Finally, I have the time and possibility to review Battlefield 2 so let's get to
work. Battlefield 2 is the result of the stunning success of Desert Combat, a modification
for the previous game in series: Battlefield 1942. The modification was, most probably,
the result of the hype around the current wars in the Middle East, so B2 follows
suit and adds a little. So what is it all about?
GAMEPLAY
Battlefield 2 is a team-based shooter set in the modern era with three playable parties:
the US, the Arabic alliance and China. Before a match, the player chooses the team
and a soldier class. Allied and enemy troops then spawn on one of the relatively
large maps where they have to fight for the control of strategic spots using different
weapon and vehicle types. The objective is captured by coming close enough to the
designated location and staying there long enough for the allied flag to be raised
on that location. If a soldier dies, the team loses a "ticket" and he then respawns
at the nearest spawn point. Once the tickets are up, or all the players are dead
while there are no spawn points left, the team loses. That is the exact same system
that was used in Battlefield 1942 and there are no other game types. However, this
simplistic gameplay gets compensated for by a relatively complex system of military
organization and simply by all the strategic variety possible on such a large map
with so many men, guns and vehicles. One can run behind the enemy lines to destroy
the annoying artillery or get into a fighter jet to dog-fight with the enemy or ambush
enemy vehicles.
B2 is a multi-player centered game. There is a single-player part, but the non-modified
version of B2 only has the small 16-player versions of the map, there's no campaign
or any central storyline, and more importantly, the AI is really bad. The AI is capable
of running from one objective to the other (by foot or in a vehicle), of shooting
the player and each other, throwing a grenade if the enemy is behind the cover, and
running away from one. That's it.
On-line, on the other hand, up to 64 players can come together on large maps, set
in the urban areas, jungle, desert, etc. Battlefield 2 requires and rewards teamwork.
One player can become the commander. The commander can give orders to team leaders,
parachute supplies and vehicles, send out unmanned aerial vehicles (for reconnaissance)
and rain down artillery fire. Team leaders can then give commands to their followers
through an easy-to-operate interface. Voice Over IP is an integrated communication
system that exists so that anyone with a microphone can talk to members of the same
team. VOIP increases teamwork by far because it doesn’t put the pressure of choice
on the player to get third party voice software. Every player has to make an Electronic
Arts account to play on-line. Different actions earn the player points. Points will
eventually result in the increasing rank, and that will allow the player to unlock
new weapons. The popularity of B2 and its game editor support caused a few modifications
to pop-up within the community. The two most famous ones are Project Reality and
Point of Existence. These mods have created some serious changes and prolonged the
life of the game. In fact, the writer of this review only returned to playing Battlefield
2 because one of the modifications provided the type of gameplay that the original
version could not.
EXPANSIONS
Since the release of the game, EA has tried to work the metal while it is still red-hot
and released a total of 3 expansion packs. Only one of those brought any interesting
changes introducing several new parties, tools and maps.
GRAPHICS
For the year it was released in, B2 more than possessed the credentials. There is
a lot of detail in the design of each map. Moreover, the graphics are well balanced.
Dynamic shadows are there in sufficient amount and the developers also managed to
stay away from the light bloom hype (that is the tendency to give all things a pretty
glow, which is a pretty effect that got over-exaggerated in the last few years).
SOUND
No missing sounds here. There is a lot to do in B2 and it all has sound support.
There's a renewed soundtrack, modified from the familiar music of Battlefield 1942,
but that is where the music ends. That's fine, since music doesn't add much in on-line
gameplay but takes away quite a lot in terms of the precious attention.
PERFORMANCE
Battlefield 2 is notorious for its system hunger. If one wishes to play this baby
with graphic options on maximum, one must have at least two gigabytes of RAM and
a high-end video card. In particular, one lighting option caused a lot of slowdown.
On-line forums give recommendations on the optimal video settings. Also, the shadows
caused ugly artifacts with quite a few people. Shadows themselves, in fact, do not
seem to have any anti-aliasing. One would think that it is the fault of the operating
system, but once you see the same ugly pixels in the screenshots on a gaming website,
you start to wonder. The sound didn’t escape flaws either. Certain sound setting
caused all sounds in the game to be played on full blast even if you stood on the
other side of the map.
In short, Battlefield 2 is not perfect, so make sure your PC meets the recommended
(yes, not minimum) requirements and be prepared to run into some trouble with it.
To be fair though, it should be noted that, at the time of this review, a few patches
already came out.
COUNCLUSION
Battlefield 2 has been made for the market's demand. Its gameplay is trusty but rather
aging. A lack of single player, only one game type and performance issues brought
the game down a bit. Nonetheless, the endless strategic possibilities and the ranking
system brought it back up. While the modern run-and-gun gameplay doesn’t suit everyone,
devoted players succeeded releasing a few modifications to suit different tastes.