Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2
Battlefield 2 box cover Battlefield 2 box cover
Developer(s)	Digital Illusions CE
Publisher(s)	EA Games
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	June 22 2005 (NA) June 24 2005 (EU, Australia)
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Battlefield 2 is a newly-released computer game based on the Electronic Arts Battlefield franchise. Battlefield 2 was announced in the Spring of 2004. It utilizes a new engine for gameplay, physics, and graphics, as well as other functions. Battlefield 2 is often compared to the popular Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 as both games take place in modern times and, after the acquisition of Desert Combat developer Trauma Studios by DICE, developers that worked on Desert Combat went to work on Battlefield 2. However, Trauma Studios has since been closed.

Overview

The game is about a hypothetical war in the near future between three powerful factions: the United States Marines, China, and the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition (MEC). The battles, however, only feature U.S. vs. MEC and U.S. vs. China. The armies use modern weaponry: The Americans use well-known American weaponry such as the Abrams tank, the Chinese mostly use Chinese-made copies of Soviet weapons (such as the Type 56 Assault rifle, though the game calls it an AK-47), and the Middle Eastern Coalition use mostly Russian weapons. The various forces still use the trademark feature of the Battlefield series, the spawning vehicles that any player can hop into.

Battlefield 2 was originally scheduled to be released on March 21, 2005, but was delayed until June 22, 2005 for North America, and June 24, 2005 for Europe and Australia. A version of Battlefield 2 is also being developed for consoles, named Battlefield 2: Modern Combat.

Since its release, Battlefield 2 has proven to be one of the most demanding games ever made on user hardware. Users who have 1 GB of RAM, normally a huge amount, have reported slowdowns and stuttering problems. It may well be that the next generation of games make 1 GB of RAM the minimum for smooth play, and 2 GB the recommended. Only time will tell if future developers will follow suit in listing high system requirements in exchange for the best special effects.

An expansion pack is being planned for the game, named Battlefield 2: Special Forces, allowing to play six special forces units: U.S. Navy SEALs, British SAS, Russian Spetsnaz, MEC Special Forces, a Rebel group, and insurgents. It will contain six new armies (compared to just three in Battlefield 2), ten new vehicles, twelve new weapons, and eight maps. The release is expected to ship this winter. More info on Battlefield 2 site.

Bugs & Patches

A patch 1.02 has been released to fix memory leaks and other bugs, the former of which was so problematic that at one stage the official Battlefield 2 website was advising users to use the unpatched 'out of the box' version of the game instead of upgrading to patch 1.01

The previous games in the Battlefield franchise (Battlefield 1942 & Battlefield Vietnam) were also plagued by bugs and gameplay-balance issues in the early released versions, and only became fully stable after a series of patches in the months following the release.

A v1.03 patch has been announced by EA that will include 140 fixes to the game engine and gameplay/balance/exploit issues. Of the biggest updates will be the inclusion much-desired favorites list to the server browser, and a complete revamp of the teamkill punishment system. This patch is expected to be out by late August 2005.

An unoffical patch allows use of the Ti series of GeForce 4 cards

New Features

File:Bf2.jpg

Battlefield 2 screenshot

• New gameplay engine, realistic physics and dynamic lighting, material penetration feature, destructible environments.

• Server admins can set maps to use 16, 32 or 64 player versions to provide the ideal vehicle-to-player ratio, custom maps can be made to scale to fit any number of players.

• Squads:
  • Squads can be password protected to prevent players from joining the squad.
  • Players may be invited to join a squad, if accepted, are then moved into that squad.
  • A max of 6 players can be a squad (including the squad leader).
  • There can be as many as 9 squads per team.
  • Squad members, not leaders, have a minimal T key menu for requesting orders and such.
  • All Squad members may use VoIP to talk to each other.

• Squad Leader Position - Commander and manager of a squad
  • Squad Leaders have an extended T key menu for issuing commands.
  • Squad Leaders can manage squad by locking or unlocking the squad to new members.
  • Squad Leaders may be invite players to join the squad.
  • Squad Leaders can set waypoints and orders.
  • Squad Leaders are mobile spawn points while friendly flags exist.
  • Squad Leaders can talk to the Team Commander.

• Team Commander Position - strategic role of a battlefield commander directing his forces:
  • Players must "apply" before the round. The highest rank gets the position, ties go to a vote.
  • Team Commanders can be voted out by team.
  • The Team Commander is like any other soldier on the battlefield in that he choses a kit, spawns in, can die, etc.
  • Available to the Team Commander are four assets: Artillery Strike, Satellite Scan, Predator UAV and Supply Drop.

• Online profiles:
  • Rankings from Private all the way to Master Gunnery Sergeant, one's online profile can track kills, weapon usage, medic stats, engineering stats, etc.
  • One can have multiple profiles per account (stunt, clan, public, etc.)
  • One can unlock medals, special weapon functions, decals, etc.
  • There is a special access to forums/download servers.
  • Ranking is only available on "official" (EA and EA leased) BF2 servers.
  • Ranking/unlockables can be on all servers, but only EA servers record and send back stats.
  • EA plans to offer more servers worldwide sponsored by ISP's, etc, provided they meet certain requirements.

• Battlefield Recorder - will allow the ability to record ingame videos:
  • Files are around 1MB in size and are played within the Battlefield 2 engine.
  • Camera angles can be changed, as well as the speed.
  • Files can be exported to AVI format.

• Radio commands are now displayed on an ingame menu brought up using the Q key:
  • In this mode, the crosshair is replaced with gray circle with radio commands around the circle.
  • If menu is activated while aiming at at an object such as a tank and "Spotted" is clicked, it recognizes the tank and sends out an "enemy armor spotted" radio command. Q key spotted units are displayed on teammates' mini-maps for several seconds.

• Voice-over IP (VOIP) is supported, which allows players to communicate via audio ingame without the need for third-party programs.
  • Squadmembers can talk to fellow squad members.
  • Squad Leaders can talk to Team Commander or fellow squad members.
  • Team Commander can talk to Squad Leaders.
  • VoIP is not available between maps, but is available during map start delay.
  • VoIP is available while critically wounded, but not when dead.

• The minimap now shows a white triangle simulating your field of view.

• Custom shortcuts can load up a server with parameters set in your profile.

Ranked Servers and Recent Exploits

The Battlefield 2 Ranked Server System allows for a means of comparing yourself to other "hardcore" players. According to EA Games ...

Ranked servers will be where the hardcore bump heads and clash knives. All Ranked Servers will be configured to provide the definitive competitive Battlefield experience. Friendly Fire is on, and TK will be punished by default, so all players will need to use their tools wisely and watch out for the tools that have been deployed by their teammates. If, for example, you have a hankering to be the best sniper to ever stare down the sights of an SVD in Battlefield 2, these are the servers on which you will have to walk the walk. If you’d rather not spend your time trying to figure out where the world’s #1 sniper is popping your melon from, see below.

Ranked servers will be heavily administrated and have Punkbuster on. The integrity of the stats system is of paramount importance to EA Games (and of course to those participating in it) and so we will be monitoring things constantly. At the end of the day, Ranked servers will be a safe, regulated environment on which the most competitive players will be spending their time. If this environment doesn’t sound right for you, that’s great. That’s what Unranked servers are for.

Recent concern has arisen within the community, however, regarding exploits of this ranking system. Users have been known to use a "medic exploit" where they will simply kill a person, revive him, and then kill him again, thus gaining an extraordinary amount of global points. The Battlefield 2 Community has been crying out to EA Games regarding these exploits. Sean Decker, the Executive Producer, has recently responded to an email about this, and mentions deleting scores and awards ("or have more drastic actions taken") of exploiting players.

See the 'Team - Warchild' incident if you wish to know more about exploiting and its concequences!

Maps

Main article: Battlefield 2 Maps

BF2 shipped with 12 maps. Depending on the number of people the server is configured accomodate, the scope and objectives of maps change. For example, when "Gulf of Oman" is played with only 16 people, it is an infantry and armor combat scenario with 4 objectives to capture. With more players, 2 new bases open up, spawning fighter jets and helicopters. Single-player mode only allows access to the former, to the extent that purchasers who are unable or unwilling to play online have no access to many of the game's vehicles.

Infantry Classes

BF2 players can pick from seven basic classes:

• Assault troops carry an assault rifle with attached grenade launcher good for close infantry combat, and can throw smoke grenades to cover friendly forces.
• Snipers pick enemies off from long range with a sniper rifle, and can plant Claymore anti-personnel mines.
• Spec Ops can destroy structures and vehicles with C4 explosive charges, and also carry an automatic carbine.
• Engineers have the wrench, which allows them to repair vehicles (including transports they are riding on), can deploy anti-vehicle mines, and defend themselves with a shotgun.
• Medics are armed with a standard assault rifle, but also have the ability to heal teammates with medpacks and revive them with a defibrillator, which works like the adrenaline syringe in Enemy Territory. The defibrillator can also be used to zap enemy soldiers, although the knife is more effective because it does not need to charge up after attacks.
• Support troops wield a light machine gun that can provide heavy covering fire, and replenish allies' supplies with ammunition packs.
• Anti-Tank soldiers have both a submachine gun and short-range anti-tank rockets, which destroy lighter vehicles easily and can damage even heavily armored tanks and APCs with careful targetting.

In addition, all classes carry a basic pistol and combat knife, and Spec Ops, Engineer, Medic, and Assault (with unlocked weapon) classes spawn with hand grenades. Experienced players can unlock alternate weapons for each class. For instance, snipers may choose a more powerful .50 caliber sniper rifle, and Spec Ops can use a G36C carbine instead of the M4A1.

These unlockable weapons can be enabled to all players by default, server side, but only on non-ranked servers. On ranked servers, the players must earn points and become promoted to a higher rank in order to unlock specific weapons if they wish to use them.

Different classes are also able to sprint for different lengths of time than others, and have different amounts of body armour. Support and Assault classes can sprint for 8 seconds. The Anti-Tank class can sprint for 9 seconds. All other classes can sprint for 10 seconds.

For the specific kits assigned to forces on each side, see Battlefield 2 Infantry Classes.

Vehicles

There are about 35 different vehicles in the game:

Aircraft

US

• AH-1 Super Cobra - Two-seat attack helicopter, pilot can launch dumb-fire rockets and flares, gunner has a minigun and TV guided tankbuster missiles
• F-15 Strike Eagle - Fighter Bomber, two seats. Pilot can fire cannon, 4 air to air missiles and 5 drag retarded bombs. Weapons officer can fire laser guided tank buster missiles
• F/A-18 Hornet - Single seat strike fighter, equipped with a cannon, 6 air to air missiles and 2 bombs
• F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) - Single seat strike fighter with thrust vectoring. Equipped with a cannon, 6 air to air missiles and 2 bombs
• UH-60 Black Hawk - Transport helicopter, armed with twin side mounted vulcan miniguns, can carry up to 6 soldiers

MEC (Middle Eastern Coalition)

• Mil Mi-17 'Hip' - Transport Helicopter armed with twin side mounted heavy machineguns
• Mil Mi-28 'Havoc' - Two-seat attack helicopter, pilot can launch dumb-fire rockets and flares, gunner has an autocannon and TV guided tankbuster missiles
• MiG-29 'Fulcrum' - Single seat strike fighter, equipped with a cannon, 6 air to air missiles and 2 bombs
• Su-34 'Fullback' - Fighter Bomber, two seats. Pilot can fire cannon, 4 air to air missiles and 5 drag retarded bombs. Weapons officer can fire laser guided tank buster missiles

China

• J-10 - Single seat strike fighter, equipped with a cannon, 6 air to air missiles and 2 bombs
• Su-30 'Flanker' - Fighter Bomber, two seats. Pilot can fire cannon, 4 air to air missiles and 5 drag retarded bombs. Weapons officer can fire laser guided tank buster missiles
• WZ-10 - Two-seat attack helicopter, pilot can launch dumb-fire rockets and flares, gunner has a minigun and TV guided tankbuster missiles
• Z-8 - Transport Helicopter armed with twin side mounted heavy machineguns

Land Vehicles

US

• FAAV - Patrol buggy, 3 seats, heavy and light machineguns also known as the Desert Patrol Vehicle
• LAV-25 a variant of the Mowag Piranha - APC, autocannon, 7.62mm passenger machine guns, smoke grenade launchers, anti-tank TOW missiles
• M1 Abrams - MBT (Main Battle Tank), heavy machine-gunner position on turret, smoke grenade launchers
• M6 Bradley Linebacker - AA armoured vehicle, stinger missile launcher, autocannon
• M998 HMMWV- Humvee, heavy machine gun with shield plates on top

MEC

• BTR-90 - APC, 30mm autocannon, 7.62mm passenger machine guns, smoke grenade launchers, anti-tank TOW missiles
• FAV - Attack buggy, one heavy and one light machine gun
• GAZ-3937 Vodnik - APC, autocannon, passenger machine-gunner position, amphibious
• T-90 - Main Battle Tank, heavy machine-gunner position on turret, smoke grenade launchers
• Tunguska - Mobile AA, 2 seats, rotational turret with dual cannon and four heat-seeking missile launchers per side

China

• FAV - Identical to the MEC's version
• Nanjing 2046 - Armoured patrol car, heavy and light machine guns
• Type 95 - Mobile AA, quad 25mm cannons, missile launcher
• Type 98 - Main Battle Tank, heavy machine-gunner position on the turret, smoke grenade launchers
• WZ-551 - APC, autocannon, 7.62mm passenger machine guns, smoke grenade launchers, anti-tank TOW missiles

Watercraft

US

• LCAC - Hovercraft, can travel on both land and sea, capable of carrying vehicles - not included in gameplay at this time. Might be included in patch or Battlefield 2 expansion: Special Forces, release fall 2005.
• LHD-1 Wasp Class - Aircraft carrier, can spawn UH-60's, AV-8B's, AH-1's, and F-35's
• RIB - Small inflatable boat, armed with a light machinegun

The MEC and Chinese teams do not have any known watercraft other than RIB's identical to the American version.

Demo

A demo is available for download from major game sites featuring a single map ("Gulf of Oman") for both single-player and multi-player. The 16-person version of the map has a time limit of 10 minutes. the 32-person version has a time limit of 12 minutes. The 64-person version is unavailable in the demo, though up to 64 players can still play on the 32-person map. The demo also limits players to using stock weapons with each kit.

It was discovered soon after the demo release that code could be modified to circumvent some of the limits imposed on the demo. These included removing the time limit, as well as allowing players to use all locked weapons. EA quickly responded by delisting servers that were running with such modifications.

Mods For Battlefield 2

Mods that are known to be in development for Battlefield 2 include:

Ancolius Battle for Supremacy Battle of Somalia Battlefield 1918 Battlefield 1936 Battlefield 40k Battlefield Advanced Battlefield Apocalypse Battlefield Corporations Battlefield Exodus Battlefield Firefighter Battlefield Ninjas Battlefield Pirates Battlegroup 42 Battlehammer 40K Dice City Experience World War 2

Fight for Victory Final Front Flashpoint Balkans Forgotten Hope Frontlines Generals of Battlefield Infantry War Interstate 2004 Korean Conflict Kuril Islands Conflict Mech Tactical Simulation Men of Courage Nightfighters Point of Existence Project Lilith Project Reality Red Alert: A Path Beyond

Rise of Kobol Rising Conflicts Role of Honor RollerCoaster Russian Assault Special Forces Terranova The Last Offensive Three Crowns Tiberian Destiny Total Retardation 2 Total War Verge of Armageddon Warfront War of Wars WWII: The War for Peace Zero Hour

External links

• Battlefield Nation
• Battlefield 2 Awards,Ranks,Ribbons and Medals-Explanation
• Official Battlefield 2 website
• Total BF2
• Battlefield Sector
• Planet Battlefield
• Battlefield 2 Gameplay Guide Wiki
• Battlefield 2 Files
• AusBattlefield
• Finnish Battlefield site, Battlefield.fi
• Gamespot's BF2 Page
• Battlefield.no, Large norwegian Battlefield and other FPS site
• Battlefield 2 Demo
• Battlefield 2 Demo Review
• Battlefield 2 Benchmark Tests
• Battlefield 2 Tweak Guide
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat Trailer #4
• PC Gamer Blog - Battlefield 2 First Impressions
• Short Q&A with longtime Battlefield producer Mike Doran about expansion pack.
• Why I support the idea of an expansion boycott - The Battlefield 2 community weighs in on the timing of EA's expansion announcement
• Battlefield 2 Technical Information Wiki