Battlefield 2142 Preview

E3 2006 First Look Preview

The Battlefield series has been one of the premier online shooting experiences on the PC in recent years, and after last year’s excellent Battlefield 2, it doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. The series has had entries in WWII, the Vietnam War and in modern times. Now, the series is making its transition into the future. Battlefield 2142 is the next game in the series, taking the fight out of authentic, historical or modern battlegrounds and putting it into the realm of the unknown. However, the game will still retain the intense firefights found in previous entries as well as some great new features and game modes. For fans of the Battlefield franchise or shooters in general, Battlefield 2142 should be right up their alley when it’s released.

The story in Battlefield 2142 takes place in the future (in the year 2142, of course) after the polar ice caps have frozen over most of the world, pushing the entire population into a very small spot on the planet. This leads to huge over-population problems and lack of resources and food, which naturally leads to lots of fighting. You can play as the two different coalitions, each comprised of several different nations from Western civilization and Pan-Asian areas as they are deadlocked in a fight for survival.

Even though the conflict takes place a good century and a half in the future, the battle is not fought with lasers or other sci-fi weaponry, but rather good old fashioned guns and bullets. However, you do have a good amount of futuristic tools to assist you in battle. The tools at your disposal are still fairly grounded in a “Rock, Paper, Scissors” balancing system, so you’ll have to use them responsibly to succeed.

Among the new tools is active camouflage, which makes you nearly invisible. There are the obvious perks to this, like being able to sneak up on enemies to get the drop on them. However, while in active camo mode, you can’t shoot or attack, putting you at somewhat of a disadvantage as once you go for a kill, your cover is blown.

Another new tool is the Gundrome, which is a floating/scanning robo-buddy that can assist you in spotting and shooting down foes. While it is a good thing to have around, the negatives of having one floating over your head is the fact that it gives away your cover and makes you an easy target for snipers.

One awesome thing about the Battlefield series is the inclusion of tons of vehicles at your disposal. Battlefield 2142 will add to this by giving you access to loads of futuristic vehicles, including tanks and futuristic Hummvees as well as mech units to pilot around the battlefield. You also have four different classes to choose from when playing the game: Recon, Assault, Anti-Vehicle and Support.

The meat of the Battlefield gameplay is housed in its robust online modes, and Battlefield 2142 won’t disappoint, with support for 32 players per skirmish and great new gameplay modes to keep things fresh. One new game mode that was highlighted is the Titan mode, which centers around the Titans - huge, flying civilian vehicles previously used to transport people away from the ice now enlisted as the backbone of a country’s military might. In Titan mode, your ultimate goal is to take out an enemy Titan by getting aboard and blowing it up from the inside. The way to get up onto a floating Titan is to literally shoot yourself onto it via the POD system, which encapsulates your soldier into a POD and fires him into the sky and onto the deck of the Titan. This mode is terribly cool, and once you begin to explode the enemy Titan, you have a short window to bust out of there and jump off of the Titan before the whole thing goes up.

Battlefield 2142 is turning up to be a robust online experience in the legacy of its predecessors and should be a great experience for fans of the series.

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