Absolute carnage (Battlefield 2 (PC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Battlefield 2 (PC)
Date:	04/09/09 (1 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb online battles

Disadvantages: Single player is bland, not that you'll care

Battlefield 2 is the sequel to the hugely successful Battlefield 1942, a brilliant war-based FPS that allowed you to play through numerous WW2 campaigns, in what is essentially a war of attrition. The highlight of the game was the online offering, and thankfully, with this amazing sequel, EA have struck gold once again, with a more up-to-date offering that's even more overblown and just as, if not more fun!

Much like the previous game, there's not much at all to the Single Player mode - you can play as the United States Marine Corps, the People's Liberation Army, or the "Middle Eastern Coalition" (the latter being a fictional construct for the game), and you essentially battle through a number of different levels with the goal being that you deplete all of the enemy's "tickets", which are essentially soldiers. You generally start off with several hundred each, and from here, your goal is to secure as many "control points" on the map as possible. Whoever has the most has the advantage over their enemy, and will ensure that the team with the least control points sees a steady decrease in their tickets.

What the game really gets right is a balance between the FPS-style combat and the strategic element - the menu makes it very easy to switch between choosing where to spawn (and thus aiding your squad in holding the fort), and actually fighting yourself. The superbly designed map also lets you know where all of your major vehicles - i.e. planes and trucks - are at all times, so you can hop over, get in a plane and bomb the Holy Bejesus out of the enemy.

The online is really where the game shines, though - it has a revolutionary feature that splits the various members of the team into squads, and if you have a headset, you can speak to the other team members and shout commands at them, making the game a real testament to teamwork. However, most people either don't have headsets, or tend to just scream incomprehensibly down them.

This is a gaming landmark that hasn't really been improved upon since - its notions of tactical gameplay and teamwork are superb ideas that the other Battlefield games never really expanded upon efficiently, but there's the hope that one day a future title might do so. If not, we've always got this superb title, which stands on its own merits as a fantastic, visually stunning, and action-packed game.

Summary: Astoundingly good