Battlefield 2142

Battlefield 2142 Cover

Category:

First Person Shooter

Platforms:

PC

Released:

2006

My Experience:

20+ hours online

Rating:

Should Play

Overview

Battlefield takes on the future where technology rules. 2142 is based on the Battlefield 2 engine and introduced features found in many newer Battlefield games such as class customization, dog tags and motion mines. Three multiplayer game modes can be played: Titan, Conquest, Assault lines. Conquest is the classic Battlefield game mode where each team fights for flag control. Assault lines starts one team with total flag control while the other team must advance to capture all flags. Single player is the most lacking of any Battlefield Title, do not buy this if you don't want to play online.

The most unique aspect of 2142 is the Titan game mode. Titan mode adds to the classic conquest mode by giving both teams a giant Titan airship in which they must defend while attempting to destroy the enemy (see the tutorial video below). Titan mode requires your team to be more flexible and make an overall tactical decision:

  • Should we attack the enemy Titan to do max damage?
  • Should we defend our Titan to prevent max damage?
  • Should we continue the ground Conquest battle to slowly damage the enemy Titan?

Your team must find and exploit the enemy's weakness in those same 3 areas.

Vehicles

  • Battle Walker - A mecha walker equipped with machine guns and rockets
  • Tread Tank - A tank that uses treads, equipped with cannon and machine guns
  • Hover Tank - A tank that can move in any direction, equipped with cannon and machine guns
  • APC - A mobile spawn point that can launch enemies onto enemy titans, equipped with EMP, machine guns and weak cannons
  • Assault Car - A quick vehicle equipped with machine gun and speed boost
  • Gunship - Fast aircraft equipped with rockets and machine guns
  • Air Transports - Slower aircraft which sometimes act as mobile spawns, equipped with machine guns

Infantry Classes

    You must unlock and select which tools to use for each class. Below are some of the options to choose from.
  • Recon - sniper rifle, weak assault rifle, detonation packs, claymores, partial invisibility
  • Assault - assault rifles, shotgun/rocket attachment, defibrillator, health pack, tactical grenades
  • Engineer - guided rockets, anti-vehicle rifle, anti-air rockets, anti-vehicle tracking mines, emp mines
  • Support - machine guns, shotgun, sentry gun, infantry shield, ammo pack, enemy tracker

Northern Strike Booster Pack

The Northern Strike booster pack included access to new maps and class abilities. A patch now gives everyone access to the Northern Strike maps but I do not know if it also gives everyone access to the class abilities. You must complete the Northern Strike awards to gain unlock points (great for a low-level player). Click to see Northern Strike awards.

Northern Strike maps introduce two new vehicles: the Goliath and Speeder. The Goliath is a self-repairing slow unit with powerful weapons and spawn point. The enemy must destroy 7 generators located on the outside to prevent it from repairing. The Speeder holds two infantry and is equipped with machine gun, grenade launcher, guided missile and speed boost.

Then

For whatever reason I never looked into Battlefield 2142, BF 1942 was keeping me satisfied (and I disliked Battlefield 2). Many loved this game, and many saw it as an overpriced BF2 mod.

Now

The game certainly shows its age; the controls are a bit clunky and the class customization/upgrading isn't as smooth as it should be. But aside from that the game is a lot of fun if you can stand the slower-paced 'old-school' Battlefield styles of BF1942 or BF2. This is definitely a vehicle-heavy game, if you are looking for intense infantry-only combat then you probably should avoid this title. The learning curve is also a tad high for FPS, but with 20 hours of play, practice and minor research you should be dominating in no time.

Battlefield Veterans

Many old-school Battlefield players have a preference of either BF 1942 or BF2. This game stands alone so don't let that preference turn you away. I cannot stand BF2, but the setting and layout of 2142 removes the ridiculousness I saw in BF2.

The Good

  • Unique Titan game mode which allows for ground conquest and ship-assault
  • Distant-future setting not overly-common in FPS
  • Class customization which allows for a variety of infantry types

The Bad

  • Somewhat clunky controls and menu
  • High learning curve
  • Slow unlock progression speed compared to today's games

Quick Tips

  • Research class upgrades to make unlock decisions that fit your play-style
  • If you play multiple classes, unlock the Player Upgrades first because they effect every class
  • The engineer is the obvious anti-vehicle class, but also try an invisible recon detonation pack setup
  • Join a squad - on the spawn select menu press 'Squad'
  • Switch the Assault Rifle to single fire mode (press the Assault Rifle button again) for long-range firefights
  • Remember to deploy vehicle countermeasures to block damage

Media

  • Intro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk4wEAO07hM
  • Titan Tutorial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9m58Vol1c
  • Pre-Alpha Demonstration - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUyJJMuq2js