All those clever gamers that read the small print and purchased Battlefield 3 Limited Edition have the Back to Karkand expansion coming for free and being one of those people I am super excited. It is just an expansion you might be saying but for me and a lot of the eFragz old guard this expansion is going to take us back to familiar stomping grounds and back to the first golden age of eFragz. To get a flavour of the glory days in the first eFragz golden age check out Battlefield 2: an eFragz phenomenon from [Monkey], it helps set the scene and goes somewhere close to explain why I am struggling to sleep in anticipation of this expansion.
Before I continue to gush, what is the Back to Karkand expansion? It is DLC that brings back four classic Battlefield 2 maps remade in the Frostbyte 2 engine for Battlefield 3, the content also includes weapons and vehicles from Battlefield 2. If you missed the Limited Edition bumf don't panic as Back to Karkand will be on sale for around £10 or $15 so you can pony up and join the fight.
The Weapons
Dice are bringing back the usual suspects from Battlefield 2:
In anticipation of being back in Karkand I took a trip down memory lane to see how long I had actually spent in Battlefield 2's Karkand and had a browse around the old eFragz Battlefield 2 Leader board. I had forgotten that I personally spent nearly 89 hours dapping around the map, I then checked out the other maps, nearly 60 hours in Sharqi, almost 25 hours on or trying to get to Wake Island and about 16 and a half hours in the Gulf. Honestly, wow, that is quite an investment in those maps and hopefully it helps justify my excitement and general giddiness about getting my hands on these maps. For those of you that were there back in the day, a little reminder and those that wern't there, here are the maps.
The 2 years of memories surrounding Battlefield 2 make me smile, the sheer fun we all had out of that game, making videos, emptying servers, races and the relationships that blossomed. Things have changed from those good old days and I think I am looking to some iconic maps that helped define eFragz to spark a little of what we used to have, not that I don't like what we have evolved into, but it would nice to experience it again.
Strike at Karkand is a special map from my point of view as it was where the b1llyb0b break-out was born. Fighting our way out of the US spawn at the south most position on the map just trying to take the Hotel was proving disastrous for Team eFragz as we were getting battered and our spirits were dropping. Everyone was sighing, raging and just generally ready to quit as the MEC boys were standing their ground, their defence seemed impregnable, were they cheating or had we just landed on the most uber server out there? Getting super frustrated, I managed to hug the boundary and sneak past on the right hand side of the map, I watched enemy soldiers spawn in front of me and sprint straight back to the defensive line. I hid, didn't engage and using cover made my way the full length of the map to the Gatehouse (that will be the flag at the very top right of the map). I capped the flag and proceeded to sprint for the Suburb flag (top left), bypassing the Train Accident I avoided the defenders spawning as they reacted to our guys now spawning at the Gatehouse. I managed to take the Suburb and friendlies starting to flood down to the Train Accident. Our opponents expert defence was shattered and faced with a three pronged attack the game turned into a match rather than the spawn and run to your death experience we started with. I don't remember if we won the match, but that quiet, sneaky, sneaky definitely made a massive difference in the game and cemented the b1llyb0b break-out as one of my favourite tactics.
Sharqi differed slightly to Karkand as there were attack choppers, I had just capped the Alley Way (that'll be the bottom US point on the map) and was heading at full sprint to the Surveillance Point (that'll be the point one o'clock from the Alley Way). I encountered a few bods and managed to dispatch them with the good old G36 and capped the Surveillance Point. As soon as it capped I was up and running again, through the gap in the wall and down the hill, full of confidence ready to tackle the construction site. My squad were a few metres behind as I headed for the gap in the indestructible chain link fence, as I started to cross the road enemies started to appear from everywhere to cut me down before I got to my destination. Waiting for the impending doom the ground started to erupt in front of me, dust plumes and explosions started to consume the unfortunate enemy soldiers, I glanced up still running to catch W3rd and [Monkey] sweeping overhead in an Apache. They crushed everything in my path and I had safe passage to the construction site spawn, I felt untouchable as I ran straight with people getting nailed all around me. The moment was brief but stuck with me as it summed up Battlefield, helping out your team mates, the vehicles adding a different dynamic to the game play and the voice comms server being the best investment Team eFragz had made to that point. All it needed was some music and a Micheal Bay pan, awesome moment in gaming!
Wake Island and Gulf of Oman were not my favourite maps but I thoroughly enjoyed hammering around wake in a fast buggy capping points and running over nerds, Wake could be super frustrating waiting for transport and then getting cut down by the Islanders. When you got onto the island it would turn into an epic struggle, boats hitting the beaches, choppers and jets. My usual issue was using the ground to move around to flank only to appear either next to or in the way of a tank, not fun for a simple ground pounder. Gulf of Oman left the biggest initial mark as it was the Demo or Beta map and at the time I had never seen anything like this game and the experience just blew me away along with the Jet whores smashing us to pieces. Amazing graphics, huge maps and the team work just made the experience like nothing else on any platform, this is the map where I fell in love with the Battlefields.
So many good times, we should write a book or talk of them round the fire pit after a few beers, each time the stories will get grander and grander, but just as a quick reminder to the team of old....
The APC mega wall, all fixing each other holding Karkand to ransom.
Eric Nuckis the best medic money can buy.
Meso_the_Jackal and those freekin' claymores.
Rhinostopper vs Monkey.
Rhinostopper not sleeping just playing BF2.
Monkey Meds, I don't care if the enemy is next to you.
MarlB always having a Tank.
The punches to the face at the World Tourny, chopper funnels.
Mead0s, Monkey and Smudge holding the warehouse but b0b will never give up.
Dolphin Diving.
Maonayze Artillery Magnet!
The mash potato flying love bus, before the patch.
Warlord and Ghost Town.
Those stupid patches needing a million reboots on a new build.
The menu music.
Pistol and Knife servers.
Badges, you want badges!
Unknown X and my anti-air badge.
Donkey and Jets.
Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine...
Chosing your next unlock wisely, getting reviews from others, stealing weapons from others to try before you buy.
I would love to hear more, comments guys what you got for us?
With the latest iteration of Battlefield have such amazing visuals and sound I expect the action of old to go to eleven. I hope none of us need counciling after a Friday night session, they were intense in BF2. I can't wait!!
For those of you that remember Karkand, Sharqui, Gulf and Wake Island the trailer shows how awesome the old maps will look in Frostbyte 2
