Review: Battlefield 2142
October 18th, 2006 by Darren Stevens in Action, Multiplayer, Online, PC, Reviews
EA Games and DICE have moved the popular multiplayer shooter into the 22nd Century, and while the game has the great gameplay and replay value of Battlefield 2, it also has the same drawbacks. It’s mainly in form of simple bugs that could be fixed before the release, but there are also some serious balance issues to it. Full review after the jump.
When EA announced Battlefield 2142 six months ago, many didn’t really know what to expect. A futuristic multiplayer shooter using the same engine as Battlefield 2, it was dubbed by many as a BF2 “mod”. It doesn’t play or feel like a mod, but it’s certainly a transition, much like Battlefield: Vietnam was for Battlefield 1942.
Gameplay
In addition to the familiar Conquest mode, the new Titan mode requires a bit more teamplay in order to successfully win the battle, especially inside the Titan. While the Titan mode is a new and fresh addition to the franchise, it has its flaws. The Titan ships seem overpowered, with 6 cannons that can target ground units. Since you can move the titan to any point of the map, it is easy to place it in the center and thereby cover most of the missile silos needed to take out the opposing Titan. Should enemy units approach to take over a silo, they’ll be met with fierce resistance from the top.
New additions to the vehicle arsenal have also been made, most notably the Walker. Equipped with anti-personnel guns, anti-tank rockets, and anti-air defense is, in the hands of two good crew members, pretty devastating. The Walker is the by far the most powerful weapon on the battlefield, as it requires at least 4-5 direct hits from an anti-tank missile or tank shell in order to be destroyed. The best way of dealing with it is with EMP weapons and explosives. But in large open-space maps, there little you can do.
Veteran tank drivers from Battlefield 2 (including myself) will be disappointed with the tanks in BF2142. They lack the secondary machine gun fire, and can only take one direct hit at the back before being destroyed. The PAC version of tank is even worse, since it has no movable turret, making aiming quite difficult.
Aerial power is all but non existent. The helicopter and aircraft have been merged into one vehicle with 10 basic air and ground rockets. A tank can take all 10 direct hits and still be intact, Walkers can take at least 15. Ground units have anti-air guns with targeted EMP missiles and flak cannons spread around the map, there’s not much you can use the flying gun-ships for, other than transporting yourself to the nearest flag and bailing out.
Stats tracking and awards
The game features the highly successful the stats and award system of BF2, this time more awards and details statistics are available. While that will certainly keep many players addicted, the awards are built on the same BF2 awards, just with new names and requirements. This time there are 40 unlocks in the game, from basic frag grenades, to tools and new weapons, making it possible to customize a kit depending on the map/mission.
Graphics
While the game don’t look that much better than BF2, it certainly runs smoother. The effects are better and more noticeable, and the game also features some of the best audio to date. Gun sounds, reloads, explosions, all sound fantastic, even if you don’t have expensive audio hardware. The network system is also improved; logging in, finding and connecting to a server is a lot faster than in BF2.
Bugs
As with Battlefield 2, the game has some noticeable bugs. Dead bodies in the Titan begin to “fly away” or drift along the ground. If there are many players on a Titan, things get laggy to a point where you cannot aim or even move. On the ground, vehicles disappear after a certain distance, even in perfect visibility, and Walkers some times tend to slide along the ground instead of actually walking. But all these bugs/glitches seem minor, something that should have been fixed before the game shipped, and certainly something that can be fixed with a simple patch.
Pros.
Build on a solid gameplay and teamwork foundation.
New and interesting weapons and unlocks.
Good and original maps.
Fantastic audio.
Detailed stats and lots of awards.
Cons.
Bugs and minor glitches.
Titan mode is almost unplayable at times.
Some balancing issues with Titans and Walkers.
Contains In game-ads and reported spyware.
Overall the game could have used some more polishing.
No Widescreen support.
Pro and Con.
Plays and feels a lot like Battlefield 2.
-Armin Siljkovic
Tags: Action, Multiplayer, Online, PC, Reviews
October 18th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
I have one problem, you mentioned a “simple patch.” You do remember this is EA we’re talking about, and apparently they havn’t heard of “simple patches”
October 19th, 2006 at 12:46 am
No widescreen support… *cries*
The bugs always come in EA games.. They always seem to rush things and do the cheapest job.
October 19th, 2006 at 2:56 am
It doesn’t even support 1280×1024 resoultion… The engine scales so badly, and there are SO many bugs already now. It doesn’t deserve a 6/10, maybe 5/10.
October 19th, 2006 at 3:45 am
Too hilarious … couldn’t anyone tell from the install of the demo there was going to be an issue? I’ve never had to go and find a dll for any demo … all the files are included. Oh well I’m sure there are still lots of people who are having fun with this broken game and really that is all that counts I guess. But I am getting mighty concerned about Crysis and how polished it will be upon release … damn EA.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:06 am
“But I am getting mighty concerned about Crysis and how polished it will be upon release … damn EA.”
What were the other FarCry games like in terms of bugs?
October 19th, 2006 at 4:19 am
They were better than average (especially the PC version) but remember UBISOFT was the publisher of those titles. And for the most part I like UBI. They came out with patches for FarCry as necessary and like I said it was pretty solid to begin with. Also I have FarCry for the 360 and it is pretty damn clean for a console game. There is supposed to be some patch released but no one has been complaining as far as I know.
Oh yeah and this is NOT a Far Cry game … it is very different. Only the lush green tropical environment is similar.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:32 am
Ah I see. I was commenting because it’s the same developer. Hopefully they don’t lose their motivation in making clean games.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:48 am
Oh no they won’t do that. I know they really want to knock the ball out of the park with this game … it really will be the most technically advanced game on the planet when it gets released (of course Alan Wake is waiting in the wings for that title) … and it sports their new engine (Cry Engine 2 or CE2) they hope to license as middleware … so I am expecting a lot.
Of course when EA is involved sometimes things go horribly awry … I’m just really asking the Gods of Video gaming to be kind to this title.
October 19th, 2006 at 4:56 am
Yeah I’m expecting a lot too. Though my computer won’t be able to handle it until I upgrade. *cries*
Let’s just hope EA ONLY do the publishing, nothing the production.
October 19th, 2006 at 5:01 am
Well since they have pushed the release date back to 2007 Q1 you have some time to save up and upgrade to a dual core system (maybe even quad core if you can afford it … me I’m waiting on applications that will really take meaningful advantage of more than even one processor so a dual core will be fine for me (and this and Alan Wake and UT2K7 are the apps that are compelling me to upgrade).
Also that means you and I will both be able to have a DX10 compatible card for it and of course we’ll need to move to Vista but I think that is really when this game is going to be released anyway. So yeah next year is the really BIG paradigm shift in PC gaming … better get ready for it.
October 19th, 2006 at 5:21 am
Argh! In no way can I afford all this.. A new cpu, a DX10 graphics card, new motherboard because I’ll need PCI-E, and Vista, that’s easily over $1000. Argh.
Technology moves faster than my wallet’s expansion.
I guess it will be a few years before everyone’s embraced the step. But prices won’t likely go down until newer better things are introduced.
*won’t be ready for it*
October 19th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
blalbalba spyware blablalba bf2 sucked hard bugcity blabllba better buy ET quakewars
October 20th, 2006 at 12:24 am
More like, better download Tribes for free :).
October 20th, 2006 at 1:34 am
@Zac: Read this when you get a chance … a whole lot of changes are coming. This details the BIG 4 of gaming hardware … Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and ATI … and what their plans for the next 12-18 months are.
http://firingsquad.com/hardware/cpu_gpu_roadmap_07/