Battlefield 2 is the sequel to Battlefield 1942 and is strikingly familiar to the Desert Combat mod for BF1942. The game is played almost exactly the same as Desert Combat with a few differences. In this review I will try to point out the differences between the two. If you are not familiar with Battlefield 1942, I would recommend reading my article on that game before continuing so you have the background for comparison. I have decided to mainly address the differences in the two instead of repeating the same things I wrote about the first Battlefield game. Those of you who are familiar with Battlefield 1942 or have at least read the review I wrote about it shouldn’t have any trouble understanding this article.
The article I wrote on BF1942 does not cover all the aspects of the Desert Combat mod so those differences will be explained in more detail.
Premise:
The game allows you to choose what type of soldier you want to play, like Special Ops, Assault, Anti-Tank, Engineer, Medic and so forth. Once you have chosen your soldier you pick a place on the map that is under friendly control to spawn. You will spawn (or come into the game) at your chosen point and proceed to try to take over enemy positions by eliminating the resistance and holding the point long enough to change the flag from your enemies flag to yours.
Gameplay
The game is played exactly like Battlefield 1942, so I will not go into the details of game play in this article since I have already covered BF1942 in detail which you can read at the following URL if you are interested.
Graphics
The graphics in this game are done well and surpass the original BF1942 by a good margin. I would compare the graphics with Doom3 with the exception that BF2 is not so dark you can’t see anything like Doom3. The water effects are excellent and make use of Pixel Shader 2.0 heavily.
Fog and smoke effects are done well also and are better than the HL2 (Half Life 2) graphics engine in my opinion. This will also depend heavily on you graphics cards abilities and Pixel Shader 2.0 support.
Lighting effects are decent but I would have expected better in this day of graphic marvels, especially from an Electronic Arts labeled game. The use of lighting effects is not bad but I believe it could have been done better.
On a scale of 1-10 by today’s standards, I would give BF2 an 8 for a total graphics score. I do think they could have made better use of lighting and more photo-realistic textures.
Sound
I am somewhat biased when it comes to sound. If you have a surround sound capable system you will want to make use of it for this game. The sounds of this game are so realistic you feel like your actually on a mission in the middle east. Compared to BF1942, the sounds are much improved even over the Desert Combat Final mod. Sounds of ricocheting bullets and aircraft flying overhead are just impressive. Radio chatter is also improved over the original BF1942 to sound more realistic. I can fairly say that the sounds were done with authenticity in mind.
The game also allows for real time communication using a microphone (just like its predecessor). You can actually talk to your team members while on the battlefield. This can become confusing if everyone tried to talk at the same time and it can also cause lag time to increase so it is a trade-off; a few lag moments to actually speak instead of trying to type a message while being shot at from several angles, either way you could wind up dead.
Aircraft Fighter Jets
This is the area where I get frustrated with the game. I am used to the controls of Desert Combat aircraft and the controls are basically the same in BF2 but the aircraft do not behave the same. It’s like trying to learn how to ride a bicycle all over again.
For example; in Desert Combat you can fly the F-14 Tomcat which is one of the aircraft available in BF2. In Desert Combat, if you let off the accelerator the aircraft will glide in a controllable fashion, quickly losing speed which makes landing fairly easy. In BF2 aircraft do not slow down after letting off the accelerator, at least no for a long time. You have to “decelerate” by pressing the down or back key to slow the vehicle down. This also does not slow down the vehicle very quick and you must start your deceleration before you even see the landing strip.
Another thing that is different is in Desert Combat the aircraft automatically deploy the landing gear but I have yet to find out if they do this in BF2 because I have never been able to decelerate enough to make a safe landing. Once I thought I had slowed enough for a landing but the gear did not deploy on its own and I skidded right into the hanger.
Helos
The helicopters do not behave the same as in Desert Combat either. They are much slower to take off for one thing. Once you start the helicopter it takes about 10-15 seconds before you can actually lift off and lifting off is slower also. This is more realistic but hard to get used to (especially when taking off under fire).
Another big difference is when you attack with the Apache helicopter in Desert Combat, you can point directly towards the ground for about 5-7 seconds before dropping significantly toward the ground. The helicopters in BF2 will drop straight to the ground when attacking at more than a 60° declination. They do not turn as easily or as quickly either. This is not as realistic since I have personally seen military helicopters pull a full 360° turn in less than 3 seconds.
In Desert Combat, you can let off the accelerator of your helicopter and it will immediately drop making landings fairly easy. The helicopters in BF2 do not drop unless you use the down or back key and you have to be careful of how fast you drop as well. When you drop in BF2, you also move forward making a straight decent almost impossible. I say almost because I have seen other players do it online but I have not been able to do it so far. I am sure with practice I will master it in time but it is hard to unlearn something just to re-learn it a different way.
Ground Warfare Commanders
The ground warfare in BF2 is much more realistic than Desert Combat. You have a Commander who is in charge of calling in air strikes and directing the squads on your team. You can play without a Commander and the server will dictate the Commanders actions but a good Commander will make all the difference when playing other teams online.
If an enemy force is taking over a check point, your Commander can call in an air strike. At that point, all players and vehicle within a 60 foot radius of the strike will be destroyed in a matter of seconds, so you want to make sure none of your team are in the area when it is called.
Air strikes
This is completely new and unique to BF2. Desert Combat does not have air strike abilities. In BF2, each team has a set of radar dishes, radar control shed and artillery batteries at their main base that work together for the Commander to call air strikes. These can be destroyed by special ops units eliminating the chance of air strikes when taking over a control point. It is most important to protect yours and destroy your enemy’s air strike capabilities. It can make the whole difference in the outcome of a battle.
Medics
One major difference in BF2 from Desert Combat is that you can be field dressed for critical wounds and return to battle immediately. In Desert Combat you simply get killed and must wait to respawn. In BF2, if he gets to you in time, a medic can field dress your wounds and get you back on your feet right where you dropped. If time expires before a medic gets to you, you will spawn at your chosen spawn point. This can reduce the death count on your score at the end of the round.
Support units
Support units are basically the same as in Desert Combat with the exception that they can deliver ammo and supplies to field units. A support unit can re-supply any unit in the field including tanks and mobile artillery. Aside from this important job they also carry a fair amount of fire power and are essential to suppress enemy infantry.
Tanks and mobile artillery
Tanks like the M1A2 Abrahms are basically the same as far as mobility and speed as they are in Desert Combat but they do not reload as quickly and you must become a very good driver to avoid missiles and other incoming fire.
Mobile artillery reloads even slower and is more vulnerable to attack from air strikes, air craft and rockets than tanks are. They do move faster however and are able to float on water as well. When driving across water, your movement is slowed and turning is very slow so you are more susceptible to aerial attack and missiles. If you are a fan of the “Bradley” in Desert Combat, you will have to re-learn how to handle mobile artillery in BF2 because it just isn’t the same.
High Tech Warfare
Heat seeking missiles
The vehicles in BF2 are all equipped with the latest technology and most have computer assisted targeting capabilities. You have heat seeking missiles that can lock onto a target and will follow their target for quite a distance before losing it. A good fighter pilot can avoid heat seekers by diving quickly and pulling up at the last second into a spiral. There are several ways to mislead a heat seeker but it takes practice and you will find that if you like to fly, you will get plenty of practice avoiding heat seekers. Heat seekers are used at ground to air stations and on mobile ground to air units as well.
Guided missiles
Guided missiles are available at ground stations that can be manned and used as ground to air or ground to ground. They also are equipped on mobile artillery units. Once you fire a guided missile you can control its flight with the targeting crosshair on your weapon. You simply move the crosshair in the direction you want the missile to go. This also takes practice but can be very effective with a skilled player behind the controls.
Laser targeting
Special Ops units are equipped with automatic riffles with laser targeting and can be used as a single or repeat shot sniper weapon or as a repeat fire automatic at close range. They are fairly accurate at a distance and deadly at close range.
Multiplayer
I found a big difference in multiplayer options in BF2 from BF1942. In BF1942 you can choose the type of game you want to play like, deathmatch, co-op, conquest and so forth. In BF2 I have only seen one type of game which is conquest. It is odd that there is a place to choose which type of game to play but the only choice listed is conquest.
There are features of the game that must be unlocked, like special weapons and vehicles, so I am not sure if these game types can be unlocked or not since I have yet to unlock anything.
Voting and election
Players online can vote for which map to play and can also try to be elected as Commander for the team. Votes for Commander are cast at the beginning of the round before gameplay starts and each team is counted separately for their own Commander. Votes for the next map are taken at the end of the round and all player votes count.
My opinion
I like BF2 a lot. I get frustrated with the aircraft and it will take me some time to learn how to fly all over again but over all I really like the game. One thing I don’t like is that stupid CD/DVD emulation detection they put in it just like Doom3. I uninstalled all my CD/DVD software including CloneCD, PowerDVD, Nero 6 and Roxio but I still got the stupid message telling me to disable all CD/DVD emulation. I didn’t have anything else to disable! So, I visited Gamecopyworld.com and downloaded the fixed .exe file and the problem was solved. The point is I shouldn’t have had to do that. I paid good money for the game and all my CD/DVD writing software and I think it is absolutely absurd to tell people they can’t play the game with this type of software installed.
Conclusion
BF2 is a great game that takes practice to become a good player. I am not there yet but I am working on it. If you like BF1942 and Desert Combat, you will most likely enjoy BF2. I have also heard that there are independent software guru’s working on mods for Battlefield 2 as I write this. At any rate, this game will give many months of enjoyment on or offline.
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