Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is a long-awaited effort that was continuously pushed back by the developers to tweak the gameplay over the last 3 years. When the PC version was released less than a year ago, I was immediately drawn to the large-scale battles, the control-point capturing, and the diversity of character selection. The Xbox version is toned down in comparison to playing on the PC and although it packs a pretty cool single-player campaign, its online multiplayer leaves a lot to be desired (which is completely unlike the PC title).

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat looks as though it takes place in the not-to-distant future where America and parts of the Middle East go to war. You can play as both sides in game, which I found to be more confusing than anything else. Case in point: the voice-over commands or alerts are English to the America squad so it’s easy to hear and understand what is being communicated. On the flip side, the fake Middle East way of speaking in the game can easily be compared to the sound of a dying goat on a loud speaker: loud, unrecognizable, and irritating.

What really makes single player fun is the new gameplay feature called Hot Swapping, allowing gamers to jump from one NPC to another and essentially taking over their body. This becomes especially useful when targeting an enemy out-of-scope sight. You can simply switch to a soldier in closer proximity to the enemy and take him out. Of course, you could just go Rambo on them, opening up a can of whoop ass on as many enemy combatants you can find, but the enemy A.I. is too offensive when fighting that they may be as gutsy as you. The weapons are all real and pretty cool to fire with a pretty solid control system. The same goes for steering the vehicles ingame like tanks, humvees, and even helicopters.

That is what makes the game so fun, explosive battles on a large scale. You want tactical strategy? You are in the wrong game, buddy. The single player, besides offering up the standard “Capture the Base” game type also features some strong objective-based missions that you usually don’t see from a game like this. I guess this is why the multiplayer gameplay fails in some respects; by not taking advantage of extra game types besides map domination and not allowing games with a higher number of players.

When playing, there are several spawn locations that are based upon what area of the map you are dominating. This can become a pretty problematic situation if the area at which you start out is filled with bullets firing and grenades exploding. The battle scenes can get pretty intense at times but the game really lacks in creating a feeling of individual accomplishment. Oftentimes, it’s hard to tell whether you are making any difference to the fight. At any second, you can get annihilated by an enemy sniper or a bomb raid from the sky and end up back where you started in the spawn zone, not knowing what the heck just happened. Multiplayer mode is just a little too frenzy-ridden to be considered an entertaining game (it's just fun for the wrong reasons, like falling out of a helicopter or accidentally slamming into a teammate with a dune buggy).

Graphically, the game looks too choppy for my tastes. The lack of detail and shadowing makes it harder to find enemies and making it easy to get disoriented. The vastness of the maps is certainly impressive, however, and the explosions you see all around you add to the realism. The sound is fine too. The theme song really ties in the theme of Battlefield 2 and the sound effects really boost the realism of the explosions. The voice acting can be pretty annoying, especially the fake Middle Eastern language I talked about earlier.

Interestingly enough, I liked Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox differently than how I liked it for the PC. Single-player comes out strong with the addition of Hot Swapping whereas the multiplayer comes across a little unorganized. If you enjoy warfare on a modern level, this might be something you want to check out (or at least rent). 

Gameplay: 8.5
With new gameplay features like Hot Swapping, Battlefield 2 manages to create a pretty solid single-player mode.

Graphics: 7.9
Not as detailed as I was hoping for (especially for the Xbox) but I did enjoy the special effects associated with war.

Sound: 8.4
Annoying voice acting but everything else is pretty solid.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.0
World War III on a smaller scale.

Multiplayer: 7.0
A little too chaotic for my liking, multiplayer mode is not the main reason to buy this game.

Overall: 8.0
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat brings to the table an exciting single-player mode and helps make up for the adequate multiplayer experience.