Print Page - BF 2142

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=142169

i have to say that the concept of BF2142 didn't fill me with deep love. It seemed a little obvious somehow - a jump of the shark into the realms of its competitors (UT, Quake Wars et al) that was far removed from the original ethic of its forbears. Initial hands-on impressions didn't help much either. Its bleak, urban feel of a snowy future meant that the whole affair felt quite sparse and featureless, its colour palette well drained of BF2's grime, sand and sun. But then, as so often is the case, my eyes became more fixed and my jaw began to slacken - and I was once more Battlefield's bitch.

As we've previously reported, Battlefield 2142 is very much the Battlefield: Vietnam to Battlefield 2's Battlefield 1942. It's not a true sequel, but a heavily tweaked engine-pal - only this time dragging along with it an exciting new game mode and air vehicles that you don't need a paranormal degree of co-ordination to fly.

My first foray into the Titan mode saw me spawn aboard a massive platform floating above the frosted ruins of a future city - one of the Titans granted to both factions in every bout. The idea runs that players take to bullet-exchanging below the hovering goliaths while attempting to take control of missile silos on the ground - each of which fires off a salvo of death at intervals of two minutes. Missiles are aimed at the Titan of the opposition of whoever is in control of the silo - the ownership of which sways far more wildly than the slow-raising and lowering flags of BF-old.

The map I played had three of these silos, and the start of my game very much revolved around their offence and defence. Or it did for everyone else - much of my personal time revolved around constant futuristic death - by mech, by tank and by the knife of a tricksy backstabber. The pursuit of the latter, interestingly enough, granting my killer a pair of personal dogtags - a new medal for the cabinet that DICE is proffering knife-killers, to make braggers on the internet that much more insanely irritating.

Another new feature, meanwhile, is the way that the game lets you customize your kit on-the-fly - thereby reducing suicide rates map-wide. Once you've unlocked a certain piece of equipment - be it active camouflage for snipers (a Predator-style cloak) or a magnetic vehicle mines, you can select and use them instantaneously. Indeed, the whole kit customisation now allows you to branch out far beyond the rigid classes of yore - or at least that's the current masterplan.

I'M NOT VERY GOOD
While I had been busy dying, however, the enemy had knocked out the shields on my Titan - and boarding and conquering was on the agenda. The enemy Titan was manoeuvred into greater proximity (they're not static you see, they can be piloted by the Commander - giving him a much greater battlefield presence) and jet-pods containing solo players and various enemy aircraft began their airborne infiltration.

I was then cast into a purely defensive role, despite being there, if I'm being honest, more of a human shield capacity than anything more pro-active. In the bowels of the Titan, and feeling more than a little nostalgic for my many months of PlanetSide addiction of times past, it was up to us to defend four terminals - the destruction of which would leave the ship's core exposed and enemy victory conditions open for the taking.

Needless to say we lost, failed, choked and buggered it up - there was no Ice Age-endangered land won for the Pan Asian Coalition that day. I did, however, come away with a growing awareness that a future-set Battlefield isn't such an inherently bad thing after all. I mean, I even managed to fly without crashing in flames to the delighted 'lol's' of my team-mates - what with the future clearly having provided techno-stabilisers for the flight-inept.

BF2142 isn't some delightfully escapist future jaunt (it doesn't come equipped with jet-powered rocket pants, previously unseen outside the fictional serial 'Robbie Rocket Pants'), and has more than retained the grit, grime and occasional, unintentional, inanity of its predecessors. Count me as converted then. Roll on the 22nd century.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=142297

We've just returned from a trip to not-so-sunny Sweden to visit Digital Illusions, maker of the epic Battlefield series, to see how the newest entry Battlefield 2142 is shaping up.

We'll be bringing you a full report and an interview with the design team in the very near future, but during the course of a very interesting look at the game, senior producer Marcus Nilsson went on the record to tell us that BF2142 will be "A lot less buggy than Battlefield 2 - and you can write that down." Which we now duly have.

Nilsson was responding to many fans' criticisms of Battlefield 2, which saw a number of patches post release to fix bugs and exploits for the epic online shooter. Nilsson added that the team were taking the quality threshold extremely seriously this time around and would be setting a higher benchmark in QA to ensure Battlefield 2142 would debut as bug-free as possible.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/battlefield2142/news.html?sid=6154034

EA gave us a chance to play Battlefield 2142 at its summer press event, and needless to say, we jumped at the chance. Battlefield 2142 is the next game in the popular multiplayer action franchise, and this one is set almost 150 years in the future, where two factions war for some of the last land on Earth. Like all Battlefield games, it will mix vehicle and infantry combat on maps that support up to 64 players.

Even though we recently saw the game at developer DICE's Stockholm offices, this gave us a chance to see another new map. In this case, we played on City Power Plant, which is an unusual name, since the other maps that we've seen have been based on actual places, such as Verdun and Gibraltar. This level features a river cutting through the middle of the map, with bridges connecting both sides and various industrial buildings scattered throughout. The wide-open nature of this map makes it perfect for not only vehicle battles with the walkers and tanks, but also for Titan mode, as well, which is the mode that we played. The job of our 16-man team was to destroy the enemy's Titan while defending our own.

The one thing we learned is that it will be hard for an unorganized team to take on an organized team, even if that organized team is composed of EA testers with orders to take it easy on the press. Then again, half of our play session was spent with the various members of the media who were familiarizing themselves with the new weapons and vehicles in the game. All 40 of the game's unlocks were made available for us, so we could experiment with different weapons and equipment. In the regular game, you'll have to earn these unlocks through play, so there's a constant reward structure in place as an incentive to play well.

There are some notable tweaks in the gameplay that are worth mentioning, since many of the conventions found in Battlefield 2 have been changed. Take, for instance, medics. There is no dedicated medic class in Battlefield 2142. Instead, the standard assault class can unlock a medic kit, which can be used to heal you and friendly units. However, you won't be able to scatter multiple kits at the same time. Instead, you're given a single health kit that can be deployed onto the ground. It will not instantly heal a friendly, like Battlefield 2's kits can, but it will slowly heal all friendly units within a small radius. Meanwhile, defibrillators to revive fallen teammates are another unlock.

Even during our brief gameplay session, we got the sense of how essential teamwork is in this game. We were divided into four squads, and the squad leader becomes even more essential than before. For example, not only can squad members spawn in on the squad leader's location, but the squad leader is also the only one that can put various new toys into play, such as a respawn beacon, a sentry gun, and a floating gun droid that gives your squad a bit more firepower.

It's a lot easier to take over the missile silos on the map as a squad. These silos are critical since they're the main way to take down an enemy Titan's shields. Once the shields are down, you must assault the Titan, and again, squad play is the only effective way to go as you battle through the tight confines of the Titan. If you die without having a squad leader or respawn beacon to spawn on, it means you must somehow work your way back up to the Titan again.

Battlefield 2142 feels just as dynamic as its predecessors, but there are enough changes and new features in here to make it feel quite different at times, as well. The game is still in development, and we should see it ship later this year.

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rip| Archives - Public => bf2142 => Topic started by: rip|Jackal on March 21, 2006, 05:22:43 PM