Sound

Creative, and their X-Fi sound cards, are heavily involved with the Battlefield series. In Battlefield 2 their top of the range product was the only sound card that allowed you to listen to everything Battlefield could audibly throw at you. It appears that relationship has continued with Battlefield 2142 and Creative were kind enough to give us some information on how to get the best out of the sound.

I assume, in the next few paragraphs, that you are running an X-Fi sound card. If you're not then skip down a bit and get my subjective opinion on the games sounds. Okay… Have all the poor onboard-sound gamers gone? Yes. Okay let's begin.

First off, if you're running an X-Fi you need to make sure you have the gaming tab selected in your sound control panel. Their recommendation is the game is played with headphones with CMSS 3D activated and turn 24 bit Crystalizer to 60%. Now jump into the in game options – make sure EAX is enabled and that you have selected your Creative X-Fi. Also turn off the foreign voices by selecting yes on English VO, those voices are incredibly annoying.



Want to test out the system, then follow these guidelines:

• A good area for listening to the 3D audio effects and Environmental Filtering is aboard the Titan mother ship in Titan mode. Try listening to a player firing from behind one of the glass windows for example, to hear some cool occlusion effects.
  
  
• In a real life scenario, any architectural structure such as stacks of crates, doors, walls, will all affect how you as a listener perceive the sounds around you. Environmental Filtering recreates this making for an extremely lifelike gaming experience.

Interview

As if that wasn't enough they even supplied us with some developers comments about the in-game sounds. Here they are:

• How important do you think audio is in enhancing this immersive experience?
  
  For BF2142 we have also the most ambitious music score for a Battlefield game so far. We have been working with composer Gregor Narholz creating the Original BF2142 Score. Gregor Narholz is an LA based composer specially selected in cooperation with Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Audio for EA. The Main Theme is based on the original BF1942 theme carrying the musical legacy, on top of that there are the 10 original level tracks tailored for each level.
  
  
• And was the sound design influenced by other games, by sci-fi movies, or what?
  
  We checked out several sci-fi movies and came away with the fact that none of them sound too futuristic when it comes to guns and explosions, it’s the small details and various gadgets that allows you to go future. A gun is still a gun, even though it's the future you still want it to go boom when you pull the trigger.
  
  
• Are there any particular effects, areas or maps that you like the most?
  
  As the creator of the soundscape for all levels, I’m particularly proud of the Sidi Power Plant ambient which I feel has such a dynamic and futuristic feel to it that you feel like you are actually there….can almost be scary sometimes.
  
  
• What role does 3D audio play in Battlefield 2142?
  
  Huge. By using and learning to react on 3D sound cues you could gain a great gameplay advantage.
  
  
• How was OpenAL and EAX Advanced HD used in Battlefield 2142 and how do they add to the experience?
  
  Occlusion, especially inside the Titan the occlusion works really well. The air filtering is also a very effective for creating the feeling of being put on the battlefield then you start the game. We actually did the final tweak of the air filter coefficients during final mixing and it really helped the mix come together.

Our thoughts on the sound quality:

With the hubbub surrounding the game's sound did it really live up to Creative's hype? The answer is a yes and no; at times the sounds were unbelievably good, drawing me in and soaking me in the glorious velvet audio of explosions and gunfire. At other times though the sound was no more impressive than any other FPS game, it was still of a high standard but not as realistic as the sound in the recent Company of Heroes. That noise, the booms of war were so good it made my ears bleed – Battlefield 2142 merely loosened my ear wax.

Conclusion

One area that I have ignored is the controversy surrounding in-game advertising. A lot has been said about the spyware included with the game and I've decided to ignore it. Honestly, I didn't suffer any problems with the spyware, I didn't really notice any advertising and any criticism I made would be not from my practical experience but my ethical standpoint.

However, one issue I need to devote a paragraph to is the technical problems surrounding BF2142. On more than one occasion when reviewing the game the servers went completely offline, on top of that many of the people I spoke to complained that they lost their stats and unlocks due to server problems. I was hugely disappointed with the state of the game on release and it disgusts me that developers are being forced by publishers to release games when they are blatantly not ready. The problems are now beginning to subside but many gamers patience has been worn thin by the condition of the game upon release.

All in all then I have to say I enjoyed playing Battlefield 2142 despite it not being too dissimilar from Battlefield 2. Nothing too ambitious has been attempted, and the few changes that have been made have improved the game. You can pick it up for £24.99 from Play, well worth a buy but don't expect a world of difference.