Thoughts about Battlefield 2

I was never particularly impressed with nor enjoyed playing the original Battlefield; in fact I felt disappointed with my purchase after playing the game both off- and online. Battlefield 1942 was one of the first games to utilise a wide range of vehicles, each of which were fun to drive/pilot, in open environments where players could move freely. I think that the premise was and remains good, but the game struck me as being a bit gimmicky. Primarily this was due to the game design, I suspect. It seemed to promote players aimlessly doing their own thing; in my experience, most people seemed to consider using the vehicles to be more important than the map's goals.

It seems that huge numbers of players did not share my disdain; the game and its "mission pack" Battlefield Vietnam, remain popular.

The release of Battlefield 2 I approached with a degree of trepidation. Sure the screenshots looked great and guaranteed that I would a least try the demo, but my concerns about the game play were still strong. I am pleased to say that the demo allayed fears, so much so that I bought the game the day it was released here in Australia.

It is clear that DICE were not content to simply update the graphics and make a Battlefield about modern warfare. Battlefield 2 retains all the things that made the original game entertaining and adds elements that ensure the game goals are now the primarily focus. I think this has been achieved through the utilisation of the following elements.

• The environments are more detailed and, as a result, include more cover thereby promoting a more diverse range of play opportunities.
• The placement and arrangement of control points relative to each other and the environment provides for more strategic play while ensuring that the battles that ensue for each control point vary from the others in the map.
• The maps are no longer huge for the sake of being so. The scale of each map seems to have been intentionally designed for game play.
• The Soldier kits promote specific sets of roles in the game but none seem, to me at least, like “lame duck” options.
• Voice of IP is very useful for co-ordinating a team/squad.
• The commander, when played well, can really ensure that team’s efforts are highly focused.

As a gamer and a level designer, I really like the environmental design. The maps have a definite sense of place which, when combined with the character and vehicle models, sound effects and lighting, really adds to the overall level of realism. Without resorting to depending on normal or bump mapping to ‘sell’ their game, DICE has used the talents of their level designers and artists to create believable environments that are central to the game play rather than decorations to complement it.

As time progresses and my experience of Battlefield 2 compounds, I may add more to this blog. But for the moment, at least, I am quite impressed with the game and congratulate DICE for converting a non-believer.