Battlefield 2

8.5
Great

Gameplay	10	"Looks great, sounds great, and is addictive as hell. "
Graphics	8.0
Sound	8.0
Value	9.0

By Sam Waldron

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I'm locked and I'm loaded. Better still, I'm safely stowed in the back of an armoured personnel carrier, with a couple of friends driving a tank alongside me. That's right: Battlefield 2 is here and it isn't so much a war simulation as a war movie simulation (with all the gung-ho which that entails!)

The goal of the Battlefield franchise has been to temper realism with fun, and Battlefield 2 certainly strikes a good balance in this department. Like its predecessors, Battlefield 2 does not burden itself with story. There is no progression through the levels here: single-player mode is simply multi-player with bots instead of real people. (Unlike in previous incarnations of Battlefield, however, these bots are actually competent soldiers.)

The game pits the United States Marine Corps in various small engagements against soldiers either from China or the (fictional) Middle East Coalition. At its best, it is tense, exhilarating and, best of all, a genuine team game. Of course, as a primarily multi-player game, your enjoyment of it can hinge on the attitudes of fellow players. And, the game being graphically intensive, it can also depend on your hardware.

The graphics are impressive - I'm not going to argue with that. Soldiers, vehicles and equipment are rendered in amazing detail. Explosions, smoke and dust clouds are also especially well done. (Some of the textures could be better, and the grass frankly just looks ugly, but nobody's perfect, right?) The main problem is that all this visual glory is asking a lot from your system. In terms of the requirements-to-results ratio, Battlefield 2 is not nearly so stunning. While this won't be a problem for newer computers, players with older machines may find themselves wondering if the visual pay-off is worth the loading times and the lag.

More than the beautiful graphics, it is the sounds of Battlefield 2 that draw you in. While the music is merely unobtrusive, the sounds effects pack the best kind of punch there is. Distant artillery thunders away, tanks grind by with a kind of grumbling roar, and the noise of gunfire is both frightening and strangely intoxicating. The voices get a little repetitive, but they are really only a stand-in, because Battlefield 2 ships with fully integrated head-set support, and, really, a headset is the way to get the full enjoyment from it.

With only one game mode and only twelve maps, you could be forgiven for expecting somewhat stale gameplay, but this is far from the case. The Conquest game format involves two sides fighting for control of three or more control points, king-of-the-hill style. The control points you team holds are also its respawn points, so capturing a central point means you can get your teammates back to the front lines much quicker. The game is won either by capturing and holding all of the map's control points, or by reducing the opposing team's 'tickets' (basically a team pool of extra lives) to zero. It sounds simply enough, but it is a very versatile formula, especially given the well structured maps.

While it is technically true that the game has only twelve maps, the three size options for each mean that there are effectively thirty-six to choose from. And what maps! Sticking to only twelve means quality-over-quantity, as each map has been carefully crafted to include a range of different attack options and choke-points. Moreover, the maps are genuinely different from one another, taking you from the jungle to the city streets (and more besides) and requiring you to adapt your tactics accordingly.

Yes, believe me - you will want to have a battle plan. Battlefield 2 is heavily geared towards real team co-operation. One new option available is that of breaking your team up into squads (up to 6 players). The team commander communicates with the squad leaders, who in turn give orders to the rest of the squad

There are seven distinct soldier kits to choose from Special Forces, Sniper, Assault, Support, Engineer, Medic, and Anti-Tank so you can suit your own strengths. And, being able to use the various kits special abilities effectively gives your team a major edge. Complaints have been made that the sniper rifles in Battlefield 2 are not as accurate as they ought to be, but really this is just indicative of the general weapon inaccuracy compared with, say, Counter-Strike. Medics and Engineers also automatically turn any vehicle they enter into an ambulance (heals any nearby teammates) or repair vehicle (fixes your nearby vehicles).

Vehicles, for many, are the real joy of the Battlefield series. In addition to an arsenal of stationary heavy weapons, Battlefield 2 features jeeps, tanks, APCs, helicopters and fighter jets basically everything you might need for the war ahead. The rule here is fun-over-realism: vehicles are easy to jump (read: teleport) into and just as easy to drive. Aircraft are an exception to this (a dozen tries, and my helicopter still goes haywire right after I leave the ground), but there are nevertheless plenty of competent pilots out there, and you can always just hit the gunner's seat.

Not being one of these competent pilots, I was very relieved to see the words 'Flight School' in the manual. However, I soon discovered that the half page of helpful hints was in fact the Flight School. While the game doesn't fall down for the lack of any tutorial or training levels, this is definitely a gripe.

Also, while the gameplay itself is easy to some to grips with, the menu system is somewhat less user-friendly. On the multiplayer server selection screen, different servers are marked out with a number of different icons beside their name. Some of the meanings are obvious (such as the headset icon), but others are not made clear and stand to confuse less experienced players. Some kind of information box when you hover the mouse over the icons would have been helpful, or perhaps a guide in the manual somewhere.

Whatever its faults, though, Battlefield 2 is an outstanding multi-player title. It looks great, sounds great, and has that addictive quality that allows you to justify all the expensive upgrades you may need to run it.

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