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When the original demo for Battlefield 1942 appeared in 2002, everyone immediately knew it was one of the biggest gaming events of the year. That Wake Island map was played constantly until the full game shipped that September and then Battlefield fever exploded into every corner of PC gaming. Developer DICE followed it up with two expansion packs and then their Canadian studio provided players with the Battlefield formula set in the jungles of Vietnam with Battlefield Vietnam. Now, three years later, we've finally gotten a true sequel to the original that's set in the modern day and developed by the team behind the groundbreaking original.
Battlefield 2 is brilliant. Even though the game revolves around the same gameplay style as every iteration in this series, the addition of all modern weaponry as well as an incredibly advanced graphics engine has created something that feels brand new again. You choose from numerous soldier kits like Medic, Engineer or Assault and try to capture flags spread across enormous maps that feature everything from mountain peaks to river deltas and desert sands. Being on foot makes you vulnerable but also gives you the best possible situational awareness. It also gives you the ability to disappear into the ground clutter that litters the entire battlefield.  Most folks don't stay on foot long, though. The series biggest innovation has always been the driveable and flyable vehicles that anyone can jump in and enjoy. Tanks, jets, helicopters, jeeps, they're all useful and absolutely necessary in the game's combined arms world. There's a rock/paper/scissors design to the way they all interact too. Helicopters are deadly to tanks. Jets are positively lethal to exposed choppers and mobile anti-air guns can take down any of the fliers with relative ease. Tanks are especially lethal to infantry and just about all other vehicles including jeeps and APCs but that doesn't mean you can't take them on. The anti-tank soldier is absolutely crucial to putting armor at a disadvantage due to that situational awareness mentioned earlier. It's very easy to stay hidden from armor while on foot. That's the real brilliance of this game and the entire series. Everything seems so well-balanced. Since you can switch to whatever tool is needed at a given time, you're also never at a disadvantage for long. The game rewards smart players and those with guts. Approach a flag from a little used angle and you're almost always going to surprise players trained to scout specific lines of sight. This is one of the first games that it makes sense to fire at, well, nothing. If you're not sure if someone's there, pumping a few rounds into the area is a good idea to keep some heads down. It only takes a couple hits to kill you on foot so it's always a good idea to keep low and force others to do stay down themselves. Teamwork is at the heart of the game as is online play. Yes, you can play 16-player games with AI bots, but they're really only good for learning to fly choppers or jets. Online is where you will spend most of your time. The network code is very solid and gameplay is smooth and exciting. Expect long load times if you have older PC hardware. This game pushes the limits of modern PCs and is at its best with at least 1GB of RAM and a 3GHz processor or better. Also, beware of the very specific list of supported video cards. This is one of the first games to require DirectX 9.0 capable hardware so you'll need a card that supports that in its entirety or the game simply won't start. All that graphic power is put to great use though so upgrade without remorse. Graphics are the biggest innovation simply because there are so many objects on the screen now that you can literally get yourself lost among them. That's a great thing in a game that simulates full-scale war, especially in 64-player games. Picking other players out of the clutter is a huge part of staying alive and being successful. In addition to the superb look of the game, the soundscape is rich and vibrant. Guns have a powerful sound. Explosions knock out your hearing which slowly comes back in the seconds that follow the initial blast. It's not uncommon to get your hearing knocked out and be shot because you couldn't hear the gunfire near you. The combination of gorgeous graphics and punchy sound provide an immersiveness that no war game has ever attained before.  If there is anything to complain about, it's the server browser. It's functional and it gets the job done but that's about where it stops. There's no obvious way to set up favorite servers. You can't seem to find friends online and the servers they're playing on and it doesn't even support pasting text so you can put that IP you got from your buddy into the address field and hop into his game. The game does have intricate stat tracking though and even allows you to attain ranks and earn medals with repeated and proficient play. You can unlock new weapons for all the kits too. All the stat features are great but still aren't working 100% even a month after release. This is all secondary to the in-game action which pretty much sets itself so far above most other games that it's hard to get too worked up about these problems. Once you're in a game, you'll be there a long time and completely forget any problems getting in the game in the first place. Battlefield 2 allows commanders to call in artillery and supply drops, request player support and assaults as well as just rally the men. As a squad leader, you can help guide a small group of guys to specific objectives and put a hurting on the enemy. These are more of the innovations that make teamplay in this game some of the best you can find anywhere in gaming. If you have the PC for it, you owe it to yourself to join the fun. World War II was a great setting for the first game and Vietnam had its own special appeal, but somehow the modern day setting takes this new game to a more visceral and exciting place than the series has been before. Everything feels more "real" now despite the unreality of jumping from tank to jet to chopper in the span of five minutes. Keep your head down and ride out the arty because you'll definitely have a blast with Battlefield 2. 
Older teens will probably be very excited to get their hands on this game. It encourages teamwork and lots of shouting at each other which you can do using the in game Voice Over IP. The game looks very realistic and therefore it's probably best to keep younger kids away or take some time explaining the game to them if you're going to let them near it. Battlefield 2 looks and sounds more like war than maybe any game before it, but minus any bloodshed or dismemberment, commonplace in modern day warfare. That gives it a sterile look that is less offensive, but also less realistic.
The good thing about this game when it comes to deciding whether it's ok for your younger teens is that there's really nothing hidden. From the first map to the last, you can count on people shooting each other and that's about it. There are no map settings that are outside the realm of military objectives and no civilians ever pop their heads out to see what's going on either. What you see is truly what you get, so if war-based first person shooters are ok in your house then Battlefield 2 will be ok too. Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "Battlefield" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Battlefield 2 |
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