As a creative gamer, we usually can only focus on making the characters, levels and stories, but we must also not forget the importance of audio that makes up the other 50% of the worlds that we visit during our escapes from reality.
Everyone is familiar with HD video to some degree. We know that it looks better and can be displayed on much larger TVs without losing quality. Some of may even know what 480p, 720p and 1080p actually stand for. What many people may not know about is HDR Audio. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. This basically means that the highs are produced with more clarity and the lows are generated with a deeper pounding, producing a larger spectrum of detectable sound using the human ear. In lamens terms, it sounds fuller.
DICE, developer of the venerable Battlefield franchise has taken some drastic steps in a better direction for gamers with their newest engine, Frostbite. It was first used to build Battlefield: Bad Company for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and was later used to make BF 1943 for the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. The biggest feature touted by DICE was the fully destructible environments that dynamically reshaped the gameplay space during combat. DICE released several developer diaries regarding their Frostbite technology and there is a video where they discuss their HDR audio tech below the article to give some further insight into their work.
In comes the latest effort from DICE using Frostbite, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I rented this game initially to test whether my appetite demanded the newest entry in the growing library of modern war shooters. The game is amazingly well created and I can truly say that this game takes the Frostbites’ HDR Audio engine to the next level. The audio engineers at DICE definitely understood the importance of dynamic range in Bad Company 2. The low bass effects are very loud and can be deafening if within close proximity and the high sound effects such as a sniper in the distance cracking rifle rounds float above any amount of action, tapping at your eardrums no matter how much chaos ensues. Everything fits so perfectly to create a ballad of war that feels real. I have never been in combat or witness a building collapse but this game truly makes my senses believe that this is what it would sound like.
For those who have not experienced any of the Frostbite powered Battlefield games, you are missing perhaps the best sounding games to date. Imagine your firearms’ sonic booms reflecting off the distant mountains with a distant crack or echoing brutally inside concrete bunkers. Witness the speed of sound play catch up as a tank fires a shell from a kilometer away, muffling the epic blast of the shot. Tank engines are portrayed with massive bass levels, properly showcasing the strength of the lumbering beasts and sound of a building falling to it’s knees after repeated abuse rings as true as I could have imagined it. Helicopters have a very distinct sound and Bad Company 2 captures their presence better than any other game to date. The distant chop of the whirling blades as Blackhawks descend onto your base with M134 miniguns lighting up the sky makes for quite the experience.
- Imagine this with HDR audio behind it
Weapons even change tone depending on your location in relationship to the business end. Players being shot at can hear the rounds shred the air as they zip past with frightening realism, hitting various materials such as sand, dirt, wood, metal and concrete all with a supremely satisfying foley.
As a side note, I know this article was inspired by my recent activity in BC2, but BF 1943 has one thing that no other Battlefield game has had yet: HDR audio coupled with prop fighter planes. I have yet to get over how awesome the doppler effect of those planes pulling a near ground flyby bombing run was to me.
Perhaps my favorite of all the vehicles in Battlefield games, the M3A1 Bradley Light Fighting Vehicle (AKA best anti troop vehicle in the game) sounds so awesome when firing its 25mm cannon in rapid succession. I can always tell someone is getting hammered even when the tank is far away not because the sound is heavier or louder, but because it projects a different type of report.
With all of this development in HDR audio, DICE was smart to give Bad Company 2 full 7.1 surround sound so you can be sure that if you have invested in a formidable sound system that this game will push the envelope of what you have experienced in gaming. Sound is one of the hardest things to describe through text description alone so my recommendation is turn up your best speakers or wear your best headphones and get this game. You will not be disappointed by the gameplay, production value and least of all, the audio.
