a 'Raw Gameplay' video]:
Recorded with: Bandicam @1080p (HD) using the x264/H264/AVC Codec
Recorded game: Battlefield Play4Free (MMOFPS, a F2P game/Microtransactions)
Recorded levels/maps: Myanmar (Jungle, Assault), Dalian Plant (Rural Industrial Port, Defense then Attack)
[YouTube did something with the Aspect Ratio of this video and I had to use a command in the Tags section to fix it. Let me know if anyone has problems viewing this video properly]
Normally locked until Level 15, the XM8 felt great to use on my Level 10 Medic. It's ammo box is a little smaller at 60 rounds (vs. the default Medic's MG3 having 80 rounds), but it never felt 'cramped for shots' and didn't feel like it took too long to reload.
The XM8AR Light Machine Gun is normally locked and cannot be used until your Soldier is Level 15, unless it is bought outright or won in The Daily Draw. Click to see Full Size
The nicest thing about the XM8 was the accuracy. You could really tell you were going from the "Low" rating of the Medic Default MG3 to the "High" rating of the XM8AR.
Comparison of basic stats between the default Medic gun, the MG3, and the XM8AR
Looking down the sights, the three-prong irons of the front sight are quite thin and easy to line up in the view of the rear sight, which is in the form of a circle. There is only a little bit of a pull up and slightly to the right, but the recoil is very small and easy to compensate for once you get used to it. I even felt comfortable shooting from the hip and at a distance because this gun felt so darn accurate compared to the starting weapon for a Medic.
The thin front prongs of the iron sight feel easy to line up for targets farther away and the XM8AR feels like it is very accurate, as can be seen by this Headshot from across a courtyard in Myanmar. Click to see Full Size
An all around great gun, it was fun as hell to use for a day. For only 300 Credits you can try out for a day of play, too. If you have 1250 spare Play4Free Funds you can purchase it permanently. It is a nice accurate gun to run with and may be worth it. Try it out for yourself sometime.
Have fun and See You In The Game!
Disclaimer: Any gameplay videos or animations uploaded are only one example of one possible path of game play and is not representative of the gameplay experience of the entirety of the game material as it is non-repeatable in exactness (movements, actions, viewpoints, etc) to a high degree of accuracy (especially in regards to online multiplayer play and interactions) and therefore is not a representation of a large portion of the game content (this includes complete Walkthroughs/Playthroughs, Raw Gameplay Footage and Tutorials). All material and content uploaded attempts to respect copyright and is presented for Educational and Entertainment purposes only, utilized under Fair Use and can be construed as Free Advertising. No copyright infringement is intended and cannot be inferred. Any possible representation approaching any infringement, to those seeking infringement action, requires double notification and will be honoured by permanent removal of the infringing material. This information exists for entertainment and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical attention.
Battlefield Play4Free is a Free-To-Play title, where it doesn't cost anything to join in, but you can purchase weapons, armor, clothing and other items for Real Money by purchasing Tokens that you can then use in the in-game Store. There is also a nice feature where you can win prizes (weapons, armor, clothing, etc) from a game called The Daily Draw, where you choose a card from a draw of eight and it will generate an item for you.
The items range from temporary one-day use weapons and clothing, to seven day usage, to permanent items your character (Soldier) can use in the game forever (for example, a scope that can be attached to a gun for that soldier for all time). This is great for those who can't afford to purchase many in-game items, as it not only offers the possibility of getting some great gear 'forever', it also gives a nice preview of a weapon, mod or clothing, so that you can see what it will look like/feel like, if you decide to splurge and purchase it for yourself (supporting the game and developers as well) sometime in the future.
In this video, I present 'Raw Gameplay' (unedited gameplay) of BFP4F after winning a Saiga-12 Shotgun for one day's usage on my Medic via The Daily Draw. I had joined a 32-player server (running a Rush map) that was nice and full (16 soldiers per side). After getting the kinks out and getting used to the controls again after not playing for a while, I think things picked up as the game went on.. I was soon having fun arming MCOMs and healing and reviving. Near the end, I realized that my Aircraft controls weren't set/got reset, as my mouse wasn't 'inverted' and I couldn't fly the helicopter at all, haha.
Recorded game: Battlefield Play4Free, Online FPS
Recorded with: Bandicam (Registered Version) @ 864p
Recording codec: MPEG-1, 70% Quality, 30fps
This video was also a test of a few things (though not an 'Official Testing Video'): I was messing around with different settings (resolutions, quality settings) to see how low I could set things before the quality suffered too much. This is of course, something VERY relative and what looks 'good enough' to one person, looks 'like crap on a cracker' to another person. What I was testing here was, what seemed good enough to upload to YouTube (since it recompresses anyway) and still be enjoyable, while making the recorded file as small as I could via Quality settings (which limits the bitrate somewhat) and resolution size (the larger the resolution, the more bitrate/filesize that would be required).
As I have stated in earlier articles talking about Quality, Bitrate and Filesize, I still find that going below 60% produces too many compression artifacts (macroblocks and 'trails', Gibbs effects and more) for many games, especially if there are large dark areas (which would get compressed more highly and have these compression effects occur in them). This doesn't happen with all games however; some games are fast-moving and/or do not have many darker/flatter areas and using 50% quality doesn't look too bad, even with the MJPEG codec. It's a balancing and testing game, as some games (especially with text) look fine and others look very bad (the compressor will try to allocate more bits around edges like text and compress even more highly then, the flatter/darker areas in a scene). I have done recordings of news streams and other things however, that allow for a very low quality recording setting (down to 20%), but that is mainly because the source itself is of a low quality (many streams are highly compressed and there is not much 'extra' compression artifacts produced by recording it in a lower quality/bitrate, especially if you are going to downsize for the final output video).
For most games, I found I could go down to 70% Quality comfortably - as long as the resolution stayed 'higher' [720p or higher]. With lower resolutions, the bitrate/quality reduction means too many 'casualties', as 30% of a 1080p recording isn't that many pixels when you consider the screen size; but one-third of a 480p recording is a huge amount of the already small screen being 'lost' to compression. Thus, with some testing (again to what looks "ok to me") I arrived at a middle ground of 864p, which maintains decent clarity of text and is large enough to discourage overcompression of darker/flatter areas. For keeping recorded files small and downsizing to 720p HD, it looked fine to me in tests - and on some games, doesn't look that bad even if you wanted to upsize to 1080p HD (clear text was maintained, etc).
So, enjoy this first installment in an 'unofficial' Video Series here at The Game Tips And More Blog: "Raw Gameplay" of Battlefield Play4Free. If you like the game, play it, tell others about it and buy some stuff from the Online Store and support it!
See You In The Game!
Any gameplay videos or animations uploaded are only one example of one possible path of game play and is not representative of the gameplay experience of the entirety of the game material as it is non-repeatable in exactness (movements, actions, viewpoints, etc) to a high degree of accuracy (especially in regards to online multiplayer play and interactions) and therefore is not a representation of a large portion of the game content (this includes complete Walkthroughs/Playthroughs, Raw Gameplay Footage and Tutorials). All material and content uploaded attempts to respect copyright and is presented for Educational and Entertainment purposes only, utilized under Fair Use and can be construed as Free Advertising. No copyright infringement is intended and cannot be inferred. Any possible representation approaching any infringement, to those seeking infringement action, requires double notification and will be honoured by permanent removal of the infringing material.
I recently got around to trying the 'Play For Free' version of the Battlefield series and created an account through their website to try this game out.
[I remembered much later that I actually had an account that I used during the Beta phase, but I completely forgot about that - and also what the game was like back then anyway - too much Battlefield 3 cleared all of that from my brain, I suppose!]
It is free to create an Account and play forever if you so desire, but there are also many options for purchasing weapons, armor, clothing, and other items with "Real Money".
The 4 classes available to play in BFP4F, with information on each. Click to see Full Size.
After creating a free account (which is assigned to an e-mail address), I started out playing the Medic class and it seemed to get more fun as it went along. You don't start out with paddles/defibrillators, but you do start out with a healing box that you throw down (as in Battlefield Bad Company 2), a Machine Gun (MG3), pistol (M9), Tracer Darts (a'la BFBC2) and a knife - but no grenades (yet). Running around dropping healing boxes and backing up my team was great and when I unlocked the Defibs, I felt like I was playing BFBC2. After getting used to the Controls (adjusting the sensitivity, changing some of the default hotkeys, etc) in no time it felt like good'ol Battlefield.
A hotel in Battlefield 2 (bottom) and the same hotel in Battlefield Play4Free (top)
Click to see Full Size
The visuals are akin to Battlefield 2, with extra shaders and effects mixed with some BFBC2 elements. For instance, you can 'spot' the enemy and the BFBC2-type 'triangle' appears above their head for a while and they appear on the map. The environment looks more like Battlefield 2 than Battlefield Bad Company 2, with many models (shapes) looking like they were pulled straight from BF2 and just converted. This is not a bad thing particularly, I enjoyed BF2 a lot, and with some shading, fog and other graphical boosts that were done, the game doesn't look too bad - especially when you consider it's a free-to-play title and won't cost you one cent if you don't want to spend it.
Graphics comparison between Low, Medium and High 'Video Quality' settings.
Click to see Full Size
I would have liked more complexity to many things, but it makes sense that they tried to keep the polygon/videocard usage down, supporting more types of machines/older ones, so that more people could play it (and they could also potentially make more money). It does look very playable, especially if you can turn things up a bit, and the gameplay is still The Battlefield Formula, which meant soon I wasn't paying attention to the graphics at all - I was too busy capturing points, driving teammates around, an' killin' an' healin'.. If you like the Battlefield style of gameplay, especially Battlefield2, you should enjoy playing this game.
Unlabeled comparison of that apartment complex that is forever under construction.
Click to see Full Size
The starting guns for the Medic were low accuracy and low damage and you will get killed a lot in direct firefights, but with some practice with short bursts and aiming down the sights, you can still kill others, even at a distance, and slowly start to make points. The starting rifle for the Sniper packs more of a punch of course, but seems to take forever to reload and has bullets that must be made out of solid granite, because they seem so heavy and drop so much. The starting guns for the Engineer was an RPG and [what I found to be,] a decent sub-machine gun (I have always been a fan of the PP-2000 though, I remember fondly running around in Bad Company 2 with Magnum Rounds in one /evillaugh). Recoil is high on these beginning guns, but I assume it gets better later on as more becomes unlocked at higher soldier levels. Grenades don't seem to go straight all the time, in random throws, which makes for some tense-but-funny bounces.
Although the PLAY NOW buttons will get you into the thick of battle very quickly, you cannot choose what game mode to play (Rush, etc). If you want to choose what game type to play or what server to play on, there is a server browser [indicated in the picture above with green arrows] button in the upper-right corner of the Launcher.
I found at the website, after logging in that there was a 'Starter Pack' for each class, a sort of 'preview' of a couple weapons that you can buy, which included a high-damage shotgun in it for my Medic. That was a lot of fun, if you don't mind having to run-and-gun into the frays, but it only lasted one day, then the gun disappears and is no longer usable anymore. Still, it was a nice little preview and I got some fast close-quarter kills with it while it lasted (see Video).
As with most online games that can possibly make money from you, the levels come fast at the beginning to get you hooked, then slow down quite a bit (I found it started to 'feel slow' around Level 6 or 7). You can purchase eXPerience boosters and as you level you can purchase more weapons as they become 'unlocked'. You gain free tokens called Credits as you play the game, but gain them slowly (automatically over time it seems, based on Time Played) and these Credits purchase weapons that [mostly] last one day (or items that have limited numbers of uses, such as healing bandages). You can purchase tokens called Funds ("Play4Free Funds", which used to be called "Battlefunds" during the Beta) with Real Money that you can use in the Store to purchase weapons as well, including versions that last forever. If you are willing to purchase Play4Free Funds, you can also unlock weapons and items 'early' with them, that is, be able to purchase/unlock and equip items before the level you would normally have to be to unlock and use them.
Shotgun trial (not that kind) and the hotel from BF2.
Click to see Full Size
For the shotgun that I mentioned earlier, using these Play4Free Funds purchased with Real Money, it would cost about $.06 to use for a day and about $1.00 to use forever. If you didn't want to spend any money for it, it seems that you can gain enough free tokens (Credits) to buy it for a day of play in about 5 or 6 rounds if your team is winning matches (about an hour of solid playtime) and just over twice that amount if your team is constantly losing matches. There was a sub-machine gun (a UMP-45) that was in the Engineer Starter Pack as a preview, and as another example, for that gun to use for one day, you would have to play about 5-6 rounds (each round lasting about 10-15 minutes) if you won most of them, and play about twice that long if your team kept losing. You can even purchase this gun (the UMP-45) to use forever with free tokens, but you would have to play about 4 hours a day for over 3 weeks and not spend much of the earned Credits on anything else. Quite a run, but if you are having fun playing the game anyway (and for free) the fact they give the option to purchase it that way is nice.
There is a Training section [the button is indicated in the picture above with green arrows] with trees and abilities to unlock for your soldier in order to drive vehicles, etc. For example: Medics do not start out with Defibrillators and must train for the equipment to revive fallen teammates.
You gain Soldier eXPerience by killing, capturing points, healing, etc and the XP gains you Levels, which unlock future items and weapons and each level gives you a Point that you can spend in MMORPG-style 'Talent Trees', where you can improve aspects of that Soldier or unlock different abilities, such as the ability for people to Spawn off of you or sense what direction damage is coming from (it doesn't do that at first), the ability to lay Claymores (and the ability to not trip them when you run by), fly vehicles and more. Thus, the more you contribute to your team by killing, capturing and healing, the more abilities to do these things you unlock. With the free Credits you gain over time as you play, the more you play, the more weapons and items you can unlock. The whole system encourages involvement and seems to work well, as there has only been a couple of games where I saw "AFK'ers" (people who have the game running but are Away From their Keyboard or not playing/helping). There were also a couple games where people said in Chat for others to "come stat-pad with them" (I left those games); but as I said, these were only a couple of games out of the 50+ I have played so far. Overall, everyone seems to be runnin'-n'-gunnin' and helping out their team just fine.
Soldiers supporting each other in a corner battle behind buildings.
Click to see Full Size
The sound in the game has differing cracks and booms for the various weapons with echo effects (Reverb) when you are inside buildings,etc and the vehicles each have their own engine sound [although there is some 'vehicle engine sounds' in the backing/environmental track that play in the background of each map (such as the rain and birds in jungle maps) that is somewhat confusing at times if your ears catch it in the background, you think a vehicle is nearby and it isn't]. I still laugh once in a while playing because every soldier uses The Wilhelm Scream. Nice. Most of the Voice Overs in the game sound like they came from BFBC2 but are tweaked a little. [The phrase when gaining control of a point still cracks me up, as it sounds like an old Clean & Clear commercial ("clear and under control.."), just like it did in BFBC2]. With the Communication Rose (Hotkey 'Q' and you choose an option, like Need Ammo) you can hear yourself and other Soldiers, but it's rare to hear someone spamming it.
If you are having trouble hitting the numbers for the different weapons and slots, or just want to change them, you can assign other keys for them in the Game Launcher under Settings (the gears button at the top). I liked to assign the numbers for items only, so my weapons are actually Spin Mouse Wheel Up for one and Spin Mouse Wheel Down for the other.
The music, which doesn't play during regular gameplay, is a nice hard-rock/heavy-metal take on the BF theme by Corroded. A looping 2-minute track called Age Of Rage plays while you are in the Game Launcher menu that sounds a lot like the music from The Terminator movies (not a bad thing). Short phrases from their version of the theme play when you Win, Lose or Level Up and a longer version plays while Loading. The hard-rock sound fits the game well.
Always take time to enjoy the scenery in life. Here are some trees and shadows.
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Overall, Battlefield Play4Free is like most free-to-play online games that use Microtransactions: it is in fact free to download, install and play and there is also the ability to purchase items and 'boosters' to level up/unlock items faster as well - but you don't need to spend any money on it at all if you really don't want to or cannot do so (and of course have the time to play to get what you want the slower/free way). Although it feels a little clunky to play at first if you're coming from the Retail versions of the Battlefield series, once you get used to the DirectX 9 graphics and mechanics, it eventually 'feels' like a Battlefield title (A Good Thing) and once you get used to it overall - it is a lot of fun to play (The Main Thing).
I almost forgot.. the gameplay video! This clip was a test of a few things at once; Bandicam's 'External Codec' setting using x264 (H.264/AVC) available in version 1.8.2/2012-09 [new version at the time writing this post began] and higher, Bandicam's automatic Logo overlay with transparency (our logo, lower right corner), BFP4F's one-day-only 'Starter Pack' 870 Combat Shotgun, and the uploading of a clip directly from the recorded file/output to YouTube.
Enjoy!
Video Specs and Tech Talk:
Recorded game: Battlefield Play4Free, Online FPS
Recorded with: Bandicam Registered Version @1080p
Recording codec: x264 (H.264/AVC) using the 'External Codec' implementation in Bandicam
Recording settings/variables: 'VeryFast' Preset, CRF23, 'Zero-Latency' Option selected, Logo option with transparency (our logo, lower right)
The first of many recordings testing out Bandicam's usage of other codecs installed in a system (called 'External Codecs' in the program), this clip was recorded using the x264 Advanced Video Coding codec. Not an editing-friendly codec (it is slower to seek/move between sections within an editing application and can have artifacting issues), it still manages to work well with little effect on framerate, with the proper settings. The Constant Rate Factor quality setting of 23, recording at 1920x1080, gave an output bitrate of about 20000kbps, resulting in a file size that uses about 150MB per minute of recording (a half hour of recording at this resolution and bitrate [with MPEG-4/AVC] would take up about 4.5GB).
The 'VeryFast' Preset in x264 auto-selects a few things, such as 1 reference frame per GOP, no Trellis encoding, no Deblocking, no CABAC and no B-type frames in the original recording/output. I suggest the faster Presets, as the slower ones compress far too much on-the-fly and create lag in the game and in the recording - more on this will come in a future article**. The CRF set at 23 allowed some 'breathing room' for recording and compressing on the fly (it is a medium quality setting, a CRF of 18 being more of a 'standard high-quality' MPEG-4 setting), it also saved a little bit of disk space as this just-over-two-minute file was only about 300MB. While still watchable and acceptable in quality, the absence of deblocking (to hide macroblocks and other compression artifacts) and the high compression of flat/low-detail areas, making them smoothed out/blurred is visible, however. It is suggested to use a higher bitrate/rate control factor (if the system can handle it), even though more diskspace will be utilized. Youtube seems to have recompressed it as well, as even at the '1080p' Youtube setting, some quality has been lost from the original uploaded file. Still, it seems acceptable for a medium quality recording setting.
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