This game looks like it will sound amazing. The games they have made up to this point have clearly been tests for BF3. The branding campaign alone (website, teasers...etc) are turning the Battelfield image into a more mature, solid and player-pleasing look.

Of course we'll all be investing in the game itself, but I might also suggest looking at ERTS stock, the gift that keeps on giving!

Sorry Call of Duty, looks like your days might be numbered! Now Activision is going to have to spruce up their series as well! Should be an interesting year with some great games being launched!

They better sound good!

Greetings sound enthusiasts! Here is the video version recapping the audio review. Enjoy the recap and then some gameplay at the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx92HzXXppw


New Twitter feed to stay completely up-to-date on information that will benefit your life span!

http://twitter.com/UberManSound

-Uber

Medal of Honor – Audio Review
(Closed Beta)

This game has certainly gotten a lot of hype for the past year. Acquiring a closed beta key (what an honor...no pun intended) was quite a thrill as I made my way into the game. The logos for EA and DICE always sound great but these two were soundless for the time being.

Game sound, that's what you all want to hear right? Course it is! On my journey into the game we come across a simple sound scape and menu which is neither redundant or cast in splendor!

I played a couple of games and recorded video (using Fraps) to go over it in more detail. Let's start with the weapons. Firing the M4 styled rifle using iron sites makes the gun a little more bassy, when firing from the hip you can hear the slam of the receiver, “tinks” of the casings and a little bit of how the gun is interacting with the environment. This is a pretty neat proximity effect that's not utilized all that often in games. I also fired the M14 and M16 along with a rocket launcher of sorts and played with the lovely knife. Medal of Honor did not spend much time on the knife, but we can overlook that since the game is not based around you using a knife to kill all the Taliban.

Footsteps, they are either as repetitive as a chiwawa's bark or as quite as your wife when she's angry at you (before she tells you what's wrong). MoH has very quiet footsteps which is good/bad, good because you're not annoyed bad because it is one of the many parts that pulls you deeper into the game. You can hear them interacting with the environment (i.e.: tall grass, water, desert, more desert) but because of the war (I know, how inconsiderate) you normally won't hear them. It's my best guess that they are not final yet seeing that this IS the closed beta.

It's time for the big one, AMBIENCE, and not just because I hit Caps Lock. If you don't make a perfect audio environment that interacts with everything you might as well play Pong in 5.1 (not much different). The guns should interact, the footsteps, the knife hits, the explosions, the birds the bees, aircraft and you get the picture. I'm not going to compare games but BC2 rocked beyond words (whoops I compared games) when it came to creating an amazing environment. We'll utilize Phil Spector's term “Wall of Sound” and say that BC2 had just that! Wait, I'm reviewing Medal of Honor right, Oh yeah! They're both EA games anyway (but the different departments would kill me).

The voice over's were good. Steam has a post limit so I chose to review other points.

The M2 Bradly shooting was incredible when it interfaced with the surroundings! This echoing, booming, bassy, monstrous vehicle could be heard from anywhere and if you ran closer to it, it only got louder (but clearer). Explosions were good as they also echoed down the valley.

What did I miss, nothing, because I saved my pet peeve for last. You thought I'd give this game an A+ didn't you? Wrong! Take some deep breaths, the game will still be good, it's OK.

All the weapons are too bassy. That is incredibly awkward for me to type since in my sound design I normally focus on the lows. The problem is that the guns do not sound realistic since each time it sounds like the designer said “Oh, just up the lows and they'll feel like they're in the game”. I don't remember shooting any rifle and having it sound like an auto shotgun. Again, I love the lows but normally a Beretta doesn't sound like a Barrett (and we all love our Barrett). I got really frustrated because the intensity of the lows makes every gun sound, for the most part, the same! You can hear that they are different, but if you pulled out the low you'd say “Oh, wow!”.

Overall it's pretty good, I'd go into the visuals but that's not what I'm critiquing. I won't say which game, but it will feel like you're playing another game (from another publisher) that you're very familiar with. I'll let some visual reviewer spoil that for you.

Rating:
- Uuuhh, What?

Hey All,

If you read the review of BC2 I posted then you know how much I love the sound, especially that of the weapons. However, I was not so thrilled about the handguns. I put together a short little video where I did a "Before and After" of the 1911 .45 cal handgun. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/UberManSound

Sounds Good!

-Uber

"You've got the power!"

While sitting on the plane in Honolulu on my way back from beautiful Kauai, surfing and sunburn I thought it might be fun to have the members post up a game you want reviewed.

We'll call this Uber-Friday for now. Anyone who wants to post up a game, or a couple of games, where you would like the audio to be reviewed. Post away!

- Uber