Publisher: EA
Developer: Digital Illusions CE
Release Date: 09-10-2002
Score: 8.9/10.0
Gallery: Click here (18).
Graphics/Physics
Water
Battlefield 1942's water, though not the greatest we've seen to date in games (eg. Halo's), is handled nicely by the game's engine. It adds to the overall ambiance correctly, not too shiny/bright (Tribes 2) and not just an impediment (other FPS: Half Life, Quake, etc..). My only complaint is its lack of transparency until you get close to the shore. Landscapes
The obvious requirement of outdoor maps in a WW2 game can put many games to shame, but Battlefield's engine: the Refractor 2 engine, displays those historical locales with grace and beauty. Most of the game's maps are true-to-life, or at least re-create the original battle in such a way as to bring you back to the early 1940's.
Explosions
Battlefield's explosions are some of the coolest we've seen in a first-person shooter. For instance, if you fire a tank-shell near a group of soldiers, you'll see their pathetic remains fly farther than Jessie Owens in the Olympic triple-jump. The water-based explosions are nifty as well, nothing beats dropping pairs of depth-charges off of the stern of your destroyer.
Flight
It's not often that you get to see airplanes in a first person shooter, and even when they are present, the flight mechanics are almost always overly simplified and unwieldy (Most notably: Tribes 2). Battlefield 1942's airplanes are able to loop, roll, and even fly up-side down for miles. When you're hit by enemy flak or you take a few .50 bullets, the airplane will lurch forward and spew black smoke from the rear; now there's only one thing left to do, eject! As you fall from the sky, you'll appreciate the fact that you can steer your 'chute towards the nearest friendly base. The guys at DICE pulled off flight with flying colors, no pun intended. Sound Immersion
Music
Battlefield's orchestrated soundtrack is nothing short of invigorating. The patriotic beat of the music gets you ready to fight as maps are loading, or you are browsing around in the game's gui. My only complaint on the music of BF1942 is the fact that you cannot enable it during gameplay!
Effects
Do you remeber when you would hear the artillery shells exploding, and MG 42 fire going off in the background of movies such as Saving Private Ryan or docu-dramas like Band of Brothers? Well, imagine those sounds again.. but that they're actually happening! You could be standing next to your team's newly captured flag when you hear a tank shell whiz by your left side; all you can do is run, because the next one won't miss.
Bugs
Some system conflicts
It doesn't matter how hard I try reinstalling drivers, rebooting my computer, and flicking off the monitor, I cannot seem to get Battlefield running on my second box (Athlon XP 1900, 512 Megs DDR 2100, and GeForce 4 4200). It just doesn't want to work on that computer, and to add fuel to the flames EA hasn't responded to my Technical support request yet (it has been over three weeks).
Laggy Netcode
Battlefield tends to have less-than-favorable packet-loss in a lot of their servers. This, admittedly, is a problem easily fixed by future patches, but it is an annoyance we'll have to deal with until then.
Gameplay
Vehicles
Land
Wether you're rumbling through the streets of Berlin in a tank or going for a joyride in a kubelwagen, Battlefield brings a whole new level of fun to ground vehicles. The guys at DICE were going for arcade-style physics rather than a true-to-life simulation when they added the following land vehicles to the game:
Tanks:Mk.IV Panzer (Axis)
M7 Priest (Allied)
M4 Sherman (Allied)
Tiger (Axis)
Wespe (Axis)
M10 Wolverine (Allied)
Automobiles:
Overland Jeep (Allied)
VW Kubelwagen (Axis)
APC:
Hanomag Halftrack (Axis)
M3 Halftrack (Allied)
Air
After each thundering explosion during a bombing run and every heated dogfight, your body pleads for more adrenaline to power your senses so you can kill more roundeyes in your Zero. Battlefield pulls off flight like no other First Person Shooter before it, our only complaint here is about the n00bs on servers who enjoy planting mines on the runway. Here's a list of the game's sources of death from above:
Fighter/Bombers: P-51 Mustang (Allied)
SBD-6 Dauntless (Allied)
F4U Corsair (Allied)
Messerschmitt Bf 109e (Axis)
Ju 87b Stuka (Axis)
A6M Zero (Axis)
D3A1 Val (Axis)
Yak-9 (Allied)
Spitfire Mk VB (Allied)
Heavy bombers:
B17 Flying Fortress (Allied)
Sea
When I heard that Battlefield would be sporting the WW2 Navys I about wet my pants from this one thought: Submarines! Nothing beats taking down an enemy Battleship while you point and laugh from periscope-depth. The Battlefield 1942 Armada is as follows:
Landing Craft: Dai-Hatsu 14M (Axis)
Higgns Boat (Allied)
Destroyers:
Akizuki Class (Axis)
Fletcher Class (Allied)
Battleships:
HMS Prince of Wales (Allied)
Yamato Class (Axis)
Submarines:
GATO-Class (Allied)
Type VII C U-Boat (Axis)
Carriers:
Shokaku Class (Axis)
USS Enterprise (Allied)
Player Classes
Scout
The "Sniper" class of Battlefield 1942 - they come with (Of Course) a sniper rifle, hand grenades, Colt or Luger, some nifty binoculars, and the knife. Watch out for these guys when you're manning the machine guns on the tanks, they'll tend to pick you off first.
Assault
Probably the most basic of the classes, just empty your Rifle's clip into the enemy's belly and you're mission is complete . The Assault guys come with the same extra equipment as the Scouts, minus the binoculars.
Anti-tank
Every WW2 game has the requesite "rocket launcher" guy, and Battlefield does not dissappoint in this area. Playing as the Anti-Tank class lands you with either the Panzershrek or the Bazooka as well as the same extras that come with the Assault class.
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
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