Battlefield 3 – Back to Karkard expansion was released during the week; giving you 4 of the most popular maps from Battlefield 2 and some new weapons. Having played Battlefield 2 I was expecting great things from this but sadly in true EA style they have managed to stuff up a few too many aspects of the game.

Let’s get the problems out of the way first, there are new glitches in the game including;

• Available kit unlocks disappearing when you join a game. Joined a game last night with Lostagent2 and EnergiserX and we were all hit with this glitch.
• Simultaneous kills are back; having clocked in over 88 hours of online game play I have not had this occur until the release of the expansion.
• Resetting your kit preferences; this had happened a number of times since the game update; your preferences on your kit deploy resetting back to no unlock or just changing the primary weapon to the one before your preferred option.

But the update has given us a few changes that have improved the game including;

• Added round duration and ticket summary at end of round screen
• Grenades now drop to ground if you get killed while attempting to throw it
• Being able to spot explosives i.e.; C4, Anti-Tank Mines, Claymores
• Claymores no longer disappear almost immediately after you die; they now stay in game until replaced by others or blow up.

Now onto the new things; well kind of new things. The Back to Karkard expansion gives you 4 maps from Battlefield 2 remastered with the Frostbite 2 engine including;

• Golf or Oman
• Strike at Karkand
• Sharqi Pennsula
• Wake Island

This is great but my favourite of these maps; Wake Island just isn’t the same. The rush is only half the map and the conquest the American side doesn’t start on the aircraft carrier. It could be the fact that on console the games have half the number of players but the map just doesn’t seem as epic as is used to be.

Also included are 10 additional guns that were also in Battlefield 2; these are unlocked by completing certain opjectives e.g. 10 Revives, Destroy 1 enemy vehicle with Repair Torch, Arm 10 MCOMs.

If you have Battlefield 3 you will have either had the expansion free when you purchased the game or you will have to purchase. As it’s just new maps and guns it’s going to be part of the game and you will need to get this update. But let’s hope they look at fixing a few of the new bugs they have introduced.

Also if you want to join me and my friends, come join the Neo-Terran Front Platoon (NTF) – www.neo-terran-front.com.

Here is the release trailer for the Back to Karkard expansion;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyN_Zjw4l-s

Battlefield 3 was released last week and I’ve been a little busy shooting everyone to get around to making a post. This is the latest release in the series and I think it might be their best yet, taking the best aspects from the last few modern combat games of the series and add it all together, plus some.

A given with any Battlefield games it seems, there is always multiplayer server issues and this is still the case but from their twitter feed, constant server upgrades and the newly created status page (http://www.ea.com/servers/battlefield3) they seem to be right on top of it. The online is like any recent previous version but for the console the addition of server browser which is a standard feature for the PC version. They have added just straight deathmatch in the team and squad versions, this addition to Rush and Conquest game modes means that any first person shooter fan will be able to find something they like. The new unlock system that now unlocks special additions per kit, weapon or vehicle means that you have even greater control over the type of weapon you use and what your kit has. The only thing I’ve found with this that just doesn’t work for me is that there is limits to what your kit can have, e.g. Engineer Kit you can have rockets and repair tool, rockets and mines but you can’t have mines and repair tool. This is the case across all the kits that as open to choose your options there is still some major limits to what your 2 kit options are.

The recent addition to a complete single player campaign mode to Battlefield games has been a nice extra this one gives you a great feel of everything of all the different gameplay you can experience in multiplayer and the story line isn’t that bad either, not as fun and light hearted as the Bad Company’s campaign but still entertaining enough.

A new addition is the 6; 2 person CO-OP missions with set objectives like campaign but designed for the players to work in unison. Once again a diverse selection of game types giving you and a friend a great experience of gameplay and working as a unit. Now I have said you and a friend as some missions require you to work as a single stealth unit and that just can’t be done with just anyone even though the option is there for an open game. These missions have been designed for 2 player but Battlefield has been designed around the 4 man squad and that’s something I would like to see be added to the CO-OP options in the future.

Another addition is the new Battlelog site (http://battlelog.battlefield.com/), the social network for Battlefield 3 this site gives you real-time events for you and your friends check full stats and upcoming unlocks. It also gives you the option to join a Platoon (clan), be sure to join the Neo-Terran Front (NTF). This is really just Facebook for Battlefield 3, so check it out.

They have also taken the dogtags up a notch with the option to customise both the front and back of them, with unlocks through playing the game or special pre-order options. Check out http://actofvalor.com/bf3/ for some more free tags.

Now the big debate between Battlefield and Call of Duty (COD) this is something that has split the first person online shooters for many many years. From this post and pervious posts you can tell I’m a Battlefield fan. I never got into any of the COD’s which has had a similar timeline although longer and more games. But personally I find the Battlefield games to be a more solid build and a better multiplayer to be played with friends, which is something that is important to me. So check it out; here is a gameplay trainer if you are still unsure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zw8SmsovJc

Over the years of my gaming career I have played many different types of games, however,  only a few have lasted as long as what many people call O-Crack. Better known as OGame. OGame is a massive, real time, online text-based multiplayer game that millions around the world play. I played in the OGame Universe for over 4 years. Quiting after making a  New Year’s resolution last year when work was taking up to much time to play.

A little about OGame (from Wiki):
OGame is a text-based, resource-management and space-war themed massively multiplayer online browser game with over two million accounts. OGame was created in 2000 and is produced and maintained by Gameforge AG. OGame is available in multiple languages, and different nationalities have their own communities. The game does not differ between the nationality communities except in rare cases. Players are generally informed of news and other things such as changes in rules or new versions through the official forums.

One of the biggest parts of OGame is the Alliance System which is where a group join together to trade and help each other out ingame. The best community Alliance was the GTVA (Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance) based from the Freespace space flight games.

This alliance spans the majority of my OGame career with friends and I leading the alliance (EnergiserX and Lostagent2). It started in Universe 7, later moving to Universe 18 where it was the oldest alliance in the universe at the date if disband around 3 years after the start of the universe. During that time the GTVA grew to be a large and influential alliance in the universe, not as an aggressive alliance but as a peaceful and caring alliance for members. This did cause us to gain enemies who did not like this style of play but we made many more friends as a result. The alliance worked as a team and looked out for its members whenever possible.

But it was a war game and we had our fair share of both losses and victory. I like to think more so of the latter. Major hits were something that everyone looked for and praise and congratulations were always given to each other when they occurred.

During this time I managed many large hits solo and with the help of friends. My Stats at the end of my career were as follows:

Stats Uni 18:
Basic HoF: 30
Ninja HoF: 5
Solo Advanced HoF: 2
ACS Advanced HoF: 3
RIPs Kill: 9
HoF’ed: 2
Moons: Way To many

Towards the end of my Ogame Career i was given an account from a friend in the new American version of the game in universe 3. Here I quickly became a force to be reckoned with as I played with a much more aggressive style not having to worry about fellow alliance mates. Here i created a new alliance that lived for the duration of my time there, the NTF (Neo-Terran Front) based of the Freespace game where the GTVA is from aswell.

This alliance although short lived was one of the strongest alliance in the universe with the smallest number of members. The rule was if it’s profitable then attack it!

I must say looking back on the hours spent on this game, the creators got it right. I very addicting game from, the number of sleepless or nights, alarm clocks set and stressful count downs. I am so glad that I don’t play it anymore, though at times I still miss it.