Battlefield 2142 [PC]

Now in its fourth iteration, the Battlefield series, which started with Battlefield 1942, jumps into the far future. A new ice age is ravaging the planet and the major powers have consolidated into the EU (European) and PAC (Russian) forces. Both sides are fighting for control over what little hospitable land is presumably left. Sure, the story's on the thin side, but no one plays Battlefield for its single-player mode or epic tales. We play because it offers massive, team-based, first-person shooter action, and Battlefield 2142 continues to deliver just that.

Battlefield veterans will immediately note similarities to Battlefield 2, in-part because the core game engine is shared between the two games. By choosing to upgrade the existing engine rather than create it from scratch, DICE cut its development time and kept the base system requirements relatively low. This is good news for gamers with older systems. On the downside, the re-use of older tech revives a few issues that have annoyed Battlefield 2 players. Among them are extended load times, occasional crashes, and some lag issues when server load gets heavy.

In a calculated marketing move designed to increase server-based play, the class system in Battlefield 2142 has been whittled down to four (from seven in the previous game). These new classes are a bit more flexible, however, you have to earn that flexibility via unlocks and upgrades that you can only get by playing. It sounds like a great system at first, but unless you're a hardcore player it feels like a basic version of Planetside's upgrade system.

The biggest issue with the unlock system is that nearly everything is inaccessible at first. New players don't even get grenades, which can be frustrating when you hop onto the battlefield and the bots are better equipped than you. Thankfully, early unlocks seem to come at a relatively steady pace, but in those first few hours of gameplay, it feels decidedly unbalanced. Different unlocks are available for regular soldiers as well as squad leaders, so it pays to lead others into battle. Some of the best items can only be equipped when you're heading the charge.

Playing as a member of a squad also has its rewards, as you'll earn unlock points faster if you help complete squad objectives. These lead to "field upgrades," which are a way of "previewing" new weapons. Perform well in a squad and you can unlock a new weapon, but only for the current play session. Log off that server and the upgrade is lost.

Combat itself is split into two main styles of play. The traditional conquest mode is here, along with the all new titan mode. Long time players will be intimately familiar with conquest mode, where two teams fight for control points on the map in an attempt to eliminate the opponent's respawn counter. It's a mainstay and it still plays well, but titan mode is the real meat-and-potatoes of the latest installment.