Battlefield 2 Review

Released June 21, 2005

Reviewed by Aaron Rodriguez

The Franchise

Following the overwhelming success of Battlefield 1942, publisher Electronic Arts along with developer DICE released Battlefield: Vietnam to much less critical and commercial acclaim. Vietnam seemed more a rehash than a bonafide sequel, and had a feeling of simply not being as fresh as its World War 2 predecessor. These concerns, thankfully, can be put to rest with 1942’s genuine and worthy descendent: EA’s incredible new single person shooter, Battlefield 2.

Battlefield 2

Gameplay

Players will be able to play on one of three different factions upon joining a server: The People’s Republic of China, The United States of America, and the Middle East Coalition. Once you've made your choice, you'll then be able to pick from seven different classes available: Special Ops, Sniper, Medic, Engineer, Support, Assault, or Anti-Tank. Each one plays differently and utilizes various abilities and weapons distinct to that particular role. Albeit so far, this is standard fare for most military shooters, but what sets Battlefield 2 apart from games like Counter-Strike is the highly innovative ranking system, which puts players with more combat experience and awards in leadership roles with one commander at the top coordinating all of the team's efforts.

This completely adds a whole new element of gameplay as the commander will have to relay information and strategies to their squad leaders (and there can as often as six on a team at once) who will then pass the information to the soldiers in their command. This not only makes it easier to communicate, as having 32 people try to talk at once would prove chaotic, but also emphasizes teamwork and encourages a certain level of understanding on how to take advantage of the different strengths and weaknesses of the different vehicles and kits available and turn them into victory.

Vehicles

Come to mention vehicles, BF2 has a few and then some. By land, sea, or air, the sheer variety of vehicles that this game offers from the very start will be overwhelming to some, and serve to further engage and challenge others. Tanks, boats, armored carriers and more, Battlefield 2 offers players the chance to just hop in and start firing away at any time. The beauty is that the vehicles are quite simple and fun to get the hang of, but will require hours of practice to develop the subtle nuances required to master and take full advantage of. Particularly those of the airborne variety, the helicopters and jets; you’ll be well served to recruit an ace pilot to your clan before challenging hard-core players.

Visuals

While the maps tend to be smaller than most of battlefield 1942's original settings, the visual tradeoff is certainly worth it. Lush settings and harsh desert environments have never looked better, so you’ll definitely want to play Battlefield 2 on a powerful system. Geforce 4Ti's are not supported and are now closer to becoming obsolete as technology improves. On the other hand, new graphics cards have never been cheaper. A midrange budget Geforce 6800 with 128MB RAM will do the job just fine and often costs less than $180 on internet retail stores. Your best bang for the buck however, would still be the 6600GT, which utilizes DDR3 RAM (128MB) and costs less than $150.

Overview

In the end, this game cannot come more highly recommended. It's one of the most completely addicting online first person shooters to come out since Call of Duty (multiplayer mode also recommended). To describe the experience is to quote simply, "No man is an island". And there is really no greater feeling that comes out of multiplayer mode than coming together with your team as one uniform body to turn the tide of battle against your foes.