Since everyone has been waiting for my personal review of 2142, I thought I’d post it up… Yes, that was sarcasm.

So, after much prodding by SF_Deviant, I decided to go out and grab a copy of Battlefield 2142. Aalok picked it up as well, so we can all get our FPS fix when were waiting for skills to train up in Eve. My god, my latest skill, Gallente Industrial V, is going to take 28 days!!

It’s Saturday. The sun is shining on the Arizona Desert. I’ve got cabin fever. What’s a guy to do? Why, he climbs aboard his trusty GSX-R750 and motors off into the city to pick up a copy of Battlefield 2142. The Gixxer proves to be the right choice, for traffic today is unusually thick with whitehairs, and asian women. I’m able to weave my way around these steering wheel challenged folks and into our local Best Buy. Yes, Best Buy. I know, I know, I shouldn’t shop there because they are a bunch of belligerent, money grubbing assholes. But, that’s another story.

In I go, and bee-line for the PC Games. A quick hunt finds Battlefield 2142 DVD and then it’s to the shortest cashier line and out of that wretched place. I pause outside by the bike and smoke a cigarette — trying to shake the Best Buy stink off of my jacket. A short wrestle with the bike’s trunk allows me to jam the game into this woefully way too small storage space, and then it’s home to check out the game! WOOT!

At first glance it really felt like a re-skinned Battlefield 2, and why not? It’s a sequel of sorts. Now, I will be the first to admit I’m not properly equipped to compare the twogames since Battlefield 2 wouldn’t let me remap the Crouch key to Shift… That was a show stopper for me. BF2142, however, does allow that so I’m in. :)

Ok, let’s get the bad stuff out of the way. The first thing that really bugged me was the available screen resolutions. No widescreen!? More specifically, no 1680×1050, my native resolution. I’m certain I’m not the only one who runs native at that resolution. Come on EA!! Get with the program! I notice there is no ‘Save’ button for the key control options. That was mildly annoying for me, since I usually butcher the keymap and it takes awhile for me to settle on a format. I found that about 30% of the time, my changes were not saved when I returned to the game. Am I missing something here? Change the key, then back out to the game. At any rate, a ‘Save’ or ‘Apply’ button would be handy for that. Really that’s about all I can find wrong with this game. Lastly, one of the most annoying things in this game is the lack of female toons. Just because of this simple reason, I know there is not chance in hell my wife would ever play (yes I realize chances are low even if there were female toons). At any rate, there are girl gamers out there! Why does EA insist on having a boys club in Battlefield?

What’s good? My god, this is one of the best FPS games I’ve come across. It ranks up there with Half-Life 2, CS:Source, and the original Battlefield 1942. The latest installment has done the franchise good.

Vehicles! You have a plethora of vehicles to choose from. This is a feature that is severely lacking in many shooters, CS:Source for instance. How much better would CS:Source be if you had larger maps, and vehicles? MUCH, my friend, much better. The sounds and video in the game are top notch. They really go a long way toward bringing you into the world and keeping you in there.

The game play really feels like the original. You have the different classes, with different items and capabilities. The Conquest gameplay style is identical to the original also. However, they’ve added some things. We now have a Titan mode which feels to me like a mashup between Conquest mode, and Unreal Tourny’s Assualt gameplay style. I love it! It’s so much fun! It’s also ranked now. You have unlocks you have to earn as your rank progresses. I thought I’d hate that part at first, but it’s really grown on me. It gives it a slight MMO feel, and I’m a big fan of MMOs. :)

So, in short, go get the damn game! It’s worth every penny!