As much as Battlefield 1942 had a noteworthy dent on online gaming, Battlefield 2 subsequently took things to yet another level, adding inspiring features to re-focus the game on specific teamplay features to help make the game better rounded and accommodating to massive online environments. Now, EA Games has revealed that they will be continuing their foray into online competitive gaming with Battlefield 2142, a new squad-based multiplayer combat title. After hearing about the game following its announcement a little while ago, I was actually a little skeptical; would this product actually introduce a unique and interesting online gaming experience, or would it basically be Battlefield 2 with giant robots? I made sure to find the time to stop in at EA’s booth during E3 to try and answer this question.

Impressively, it looks like the developers have actually been working to improve and expand upon the gameplay for Battlefield 2142, and a representative from EA Games was kind enough to walk me through some of the new features. For starters, I found it very interesting to see some of the promised class customization in action. Now, players actually have more than a couple of weapons (depending on what’s unlocked) to choose from, as thanks to a drag-and-drop interface, players will now be able to select from a variety of different toys to kit their soldier out with, such as grenades, mobile beacons (to enable them to become a spawn point), cloaking devices, and even portable floating defense turrets that will follow a player around and fire automatically at nearby enemies. There will also be many more primary weapon variations to choose from, and allegedly the final game will feature a tremendously larger quantity of unlockable items than that of Battlefield 2.

The gameplay type being demoed at E3 focused on the “Titan” scenario, in which two major capital ships were based on a map floating some ways above the sky, ready to duke it out with one another. The focus of the mission was to gain control of several missile silos on the map, which (after a period of time) would launch their payload at the non-controlling team’s capital ship until its shields went down. After this, players then need to board the ship and work to gut it from the inside until it’s destroyed. Of course it sounds cool on paper, but I was very eager to take the controls to find out for myself how exactly this would turn out. I quickly found after taking command that the floating Titans presented an interesting tactical problem, as unless you had control of an aircraft, it seemed impossible to actually reach them. That was when I was introduced to one of the game’s other cool options; the APC. The armored personnel carriers in the game actually feature launch-pods, so by jumping into the correct spot and aiming just right, you can launch yourself from the vehicle through the air, and (if lucky) will land right on the deck of the Titan, ready to kick ass. This kind of vehicle option also yielded more intriguing possibilities for dropping behind enemy lines in land-based warfare, though sadly I didn’t have time to explore these options more thoroughly.

As a matter of fact, the vehicles overall represent quite a cool draw single-handedly. Granted, this was the same kind of effect I observed in Battlefield 2, but while playing 2142, I couldn’t help but stop on the battlefield every now and then and stare in awe as a jeep roared over the landscape while being pursued by a tank, or when one of the new Mech units tried to duke it out with a harassing aircraft. Thanks to the game’s integrated physics engine, the vehicle handling looks very realistic and smooth and is a real pleasure to watch and experience first-hand. Graphically the game has also gotten an appreciable face-lift – many of the latest graphical effects are now directly supported by the engine, and the special effects (such as the sparks from bullets impacting against an armored vehicle’s hull) look really cool. As an interesting side note, Battlefield 2142 also looks to be PC-exclusive this time around – no Xbox 360 release seems to be planned, but given the sheer amount of work required to change the game’s predecessor over to it’s console-based cousin, I’m not surprised.

When all is said and done, I suppose one could almost say that Battlefield 2142 is to Battlefield 2 what Vietnam was to 1942, but it seems the developers are still trying to take steps to expand it beyond that. The is still going to rely very heavily on careful teamwork and co-ordination to really bring the “fun factor” into shine however, so if you’re not the kind of gamer who works well with others and didn’t enjoy Battlefield 2 as a result, don’t expect this new title to magically become fun. Any dedicated gamer who did take full advantage of the teamwork facilities in Battlefield 2 will find an incredible novelty out of the new options available from this latest product however, so I’d recommend firing up that microphone and calling back those old buddies for a new round of combat. Watch for Battlefield 2142 to hit the PC market later this year. - Dave VanDyke.