The Battlefield series of games has used its tried and true method of game play through each incarnation of games throughout each title. Although the game play is the same, only certain titles in the series have become fan favorites. The original Battlefield 1942 was the first foray into the battlefield series and introduced gamers to the vast battle grounds and the ability to jump into vehicles to increase playability and create additional attacks on their foes. EA decided to continue with BF 1942 by releasing more than a couple expansion packs including Road to Rome and Secret Weapon of WWII. Although not many of the expansions caused much hubbub with players, many people were still playing 1942 in one form or another with community created mods. One such mod was Desert Combat, which brought the modern day vehicles and weapons of the gulf war into the same great game play that Battlefield 1942 used. After 1942 was a runaway success, EA and DICE tried their hands at Battlefield Vietnam which unfortunately didn’t raise as much of a following as its predecessor and was quickly forgotten. After BF Vietnam failed as a full game release, EA decided to run with the Desert Combat theme and came up with Battlefield 2. Battlefield 2 became popular with the 1942 crowd and is still quite popular to this day. So with all the battlefields pretty much covered from past to present, there was only one way to go – to the future.

The Battlefield series takes a leap into the 22nd century, to the year 2142, to a war torn earth that is mostly covered in ice and snow. The world is split up into two factions that are locked in combat to take control of what’s left of the Earth and will stop at nothing to make sure that each comes out the victor. The two superpowers that are at odd against each other are the European Union and the Pan Asian Coalition, the two military groups that are the culmination of the largest countries in the world. With the preview that we were able to play, there was only one game play mode, which is a new mode to the Battlefield series entitled Titan Assault mode, where each team needs to capture and take control of missile silos, which when captured, will fire off rockets to attack the enormous Titan airship that each team has hovering ominously in the air, high above the battle ground. Although the full version of the game will have other modes, Titan mode is a unique and entertaining mode that will be taking up a lot of server time. Once enough missile silos have been taken over and the Titans have taken enough beatings from the rockets impacting them, their shields will drop and allow teams to enter the behemoths on foot by landing on them via air transports and take them down from the inside by destroying the reactor inside.

The visuals of the game are crisp and clear; the calmness of snow falling mixed with the chaotic explosions surrounding you at any given time, create a believable and encompassing atmosphere across the frozen and barren landscape. Although it is an ice and snow covered world you find yourself in, it really is quite plain and boring on the one map, Verdun, which we were playing on. As for being in the year for 2142, war torn and ravaged or not, it just seems odd that the buildings and structures scattered about the map are what you would see in today’s day and age. There are large barrier walls with watch towers that are constructed at certain points on the map, but other than that, there’s nothing about the landscape that would tell you it was almost a hundred and forty years in the future. Hopefully other maps that come with the full version of the game will portray the feeling of the future better, along with more diversity.

All Battlefield games are known for the wide assortment of vehicles and classes they allow characters to use and thankfully, 2142 follows the same mold, introducing some new vehicles and some updated versions of modern day armaments. Each team basically has the same vehicles at their disposal, ranging from tanks that hover across the terrain on a blue glow, quick moving dune buggy style jeeps and air transports that can be used to carry a squad of soldiers across long distances in a hurry. Single person attack ships can zip across the map raining fire from the sky, APC carriers can load up and transport a number of troops at once, while the ultra-cool mech style walkers that look like they were pulled out of Mechwarrior, shake the earth as they stomp their way across it. Each team will need to use the vehicles available to them quite often as running across the vast map can be a long, tiring and not to mention, quite boring hike. Vehicles are equipped with weapons ranging from assault cannons, heat seeking rockets, mortars and EMP grenades, which by the way, is the most satisfying way of taking down an air transport while in flight. Players can jump in and out of vehicles as easily as they could in previous games, just allowing the vehicle to come near you will let you hop in and go for a ride.

Along with futuristic vehicles, each army is armed to the teeth with not-so futuristic weapons to help turn the tide of war in their favor. Each class of soldier, whether it is Recon, Assault, Engineer or Support has his own assortment of weapons designed for their specialty. As players rack up kills and points for helping defend or take over capture points, players will move towards promotions and will increase in rank. As players gain ranks, they are able to unlock weapons and items, such as barriers to use for cover, grenades, turrets and other items of destruction that they can use in battle to their advantage. Players can also customize themselves by selecting what weapons they want to bring with them into battle as well as choosing the armor that you want to wear, which will effect your stamina duration and consequently, how much damage you can take before you are face down. Each team has a squad commander that is able to issue commands to the rest of the team, setting waypoints and leading charges on specific targets. At the beginning of each round, players can vie for the position of squad commander to see if they have what it takes.

For those thinking that the series needs to change what has worked for them in the past, Battlefield 2142 keeps the familiar and proven game play that made the series so popular in the first place, while bringing some new features to the table; case in point, the addition of the Titan mode. Although the beta version we were able to play had one enormous bug in it, where the Titan would suddenly glitch up and anyone that was aboard it fighting would fall through the bottom and take a nose dive to the ground far, far below to their waiting deaths. It was a bug that made trying to win the round frustrating, but there was something to notice. Even though this bug was present, people still kept on playing. That has to say something about how fun it is finally getting to board a Titan, whether you end up falling to your death or not. There’s no doubt that this bug and many other smaller ones will be fixed, and many people, myself included, will be looking forward to playing the full and completed version when the game ships in late October.