Cover: Are we going to be able to really nestle into something?

[Traak]

Most of the screens I've seen so far show fairly barren landscapes, usual PS fare, nothing you can really climb down into, wedge yourself into, or hide amongst.

What I'm wondering is if there will be stuff like:
-elephant grass
-gorse
-jumbled boulders with places to kneel/walk, through or into, get really well situated
-Regular thick-bole tree forests like in PS, where vehicles can roam about, but with far denser overhead cover, basically canopy, where they would be pretty well impossible to see from overhead, and from where it would be impossible to get a visual on passing aircraft
-Thin-trunk-forests, such as birch, alder, or even bamboo, where vehicles can't pass and it's just soldiers on foot, a jungle to run through


Can you imagine running night battles through jungle and undergrowth by moonlight? With some of that ground-hugging haze thrown in? Dang, pulse-pounding stuff, for sure.

Especially if we don't have 4-foot-tall glowing red letters over our heads with our names and bars to announce how much health and armor we have left. That would kind of ruin... THE ENTIRE GAME.

I want it to be that if you run in somewhere, there isn't a ridiculous gigantic (or small) sign over your head.

Similarly, if I take the time to nestle my tank into a forest, I want it to be something that is not capable of being detected unless you almost trip over it. As opposed to glowing letters over it visible from five miles. When I shut the engine off, I want it silent. I want to be able to park without getting out, and shut'er down.

These things add suspense. Something that wasn't really prevalent in PS1. There was no suspense. You were in a forest, someone hot-dropped on you and shot you. Or you were in a base, someone hot-dropped on you and shot you. You were in sanctuary, someone hot-dropped on you and killed you.

True stealth, not just for the snoakers, but for whoever is in the right environment, is what I want to see.

Thus, no Audio Amp, no radar pinpointing everyone's position and number, nothing even vaguely like it. If you want radar, then you have to set up a radar station, or have a feed from a flying radar-specific plane.

But for everyone and anyone to be their own little interlink if they had Audio Amp just really made the game into a brainless splatterfest. No subtlety at all.

With the right environments, and without the Superman abilities, the combat could be a lot more intriguing and suspenseful, and far more exciting. As it was, the game was the functional equivalent of everyone being on an endless, flat plane with the occasional staircase thrown in. If they couldn't see you visually, they could just flip on Audio Amp and see you, and then the vomit-tidal-wave of cheats came in and everyone could see everyone.

It would be nice to have environments that rewarded being careful and stealthy, where you have to use your eyes and ears, not just see all enemies in a 300m radius displayed as red dots on the screen. Totally frikkin' mindless.

If you are in the middle of a bamboo forest, for example, you should have to be within earshot of someone to be found. Not within 200m with his Audio Amp, or whatever it is.

In a base, it is far more exciting and fun to have to roam around and actually look for someone, not use the Audio Amp to pinpoint their location.

[Raymac]

Well, we've kinda only seen what I would imagine is like a test area, Indar. Higby has hinted at a few different types of landscapes, and they are all being hand crafted. The art design has been beautiful, so that should translate to the landscape as well. So yeah, I'd assume we'll have really cool environments to fight in.

[Levente]

Ps1 have a forest continent so i assume ps2 will have too. i think we seen only 0.2 % of the map design so far in these screenshots

[Bags]

Who knows?

[Xyntech]

I hope the PS2 get's some really thick forests on some continents. Trees everywhere, so thick that you have trouble getting through them, even as infantry in some places.

Deep, dark forests, that are somewhat dimly lit even in the middle of the day.

[DviddLeff]

I am going to be disappointed if it isn't like BF where there is lots of cover in some areas, and not in others. PS had too little cover and concealment for infantry.

[Xyntech]

Yeah, we need more than PS1, although I think that somewhat goes without saying considering the evolution of games and technology.

But I agree that we need wide open spaces with little to no cover as well. Tank battles shall rule the open plains and rolling hills!

PS1 environments were a little bit scatter shot anyways though. If they are serious about hand crafting the outdoor environments, hopefully they will also do it with an eye towards balance and give plenty of thought to both vehicles and infantry.

[TRex]

I'm sure Higby San stated in one interview there would be areas of dense cover that would be difficult for vehicles and aircraft to engage within . Likewise there will be areas where tanks are king and a grunt will be just roadkill , and areas where the hills are so steep only aircraft would get near them.
Not forgetting cavern sides, and multi-layered topography so line of sight is broken . Spreads the battle into multi-battles within any given area. A bit like the caves without the zip lines sort of thing.

[SKYeXile]

i hope everybody still had a big red name over their head.