Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

What we have with Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is one of the most interesting games in the Battlefield series. This was actually the first game in the series to make the jump to console. Interestingly, while people know this as an Xbox 360 game. It was actually first released back in the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox! It did also make the jump to PC, but as an expansion for Battlefield 2.

Bringing The War

There is a pretty long campaign for you to play through in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and it is actually quite cinematic, even for an older game in the series. There is a war that is happening between NATO and China, but there is an extreme terrorist organization pulling the strings behind the scenes. It is kind of like the thing you would get in a movie and it is pretty well done.

Now I like the idea of the campaign, but this really struggles with some problems with the AI. In the early part of the game, it is ridiculously easy where the AI will basically just stand there and let you shoot them. Later levels though are really, really hard, almost to the point where they are unfair!

War With Friends

When Battlefield 2: Modern Combat was first released this was one of the big online games for the consoles of the day. As a result, there is absolutely no split-screen co-op which is a shame as the servers for this are long dead! Still, multiplayer is perhaps the best aspect of this game as it is so much fun and pure balls to the wall action. Conquest and Capture the Flag are two really fun modes and they are super addictive.

You can play on one of two sides of this war and the matches are really fast-paced. The matches are for up to 24 players which at the time was very impressive. In all the multiplayer is a huge reason as to why so many people liked this game back in the day. I really think that they went above and beyond to make this a game that was as fun as possible.

A Product Of Its Time

Ok so when the game was first released in 2005/2006, I do not think that anyone really had any issues with the controls. However, going back and playing this now is a little bit tough as the controls are not the norm when it comes to a first-person shooter. Things like using B to reload and one of the shoulder buttons to jump make it a rather awkward game to go back and play.

I think that Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is a very interesting game in the Battlefield franchise. I would bet that this is a game that many people are not even aware exists! It is a well-made game and while it may be a bit dated in some places, it is still pretty cool to fire up and check out.

Final Score: 8/10

Pros:

• I like the story that the game tells
• The presentation holds up pretty well
• Kind of crazy that this was released on the PS2
• The multiplayer may not be packed with modes, but it is fun
• A bit of a hidden gem in the franchise

Cons:

• The game has rather dated controls
• The presentation is not the prettiest

I'm not entirely certain if I've become jaded. Like most gamers, after years of playing the latest and greatest titles, I've built up some expectations on the sort of feel and groove I'd like to get from most games. Sometimes this means I'm a really good judge of character, but sometimes it means I'm just a cynical old man who doesn't like anything different. To put it another way, I liked Halo 2, I liked Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, but I did not like Battlefield 2. One of the latest Xbox 360 titles, and many months behind the PS2 and Xbox releases of this title, Battlefield presents a frenetic, rushed, and strangely chaotic environment, without any of the outstanding gameplay that should accompany it.

To begin with, we've got a stock standard shooter, different from the norm in really only two ways. One, you've got a lot more control over your character's movement than normal, particularly the ability to crouch and go prone much quicker and easier than in most titles. That's kinda helpful in a firefight when you need to get out of the way of incoming fire. Second, and in my opinion this was the most interesting feature, you can hot swap between different soldiers on the field of battle. You can be gunning away one second as a rifleman, then jump into a tank for some vehicle on vehicle action, and then round it out with a rocket launcher as you use a heavy weapons expert to take down an enemy chopper. Finally, the weaponry is more realistic in that it doesn't take much to kill an enemy soldier. That said, there was a sad lack of good tactics on the part of the enemy, resulting in combats where I killed a lot of enemies really easily, while they ran around and managed to kill my teammates with similar efficiency.

This all changes when you go online. Playing this game with a team against other people is a blast. Many of the game's problems seem to vanish entirely when you're facing a real opponent that can do just as good a job as you can. Plus, there's a huge range of calculated statistics that help you put your foot on the online scoreboards, even if you're playing single player, so there's that additional kudo.

Visually, although I appreciated the work on art direction in this game, I found the game's presentation to be chaotic and hard to filter. In most of the levels I found myself hunting around for enemies that blended in with the game background pretty damn well, leading to some of the more confusing firefights I've ever been in. One nice note for the audio is that there's an army talk option, I presume to enable and disable dialogue you'd hear in actual combat, but beyond that the game was forgettable. I think Dale Dye had a role as a voice actor there somehow, and that at least is a plus.

Mostly, this game is just another semi-realistic FPS. I'd say it only stands out as being an Xbox 360 title, and even then it's following late on the heels of the previous-gen releases. If you don't play on Xbox Live, steer clear, this game just isn't worth the cost.