Jeff Gamon, EA's Executive Producer of Battlefield 2 Modern Combat for the Xbox 360, recently took some time out of his ultra busy schedule to give GameShark and fans of this promising action game some insight into the game and the differences between it and the Modern Combat games on current-generation of consoles. Read on!

GameShark: First off give us a quick overview of the game.

Jeff: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat takes the best multiplayer experience available from the critically acclaimed franchise, and combines it with a deep single player campaign. The revolutionary new hotswapping feature lets you pull every trigger on the battlefield.

How cheesy is that? My Marketing partners would be proud. Seriously, it’s a game where we give put you in the middle of a big sandbox, fill it with soldiers, weapons, and of course vehicles, send in 23 more guys to fight with and against, and let you do the rest. Anything can happen with that combination.

GameShark: What kind of visual enhancements will we see in the Xbox 360 version of the game that couldn't be done on other platforms?

Jeff: In the Xbox 360 version, the battlefield will feel incredibly alive. If you are standing too close to a tank when it fires a shell, or worse, blows up, this will affect your vision, and disorient you. Soldiers will change their expression when firing heavy weaponry, or close on eye to aim better. Bullets will tear up the environment around you. All of these elements and more will really immerse players in the experience.

GameShark: Does the 360 version have any additional content over the Xbox or PS2 versions?

Jeff: We have a total of 16 maps now, since we include the three new maps that were released in the Warsome Booster pack. In addition to fixing any issues that players have brought to our attention, we also give you complete control over the HUD. You can have a full readout on screen or a completely clean interface, or anything in between. Finally, we overhauled the AI, so all of the single player missions feel even tighter than before.

GameShark: Where does the Xbox 360 version stand out? What areas of the game have been refined to support the platform?

Jeff: It’s a combination of all the things we’re talking about. Outside of the visuals and audio, it’s not really about one particular area being above and beyond the rest. We took a look at everything we’d already done with the previous release, and asked ourselves what we could improve, what we could streamline, etc. So overall, when playing the game you may not put your finger on one thing that feels so different, but the entire experience will just feel tighter, bigger, better, faster, more!

GameShark: Tell us about the four new vehicles not found in original Xbox version of the game.

Jeff: The vehicles are from the booster pack that was released on Xbox Live, so there are two new civilian vehicles that have been armored and armed with mounted machine guns. The pickup truck has a .50 cal for the passenger in the bed to man, and the van has two mounted mini-guns. There’s also a new RIB boat with a secondary machine gunner position and two open-kit positions. Finally, and perhaps best of all, the snowmobiles have a forward-mounted twin M4 rifles guns, so the driver can fire them while speeding around with a passenger in the open kit position on back.

GameShark: Will we see any PC features excluded from the console versions of Battlefield 2 Modern Combat rolled into the Xbox 360?

Jeff: There will not be any new PC features included, as this is almost a Director’s Cut of the Xbox and PS2 versions.

GameShark: Does hot swapping work the same as it does in the previous releases or has it been enhanced for the 360?

Jeff: Yes, hotswapping works the same in practice, but we tuned it to make it function even better. We removed the line of sight restriction, so you can hotswap to any other soldier in your squad, regardless of whether you have a clear path or not. We also tweaked the visuals a little, to give it some extra flair. Finally, we made soldiers orient themselves better, so when you take over a new soldier it’s easier to launch right into the action.

GameShark: Final question - What's left to do on this game before it hits retail in March?

Jeff: We’re just playing and tuning, playing and tuning. We are balancing the AI, as right now it’s a little too hard (even for us) and we will be running an online public beta at the end of the month to iron out any last online issues. But the end is in sight and we are looking forward to the game hitting shelves and then getting into some online matches with the community.