Medic
Another required featur in any good war game is the medic. BF1942 Medics carry a submachine gun, grenades, the knife, a colt/luger, and yes - a Med-Kit. As far as public servers go, the Medic is not the most widely played character. Probably due to it's weak primary weapon, and the fact that people in pubs don't give a monkey's nuts wether you die or not. One bonus about the medic, though, is that you can heal yourself.
Engineer
Engineers are the most versatile of Battlefield's player classes. They come with the same rifle used with the Scout but without a scope, grenades, colt/luger, knife, mines, AND dynamite. The mines are triggered when something heavy rolls on top of them, but the dynamite (my personal favorite) can be detonated remotely. Its usually a lot of fun to plant 4 sticks of dynamite on a major roadway, and when an enemy tank comes rolling through, WHAM! Hit them with their own personalized can of whoop-ass.
Single Player
Campaign
Battlefield 1942 went for a quick and dirty approach to the first person shooter campaign paradigm. Really, all you do is play through the game's 16 maps in the four WW2 Theatres: Pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and North Africa. DICE did a great job on Battlefield's enemy AI, but they did not seem to put a lot of thought into an in-depth storyline.
Instead, you just take part in the battles as a common soldier. In my opinion, the single-player campaign would have been leaps and bounds ahead of other WW2 games' if only there were a less-linear storyline, or to possibly turn it into a 'quest' for promotions (think: Pilotwings 64, Crazy Taxi, etc.).
Quick-Battle
If you're not quite in the mood for Battlefield's campaign and you dont feel like playing online, you can always fire up a "Quick Battle". You chose your map, setup the difficulty parameters, and you're all set to start the rumble. Quick Battles might prove to be a good source for skills practice, or self-training (The AI can be quite the formidable opponent).
Multiplayer
CTF
The cliche' FPS gametype; capturing The Flag in Battlefield 1942 can become one of the most difficult objectives to accomplish in the game. The enormous maps and solid vehicle integration all add up for some intense Offense v. Defense action, unlike the one-for-all approach often seen in games like UT and Quake 3. Although it is a popular gametype, the fans of Battlefield have adopted another kind as their favorite (and most likely, the future ladder-standard) type: Conquest.
Conquest
Conquest mode involves the heated capture and loss of battlefield position one would likely see in an actual skirmish. Quickly becoming the favorite gametype amongst the community, Conquest is the shift in game play that FPS gamers have been looking for since Deathmatch. Teams start out with a certain number of "tickets" from which they can withdraw for re-spawns. Every map has a set of territory flags that can be captured by either side. A shortage of territory results in both a lack of variety for respawn locations as well as a slow, but steady, decline in the team's ticket count. When all of one team's tickets are gone, or there is nowhere for them to spawn to, the game is over.
Final Thoughts:
In all aspects of gameplay there has never been a first person shooter that comes close to the type of action that Battlefield 1942 pits you against. The vehicles and player classes were executed almost flawlessly, adding to the overall "feel" of the game; multiplayer team-based action will never be the same. As far as the lag and the instability on various systems, Battlefield has lost a few points there. If you are considering buying BF1942, I would first make sure it will work on your computer.
Pros:
-Massive battles
-Plenty of vehicles
-Killer soundtrack
-Awesome re-play value
-Submarines!
Cons:
-Laggy
-Rare System-Conflicts
-Shallow Campaign
Related Links:
Official Web Site
BF1942 Match.com
