Battlefield 2: Special Forces [PC]

Hang onto your loadout kits -- the Battlefield 2 expansion is here. If any single individual were ever found guilty of depriving so many people of jobs, sleep, gainful employment, or girlfriends, they would probably get life in prison. EA does it... and they make money. Go figure. Special Forces isn't a huge expansion of the engrossing experience that is Battlefield 2... but it's enough.

Special Forces showcases a total of six different flavors of "elite" troops, including British SAS, Russian Spetznas, U.S. Navy SEALs, Middle Eastern Coalition ("MEC") Special Forces, and two skews of raggedy-ass "rebel" groups. As with the main game, each newly introduced faction is broken down into the distinct standing character classes. They come by land, sea, and air, and the overall pace of the combat has taken a turn for the sneakier, meaner, and nastier. This includes night vision, chemical warfare, and tools to give players unprecedented access to and across all points of the battleground.

There will doubtless be much player debate on the new approach; it's all a matter of how seriously you want to take the depiction of modern-era conflict. Start with the core fun and fluidity of Battlefield 2, and focus on really punishing the player who habitually rushes in where angels fear to tread, and you've got a good, first-base understanding of the urban, close-quarters places to which Special Forces can take you. New tech and new tricks are all focused on using your enemy's over-eagerness against him, Judo-style.

For starters: An all-purpose grappling hook allows determined players to scale any building face or obstruction within range. And crossbow-fired zip-lines shoot a propelled, anchored line to points below, allowing individual soldiers -- or entire squads, if they have their rapid-deployment act together -- to quickly and safely sail down from rooftops to the thickest of street-action, or to the safest of escape routes.

Speaking of which, Special Forces is designed to intentionally focus on firefights (although new vehicles are given run of the battleground, too). Accordingly, there are greater numbers and concentration of cover points in the eight new maps, some of which are really interesting. They include dynamic environs and striking center-pieces, like the dramatic missile-launch site and an entire American aircraft carrier.

For every brand of soldier, there's an antipersonnel counter... and for every counter, there is a counter-counter. The new tear gas obviously distorts the visuals and hampers the movement rates and effective combat ability of the targets (plus doling out some nominal, but potentially cumulative, damage). The gas mask neutralizes most the gas-saturated battlefield, at the cost of movement and some visibility.