Battlefield 2 [DVD-ROM] [PC]

It's a pretty simple formula: Take a bunch of distinct character classes, add easy-to-drive vehicles, and throw them into a battlefield-shaped playground. Then stand back and let the dynamics of multiplayer gaming work its magic. Sweden-based D.I.C.E. made it happen with Battlefield 1942, and now this full-featured sequel brings advanced technology, newly streamlined gameplay, and that little something extra that makes a game truly great.

The Battlefield games always felt a little cramped, partly from the small level, but mainly from the limited viewing distance. Battlefield 2 rips the lid off that limitation and provides some absolutely stunning vistas. From the oil tanks at the top of Dragon Valley to the precarious perches on the dam level, there are places where you can get a breathtaking sense of how far technology has come by combining an unprecedented amount of detail and distance.

Equally impressive are all the smaller touches, from the signs on the dusty Middle Eastern streets, to the phone wires, to trees shuddering under a hovering helicopter, to the superlative character models and animation. This is the latest technology and it's utterly amazing. This is a good-looking wide-open game that rivals Half-Life 2. Welcome to the next generation, baby!

The price you'll pay is a set of steep system requirements. GeForce 4's are officially obsolete. And if you don't have a gig of RAM yet, you'll need to get on the stick. Don't expect to jack up your resolution and effects like anti-aliasing. Most systems will have to make compromises. But the good news is that the engine is nicely optimized once you've gotten your system comfortable with its demands. This isn't once of those ambitious engines that seems to outstrip the capabilities of the current hardware. Rather, it's a game built to keep looking great for years to come.

The quality of the gameplay is unchanged as far as the basics. But D.I.C.E. hasn't been resting on their laurels. There are a lot of changes in how Battlefield 2 works. Some are subtle, some are overt, but most of them are significant, geared to encouraging teamwork and interaction without compromising the action and accessibility.

A new scoring system rates players on teamwork instead of the number of kills, which does a great job of driving the gameplay. Your points are based on the class you're playing, which is a slightly reworked set of the usual suspects. The onscreen information is customized for the distinct abilities of your class. For instance, the support class, who carries extra ammo, sees a bar over teammates that indicates how much ammo they have left. Medics see a health bar, along with icons on the minimap that point out fallen teammates, who can be revived with shock paddles. Battlefield 2 makes every effort to let you play your class to its fullest.

Equally important is a brand new system for squads. Perhaps the most important element of this is the way you can respawn at your squad leader if you get killed. This single-handedly makes squads a vital part of the gameplay. It also helps that you can use in-game voice chat with your squad members. Your squad leader can easily pass along orders that show up on the screen. It uses elements of Planetside and Joint Operations in a way that's much better adapted to Battlefield's faster paced action.

The commander option is the most dramatic change. It puts a graceful strategic layer over everything. One player can assume the role of commander, which gives him unique tools to help drive the battle. He gets a radar scan to give him a brief god's eye overview of enemy positions, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to expose a smaller area for everyone on his team, a supply drop to replenish and repair everyone in an area, and a mighty artillery bombardment (this allows for some of the game's best graphical touches, providing smoke, flying debris, and a shell-shocked blurry vision effect).

These are his most significant tools, but his voice connection and command interface with squad leaders will prove to be even more significant as players get accustomed to working with this new dynamic. Part of the problem with games like these has been finding a way to reward teamwork without making it hard to just jump in and play. But Battlefield 2 does a wonderful balancing act in this respect.

The single-player game is finally a viable way to play, although there do seem to be points when the supposedly more intelligent bots break down and just clump together at a spawn point. Unfortunately, there's no way to add bots to multiplayer games, and you're limited to playing on the smallest maps (every map scales to three different sizes based on the number of players you want to allow).

The different maps are wonderfully varied. There are dense urban settings crammed with blind corners and hiding places. There are wide open wetlands where getting caught in the open is almost certain death, so you'll want to ride in a vehicle. There are deserts dotted with interesting locations like construction sites and towns and pipelines. There are three sides in the game, but the differences among them don't feel as marked as they were in Battlefield: Vietnam.

Some minor downers include the terrible in-game browser that makes it hard to find and keep track of good servers, and Punkbuster occasionally kicking you for no good reason. But by and large, this is a much more polished released than the previous Battlefields, which really needed a couple of patches to stabilize. Perhaps this level of polish is one advantage of a summer release when you don't have to race to the shelves. Or perhaps D.I.C.E. and Electronic Arts have figured out how to get it right the first time.

With incredible communication tools, top-notch visuals, and a fantastic balance of vehicles and classes, EA has won the battle and the war of online team-based shooters. Battlefield 2 is going to keep you so entertained and so amazed that you won't even notice what a slow gaming summer it is.