Battlefield 2

Multiplayer takes spot-light, in the near-future...

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If there's one thing the PC's good for it's first-person shooters. The consoles may claim to have the edge with the legendary Goldeneye, but the PC can respond to that with any number of triple A first-person shooter games. And, of course, we can't forget the most important thing of all; the PC has a mouse and a keyboard at its disposal.

Which brings me neatly on to the dichotomy facing the Battlefield series. It's about to diversify from its PC roots with an attempt to win over the console community with its 'opposing armies blow each other up and maybe capture a flag' gameplay. But already, from looking at the demonstration videos and such, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (for the PS2, PSP and Xbox) looks slow, awkward to control and, most distressingly of all, infected with single-player aspects. Sadly it's those kind of compromises you have to make with console FPS games. Not only does everything turn into a curse-your-controller-for-being-so-inaccurate experience but you also have to accept that some people (I feel like filth just saying this) don't have internet connections. I mean really, in this day and age. The government should make sure things like this never happen. Online Battlefield for all, it's an election winner in my book.

Fortunately that's as far as I need to go with Battlefield 2: Modern conflict, my attention today is directed towards what I, and many others, consider to be the greatest online FPS series around. The Second World War is over but never forgotten, the Vietnam war is just a distant smell of Napalm, say hello to global positioning satellites, tyrannical middle-eastern states and shock and awe tactics. Battlefield 2 for the PC is nearly upon us.

Of course, this is not the first time that the Battlefield series has ventured into the modern theatre of war. The very popular Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 has been around for over two years and is based on modern warfare. In fact, it proved to be so successful that Battlefield developers Digital Illusions bought the team responsible, Trauma Studios, and now have them working on a Battlefield 2 related project.

What sets Battlefield apart from its contemporaries is its wholesale use of all forms of military weaponry and logistics. From battleships to bikes, from rocket launchers to med kits, the wide variety of choice gives gamers many different ways in which to play the game. And the tactics used in real life conflict do reflect what goes on in the Battlefield games. If your team gains air superiority the chances are you'll win the battle, and tanks can be brought down by a single and stealthy soldier - brute force is not always the answer. Games before Battlefield focused on one aspect of war, whether it was jets, tanks or soldiers. Battlefield introduced us to the total battlefield experience within a single game and its influence is clear to see in games such as Unreal Tournament 2004 with Battlefield style game modes.

I hope I've done enough to convince you of Battlefield's rightful place at the top of the online FPS tree because I'm now going to explain why it's going to cement its place there for another couple of years.

Battlefield 2 will be set ever so slightly in the future meaning the developers can toy around with the teams represented in the game and introduce current weapon and vehicle technology as well as some prototype stuff. The three teams you can choose between are the US, China and a conglomeration of Arab states know as the Middle Eastern Collation (MEC). This all sounds politically sensitive stuff but the developers have a well-founded reputation for representing countries and armies without due bias (it never felt uncomfortable being a Nazi or a member of the Vietcong in the previous two titles). The MEC won't be a ragbag bunch of camel herders and terrorists (as was represented in Command and Conquer: Generals), they will simply be another team with a modern army to choose from.

Vehicles will include many well know designs such as the M1A tank, the Hummer and the F18 Super Hornet - all American weapons of choice obviously. Don't, however, expect the Americans to be the all powerful evil overlords that they are in the real world (whoops, did I just say evil?), one of Battlefield's top priorities is always its balance between the opposing factions - most notably seen when the M60 machine in BF: Vietnam got a massive and immediate overhaul for being far too powerful. The Chinese and the MEC will have subtle differences in the types of weaponry they have on offer (including the Type 98 tank and the Mi-28 Havoc Gunship) but it will be equal to and, in some cases, superior to what the Americans have on offer.

The other significant change in what's on offer to players will be the addition of some more soldier classes. The two most notable inclusions are the special ops and support classes. Special ops soldiers will rely on stealth and speed to get around the battlefield while support soldiers trudge around the landscape in heavy body armour with massive mini-gun like weaponry at their fingertips. These hints towards mobility and armour (or health) are interesting in themselves, as previous BF games do not delve into such matters. If this is the case, team and character class balancing will be even more important and difficult to implement, but previous titles such as Team Fortress Classic prove that it can be done.

The roles of individual classes will be more important and emphasis will be placed on support characters actually doing some work this time. Medics will have to drop medical supplies themselves in the same way support units have to distribute ammo to other players.

In BF 2 each team will be assigned a squad leader which will be based on their online BF ranking (another tasty addition meaning you can keep track of your stats). The squad leader will not actively take part in the battle (which, from a personal point of view puts me right off the idea) but will have an overview of the battle and be able to spy on enemy positions, drop supplies and call in air strikes. While BF has always encouraged teamwork it was often the case that many players disappeared and did their own thing - I was guilty of this many a time, mainly because I had no confidence in my fellow team mates - but in BF 2 it seems that teamwork, rather than a couple of ace players flying planes, will win the day.

Environment wise the game will be based around the Arab regions and Manchuria. The developers promise (and I have little reason to doubt them) that maps will have all the usual diversity despite the stereotype we might have of the Arab regions simply being desert. Expect massive mountain range style maps as well as tightly knit urban warfare maps - all of which will auto balance by adding and removing equipment depending on how many players are on the server at any given time.

In focusing so much on all these little gameplay tweaks it has come to my attention (actually, its come to the attention of the editor's brutal whipping stick) that I haven't mentioned once how astonishingly good BF 2 looks and plays. The step in terms of graphics is extreme with an entirely new graphics engine giving sharp detail and dynamic shadows - there's one trailer that shows that the collision detection is that accurate you can fire missiles through the windows of helicopters and out the other side. It's enough to make you salivate... or crap your pants if you've got a low-spec machine. The game will run slightly faster than previous BF games which is only natural given the technological advances of the weaponry involved in the game.

In fact, the weaponry does wrangle as a bone of contention. I often found the Desert Combat mod for BF: 1942 somewhat detached and impersonal; you could despatch enemies from afar with super-duper weapons without even seeing them. There was none of the intimacy of a good old fire fight so prevalent in BF 1942. This is something I fear will happen with BF 2. However, it would seem I have cause to be optimistic because BF 2 will emphasise the technological advances in counter measures too. For example, if you're in a tank and a missile locks onto you, you'll get a warning noise and can launch smoke grenades in order to escape. The developers are calling it a 'cat and mouse' affair. It all sounds very interesting.

Battlefield 2 is a hotly anticipated game and I for one can't wait for its release. In the time since BF 1942 almost all serious gamers have got their hands on high-speed internet access paving the way for online internet gaming. We can hack complex net code these days and it has enabled to Digital Illusions to produce an incredibly deep piece of software with a great number of interesting nuances and touches that should make Battlefield 2 the next step in team-based online first-person-shooting.

Let's just hope low-spec users aren't splash damaged out of the game entirely.

By Rob Wilson