Battlefield 2142

The Good
Actually, I am not that much into online shooters and because of this Battlefield 2142 was the first in the whole series I even took a look at. When the demo got released I dared to take the challenge and after some quite confusing first matches I honestly got a bit addicted. At the time I am writing this review I'm still no member of a clan - but I've burned a good part of my free time playing the retail game during the last half year.

To begin with, there are four distinct soldier classes (recon, assault, support and engineer) and various vehicles like tanks, air and ground transports and mechs called "Walker", which differ slightly between the two factions. Each class has eight unlockable items gained by collecting points for kills, objectives and so forth including two additional weapons per class. Although there are certain pieces of equipment and weapons that are obviously preferred by many players, the choice is eventually a matter of personal taste and helps a lot to give the game a "I'm playing it my style" feeling.

As none of the classes is able to do everything on its own, teamwork is essential in Battlefield. The game features a squad-system, allowing up to six players per squad to coordinate attacks, share visual information about enemy units and spawn at the leader's location. Well-balanced squads (in terms of distribution of classes and team play) are often dominating forces in matches and are by far the best source for entertainment in the game, in my opinion. Both multiplayer modes (described in the main summary) include maps of vast sizes and require at least some degree of tactics to win a match. The commander feature comes in handy here, delivering a way to have one guy in the background with a better overview of the map and the possibility to issue orders to squad leaders and dropping supplies for allies - or air strikes on enemies.

As you might have guessed by now Battlefield 2142 isn't a shooter in the classic sense. There are neither bunny hops nor rocket jumps like one can expect from more fast-paced first person shooters like the Quake and Half-Life series. Additionally, a grenade under your feet or a machine gun volley in your back aren't things you'll survive that easily. Anyhow, the game could be characterized as a nice compromise between a realistic approach of gameplay and a more action-oriented style compared to overly accurate games like Red Orchestra. Sure, it's harder to hit someone while running or shooting from the hip instead of using the aiming mode, but you actually have a cross-hair. You can resurrect, heal or resupply fellow soldiers on-the-fly if you're playing the respective class, which prevents too many (frustrating) respawns for your teammates and you. Altogether, 2142 mixes just enough action in the combat to justifiably call it combat.

Finally, the vehicles add a new dimension to the game, while not feeling out of place like in some other games where they are more like a nice decoration in terms of "and it has vehicles!". They aren't only a fast way to get across the map, they take also a important part in winning fights and whole matches, but aren't unbeatable. It takes some time to get used the handling, though, especially concerning the aircrafts. As a positive result, there are a few real ace pilots, drivers and tank commanders who mastered their crafts - speaking of "I'm playing it my style".

The Bad
Sadly, Battlefield 2142 contains a few really unlovely flaws ranging from minor annoyances to almost frustrating problems.

One of the first things I had to realize was the absurd usage of a copy protection. There is no way around a registration of your copy to get an account for playing the game, so why ask for the DVD every time one wants to launch it? I can't remember a single multiplay-only game which had such a strict protection, while forcing the player to connect through a master server. So you are unable to play via LAN or on a private server without connecting to the master server first (would be no reasonable problem with an option to disable unlocks and rankings for such games).

Especially odd is the fact that 2142 uses in-game advertisement, presumably to "open new ways of funding", while the game is sold full-price. These ads are dynamically presented on big billboards at miscellaneous places on the maps. Although these aren't very obtrusive up to now, one can only guess how intensely ads will be pushed into the game in the future.

Furthermore, the retail game lacks a detailed manual and tutorial, so the learning curve is pretty steep. You have to kind of guess the "what", "where" and "how to"s during your first batch of multiplayer games. Some details seem to stay mysteries to a lot of the players until somebody tells them about them, giving them an unneeded disadvantage at first. Although the unlocks are basically a good thing, their potential to be a pain for casual gamers should also be noted here. Because the time to "level up" increases with every level, it becomes more and more difficult to gain new unlocks with the same soldier. There's a lot of playing involved to get the maximum gear for two, let alone three classes. So hardcore gamers will always have an advantage in equipment compared to somebody who plays a few hours a week, for example.

The worst at last: Somehow DICE unintentionally introduced a performance glitch in the retail version, causing the Titan mode to lag and stutter on many computers that aren't state-of-the-art. In my case attacking or defending a Titan in a game with more than about 30 players gets kind of unplayable; this didn't happen in the demo. The mode is a lot of fun, though, so I hope for things to come. Unfortunately, the patch support seems a bit slow.

The Bottom Line
Tactical team play, enjoyable vehicle combat and big maps with up to 64 players are the main features of Battlefield 2142. If teamwork and a slightly more realistic and war-like theme is your cup of tea, I recommend you try out the demo. It gets even better if you have some friends joining you as teammates (or cannon fodder). It's hard to generally recommend 2142, though. As mentioned before, it has more or less important problems. Especially regarding the performance in Titan mode, which is why you should look up the current suggestions for hardware before you buy the game. In conclusion, I had more than enough fun with Battlefield 2142 to justify the purchase, yet I still don't feel completely comfortable with spending my money for a game with an annoying copy-protection, in-game advertisement and a manual which isn't one (but should be!).