So what did I think?
Well…A tad disappointed actually. Not that I believed all the months of hype that have led up to this release, but more disappointed in some of the basic game facilities that just don’t seem to work well.
But to start, here’s a few positive things:
The graphics are great – but they come at a price. My budget (I’m Scottish!) 128mb Radeon 9550 JUST copes with the demands. Everything looks damn fine and realistic…
And the maps are superb – There is one map in particular (a urban map based in the middle east) that looks like it came straight out of the 6 o’clock news about Bagdad. Believe me that when you play the US team, and move down the streets it looks VERY spooky – you do feel like you are in a realistic urban war zone.
The weapons system is good too – you have to earn better weapons by playing the ranking system. But even the basic models are OK. And guess what? Our old friend the Bizon is actually GOOD in BF2 (not the crappy pea-shooter you get in GhR!).
Vehicle models are great – although flying is very much a learned skill (not as easy as in Novalogic’s ‘Joint Operations’).
Gameplay is fast and smooth (if you have the rec. spec.), and infantry models are terrific. The Chinese troops make a nice change, and their kit load-outs are great too.
BUT…(Now for the bad news)…
Oh dear…The server interface! Who was the moronic monkey who designed and coded this???
The word guys is SLOW! Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow…
Also, the much hyped squad system – intended to encourage people to work more as a team – does nothing to enforce good teamwork really. Despite all the systems people still run off and do their own stuff.
Worst of all, your squad leader gets away with ‘lone wolf’ play too. I have yet to get good directions and objectives from my squad leader. For the most part strangers playing squad leader just ignore their responsibilities. But, obviously if you are in a clan things will be better organized.
Another major headache is getting into a ‘ranked’ server. The game uses special servers to keep track of your stats and combat awards (this is how you get promoted). At the moment there are just not enough of these servers – to the point where I could not even get on last night!
The ranking system is at the core of BF2, and I can only hope that EA Games will rise to the popularity of the game and get more servers online QUICKLY!
And finally, there are some little niggley things that spoil an otherwise well modelled game. Tank guns don’t have the right recoil, and the shells have minimum effect on infantry (not enough blast effect).
Also, guns seem to lack the punch they should have – particularly at medium to long distance (bar the sniper rifle of course).
One comical situation was when I and an enemy had a stand-off at no more than 15 feet. We both crouched (more accurate…allegedly) and emptied a full mag into each other….
We both were alive when the smoke cleared!
Choosing the assault infantry gives you a better rifle than packs a little more punch.
Overall, I was left very disappointed, and ended up reverting to ‘Joint Operations’ on Sunday night. So, Battlefield 2 isn’t the Ghost Recon 3 killer that the hype said it might be.
Battlefield 2 – Best Bits
• Outstanding graphics and models
• Terrific inventory of weapons, troop types and vehicles
• Superb maps
• A proper Ranking system
Battlefield 2 – Worse Bits
• Diabolical server interface
• Slow multiplayer loading times
• Ballistics still needs a little tweaking
• Squad system still doesn’t penalize ‘lone wolves’ enough
• You can ONLY play USMC as a Western partisipant - no European armies I'm afraid
Score: 7/10 [ by comparison; Joint Operations 8/10]
