Battlefield 1942 was a breakthrough hit and an underground phenomenon. With its incredible popularity, a couple expansions were released before its sequel came out, moving the locale and time period from WWII to Vietnam. Battlefield 2, the third game in this franchise, moves the timeline and technology up even further. Battles now take place in a near-future time frame, where Americans, Chinese, and a fictional Middle Eastern Coalition battle each other with an arsenal of modern weapons. Don't think that politics have anything to do with this game, since all the different factions are practically identical. Nation names are being used in place of color identifiers for teams, and there is no benefit in being part of one faction over another.

Battlefield 2 does an amazing job of capturing the multiplayer feel of modern combat. The graphics, sound, and physics are fantastic and all of these things combined create very immersive environments. There is nothing quite like seeing jets fly by overhead or the dread of seeing a tank roll down a narrow street. There is only one game mode in Battlefield 2 (Conquest) but it is the one that made Battlefield 1942 famous. The goal is to gain control and hold as much territory as possible by capturing control points, which are also spawn points. One of the primary things emphasized in BF2 is team play. After all, your success doesn't just depend on your skill, but the skills of your teammates too. Players choose from a variety of kits which define their role on the team. These include medics, engineers, ammo support, snipers, anti-tank, frontline soldiers, and elite special-ops soldiers who specialize in stealthily taking enemies out. Any squad that includes a good variety of these types have the flexibility to last a good while, although death can happen quickly and often unexpectedly, especially when a commander calls down artillery fire on a location. Kits can also be changed out in between lives or picked up from fallen soldiers from any team.

Voice-over-ip (VoIP) features come built into the game, allowing for fast communication among squad mates. It is a critical tool for those who use it to properly coordinate players. Teams are broken down into different squads, and squad leaders issue orders. For the most part, squads can only talk to other members. This prevents the scenario of 32 people shouting at each other. Squad leaders are also the only people who can communicate directly with the commander, who is the person who coordinates all the different squads in a (hopefully) strategic way. The squad leader also serves a useful role in that his squad mates can re-spawn on his position... assuming he's still alive. The commander has a top-down, real-time, view of the map and can scan for enemies, drop supplies or call down the aforementioned artillery fire on a location to more-or-less destroy everything in the area.

A character progression feature has been added to the game. Battlefield 2 logs onto a central player server each time it is started and keeps track of every player's statistics across ranked servers. Playing will allow characters to develop and unlock new weapons and decals. Rankings are also influenced by a player's role as squad leader or commander, so there is extra incentive to take on positions of leadership and grow in the online Battlefield world.

As a hallmark of Battlefield games, there is a great assortment of ground and air vehicles to choose from. You'll need them because the maps can get quite expansive. The game includes 12 maps, which doesn't sound like much, but they can be resized for extra variety. Everything from small buggies to armored APC's to tanks and jet fighters can be utilized. The majority of the vehicles support multiple players to take up different posts and provide gunner support from different positions. Learning to fly the choppers can take some getting used to, since it uses a keyboard and mouse controls. The movement key must be held down in order to stay in the air, and the vehicle seems particularly sensitive to mouse movements, often tilting the chopper too far and sending it out of control.

The gameplay is very well balanced, using a rock-paper-scissors approach. For every vehicle or player type there is a weapon that efficiently counters it. Guided missiles play a huge (and spectacular) role in taking out vehicles and aircraft. Some kits come with explosives, which can be planted in key places to blow up bridges, radar stations, or artillery, crippling a commander's abilities.

All the breathtaking graphics and gameplay does take its toll. The game requires a pretty powerful computer to run well with a graphics card no older than a year or so. Even on very fast computers, map loading can take a very long time. Even the initial connection to the character server when the game starts up will leave players twiddling their thumbs for a while. This is on top of the usual unavoidable problems that go along with online multiplayer games such as lag. There were times when the game completely choked out and froze for a few seconds after launching a guided missile. The server list tool is a little bit clunky, and players will still need to do some work to find the right server. Additionally, there is no means to keep a favorites list of servers or even a buddy list of people you play well with. The quick connect feature at the game's startup, which automatically sets players up with a game, doesn't necessarily find the best game possible. A number of factors have to be in place to have a good time, but when they are, BF2 is a spectacular game.

Then again, you could leave the game offline and try practicing against bots. The Battlefield series has always been notorious for having bots with the I.Q. of an eggplant, but BF2 sets everything right. The bots included in single-player are very smart and will coordinate as a team. A.I. in commander's position does a good job and maneuvering squads and issuing orders. At times, we almost wished that some of these bots could be brought into the main game, since the game balancing system that is in place doesn't work very well. It's just too easy to have one team end up being an overwhelming force.

Battlefield 2 is one of the best games to release this year. The game can support up to 64 players who are all battling across wide open landscapes for control. The inclusion of voice chatting completely changes the way the game is played, and offers a sense of immersion like never before. It should be said that a person's game experience is dependent on the people they play with. Playing BF2 online can either be smooth and wonderfully enjoyable, or frustrating as all hell. Since joining a squad is optional, people who don't enter into the command chain don't receive messages. Still, people who enjoy multiplayer shooters should definitely pick this one up! So, lock and load, everyone! It's time to head out!

Our Final ScoreExcellent

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