Battlefield 2142 (PC)

Closer Look (Cont.)

Conquest Mode

Conquest mode has Control Points scattered throughout the map, each side usually at opposing ends. Each faction has a certain number of "tickets". Every time a soldier dies that side loses a ticket. For each Control Point occupied, the enemy loses a certain amount of tickets per second. When tickets are zero, your side loses. The Control Points are usually strategically located, and are usually where vehicles re-spawn. Many times, your starting Control Point will be unable to be owned by the enemy. All others can be converted to your faction by spending enough time in close proximity to the flag for that Point. The more of your faction in that proximity, the quicker the Point will be yours. This back and forth "capturing of flags" is the basis to the dynamics of the game. These faction-controlled Control Points are the locations where you can re-spawn into the game after a death.

There is also a Conquest Co-op mode where AI-controlled bots are included, unlike the regular Conquest mode, where all players are people.

There are quite a few different maps, with some excellent city maps (low vehicle). The maps are smaller than previous incarnations of Battlefield, and this sometimes makes vehicle battles quicker and crowded. As well as making deaths seem to happen more frequently. As of this review, I haven't seen any user created MOD maps which is disappointing. However, the expansion, Northern Strike, is now available for download.

Titan Mode

The Titan is a MASSIVE fortress, floating high above the battlefield, with 4 guns on the underbelly and 2 anti-aircraft chain guns on the top. There is a flight bay which spawns one of each of the aircraft on one end and a couple of decks, perfect for assaulting, on the other end. The guns are manned by sitting at a terminal at the rear of the flight bay. The Titan sports a forcefield, unable to be penetrated by the enemy.... UNTIL the enemy controlled missile silos take it out.

This game mode starts with each side having a Titan on opposite sides of the map. They can slowly move across the battlefield by the Commanders, but be warned, as some servers will kick or ban you if you move them, as this generally causes a fair amount of lag on the server. There are Missile silos on the ground which act like bases and if your faction controls it, every 2 minutes it will launch a missile at the enemy Titan. Eventually the force field goes down and the real fun begins.

At this point, enemy soldiers can attempt to damage the Titan more directly (Missiles will keep firing to damage the hull). While the force-field on the flight bay is still active, enemy soldiers can board the titan on the other end by a few different ways. Easiest is to acquire an APC and drive close to the Titan. When in any position but driver, you can right-click and you will be launched screaming through the air in a boarding pod, of which you have control of, to land on the Titan. You can also do the same from the flight bay of your own Titan, if the two Titans are close. Thirdly, you can "parachute" from an Aircraft or land an Aircraft on one of the rear decks..although this takes some skill. This way has the advantage of possibly creating a spawn point for your faction ON the enemy Titan. Finally, if your Squad Leader has the Beacon upgrade, he can create a spawn point beacon directly on the Titan.

So you are on the enemy Titan... now what? Well, first off, there just might be some defenders and in order to actually damage the Titan from within, your faction has to first take out 4 Computer Consoles, each down a different hallway. These consoles can be taken out with repeated gunfire or grenades, but the quickest way is to get a Recon soldier with the Detonation Pack upgrade to do it. Consoles 3 and 4 are force-field protected until you take out consoles 1 and 2 respectively. Plus, any smart defenders will know when their outer force-fields are down and will do their utmost to make your attempted breach far from fun. The defenders definitely have the advantage in a Titan assault.

When the 4 consoles (which are unrepairable) are down, the main Reactor doors open. The reactor core (also unrepairable) inside can be damaged by any weapon, but once again, Det Packs are most effective. When the core is destroyed... a warning sounds and lights start flashing and you have about 30 seconds to get off the Titan before she explodes in a fiery inferno. A truly satisfying sight.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in this game are not ground-breaking, as this is the same engine as the older Battlefield 2, but they are well done and not intrusive and more importantly, the gameplay does not suffer. The lightning pace of the game can take some getting used to, but once you get it down, nothing is more satisfying than taking out a horde of enemies in a series of wicked shots and some inventive maneuvering. The game is very playable even on the lower settings, but at higher settings the sounds and effects are immersive. Many energy type weapons and force-fields take advantage of lighting effects.

Specifications:

In order to install and play Battlefield 2142, your system must meet or exceed the following minimum system requirements.

• Operating System: Windows XP with latest service pack installed DirectX 9.0c February 2006 edition (included)
• CPU: 1.7 Ghz
• RAM: 512 Mb
• Video Card: 128Mb DirectX compliant video card, Pixel shader 2.0 and above.
• Hard Drive space: 1.8Gb of space is required to install the game
• Internet connection: 128kbit Cable/DSL connection

In order to play the game at the recommended resolution, detail and performance levels, your computer should match or exceed the following specifications:

• Operating System: Windows XP with latest service pack installed DirectX 9.0c February 2006 edition (included)
• CPU: 3.0 Ghz
• RAM: 1.5 Gb
• Video Card: 256Mb DirectX compliant video card, Pixel shader 2.0 and above.
• Hard Drive space: 1.8Gb of space is required to install the game
• Internet connection: 512Mb Cable/DSL connection

My system

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor

nVIDIA 7300 LE graphics processor

2 GB DDR2 Dual Channel RAM

200 GB SATA II HDD

Note:

At this time, BF 2142 does not support Vista and although some have got it working (apparently better), many others absolutely cannot get it to work.