Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Review

9.0

Format Xbox

Developer Digital Illusions

Publisher EA Games

Genre First Person Shooter

One day there won't be any such thing as single-player games. Instead, there'll just be enormous, virtual worlds created from a myriad of interconnected experiences, bereft of moronic and predictable AI and packed with real people living out their fantasies in an alternate online universe.

Just imagine it. One day you may find yourself gliding at Mach 2 in a jet fighter (flight sim) over fields packed with people harvesting corn (real-time strategy) on your way to influence a ground battle (FPS) that's being played out dangerously close to a nearby school (educational software), while back in the real world your arse cheeks are caressed by your brand new Silkomatic Botty Wiper - that doubles up as a Goblin Teasmade - having just taken a dump mid flight in your state-of-the-art Gamertron PottyChair.

But such a pleasant fantasy is still some way off, and for now, we have the likes of Battlefield 2 - a 24-player Xbox Live shooter - that's currently as close as we're going to get to this futuristic gaming utopia. And you know what? You're going to love it.

For those of you who don't know, the Battlefield series has amassed somewhat of a
reputation in recent years for producing some of the finest team-based wargames ever to grace PC screens. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat proudly picks up the banner and carries the series to the next level, with some of the most compelling, intense and downright entertaining firefights you're ever likely to have experienced.

But before we get too carried away, a little background info for those of you who may not be familiar with Battlefield 2's gaming template. Divided into twelve beautifully realised and distinctly different battlegrounds, Battlefield 2 pits two modern armies (from a selection of the US, the EU, China or the Middle East Coalition) against each other in a scrap for territorial dominance.

Each army starts in a base full of military vehicles that can be used to race towards a collection of predefined areas on the map (flags), which must be captured and defended. However, rather than just being another predictable captureall- the-flags-to-win shooter (although there is a traditional CTF mode available), Battlefield 2 breaks from the norm by introducing a rather intriguing variable into its bloody equation.

At the start of a level, each side is allocated a number of points, called Tickets. Whenever you or one of your team-mates cark it, you lose a Ticket. Your Tickets also automatically count down during the course of the level. The more flags you control the slower they'll diminish - the twist is that the team that runs out of Tickets first, loses.

As a result, it's doesn't take long before you realise that this isn't just another lone-hero shooter - where the sole aim is to rack up as many kills in the shortest possible time - but a carefully balanced, intricately devised theatre of war in which teamwork supersedes the individual ego. This is conflict how it should be, bloody, terrifying, tense and dominated by the most organised team, not the most adept fragger. Every time you die you're forced to momentarily sit it out, nervously watching the timer tick down in whiteknuckled expectation as you wait to rejoin the fray, all the while listening to your team-mates scream for backup as a column of enemy tanks thunders towards a poorly defended position.

Strategic thinking affects every facet of the game. Every time you die, you can respawn as one of five specialised characters - Assault, Engineer, Sniper, Support or Special Ops, who all bring very different skills to the battlefield (for more on this, see the A Class Apart panel on page 074). You're encouraged to use your head rather than your heart, not choosing your favourite troop type but the one that's most likely to benefit your team.
Make the wrong decision too often, and you could soon be staring defeat, rather than victory, straight in its pug-ugly face.

Teamwork is also essential when it comes to utilising the game's vast arsenal of combat vehicles (most of which are incredibly easy to drive/pilot), as these must be intelligently combined to achieve maximum impact. Every vehicle can be manned by at least two players, with many sporting several gun emplacements that, if properly harnessed, can turn a lumbering tank into a rumbling death machine, or a nippy jeep into a roaring machinegun nest on wheels. Vehicles also need to be combined intelligently in order to get the most out of them. An attack force featuring heavy amour, foot soldiers and air support will almost always beat a column of tanks on its own.

Now, in case you're getting worried that Battlefield 2 is all about tactics, don't be, because nestling at the game's core is one the most sublime and all-consuming combat experiences currently on the market. After a somewhat confusing first halfhour, you'll soon be utterly immersed in gameplay that's more balanced than a tightrope walker.

Within an hour you'll have become a minister of death, charging through the warzone as choppers buzz overhead, their guns chattering in hostile exchanges with booming anti-aircraft fire. You'll take cover behind convoys of tanks as you bear down on an enemy flag, tracer-fire buzzing past your ears like a swarm of supersonic flies as you strain to hear your team-mate's instructions and yell back your replies. And all the while your eyes will be nervously darting to your Ticket count as salty globules of sweat sting your pupils, knowing that should this raid fail, the war could be over in a matter of minutes.

Battlefield truly is a living, pounding, heartshuddering ride of steel and fire, a place here camaraderie and a selfless dedication to the cause combine to create a uniquely thrilling first-person shooter experience. And although it's far from perfect - some levels seem a little too large and as a result end up feeling far too empty, even with the full 24 players, helicopters are a real bitch to control, and you need to play with people who are prepared to work as a team to get the most out of the game - it's still a multiplayer experience that you simply can't afford to miss. And with the option to quickly and easily track down servers filled with people of a similar standard to yourself, there should be little or no reason to ever feel overawed.

Now, you might think that that's us pretty much done, right? Well, you'd be wrong. You see, Battlefield 2 also features an extensive - and distinctly different - single-player game, too. Okay, so it's nowhere near the standard of the multiplayer game, but it's still well worth checking out, most notably because of an ultra-cool feature called Hotswap. But more on that in just a second...

The single-player campaign sees EU and US forces battling against the mighty Chinese army after it invades Kazakhstan (go figure). However, rather than playing the campaign purely from the perspective of the capitalists, you're tasked with playing as both sides at different times of the conflict. Sadly, despite the novelty of this approach, it's hard not to feel severely distracted from the campaign's pace and flow every time you're made to change teams.

The story unfolds via news reports presented from both the EU/US and Chinese perspectives and towards the end of the campaign you're given the choice of siding with one or the other. Missions are fairly standard FPS fare - you and your AI-controlled team-mates must move to area A and kill everything in sight, then move to area B and repeat - but proceedings are spiced up by the aforementioned Hotswap feature, which allows you to teleport yourself into the body of any visible soldier in your team. This superbly innovative idea turns an otherwise by-numbers campaign mode into a thunderously manic shooting experience, and while it's all pretty easy - in terms of intelligence, the enemy AI tends to fall on the wrong side of a cabbage patch - it's fun nonetheless.

So there you have it - a brilliant multiplayer game and an entertaining single-player one wrapped up in one shiny package. Granted, it's no Halo 2 in terms of overall quality and polish, but it's still one of the most thrilling, tactical and downright entertaining shooters available on the box of X. If you don't sign up for this war we won't call you a coward, but we may just call you a fool.

Official Xbox Magazine staff