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A couple years ago, a game called World War II
Online was released. I thought it would be incredibly cool to be able to take
part as a single soldier in what has to be the most interesting war in all of
human history. To take command of a tank and rush the enemy. To live the life of
a soldier pushing forward mere feet per day. To dogfight with the dreaded
Luftwaffe over the English Channel. To partake in massive ship battles.
Unfortunately, the game turned out rather horrible, mired by a convoluted
control scheme and some rather raunchy visuals.
Few other games tried the massive scale war feel, such as Operation Flashpoint,
and they all failed, be it because of horrible controls, poor visuals that made
it hard to see the enemy, a pay to play service plan, or just plain balance
issues.
Enter Battlefield 1942. Promising 35 authentic WWII vehicles and 40 weapons,
they promised to shove 64 players into a single server and battle it out over
land, sea, and air, and they promised you wouldn't have to pay beyond the
software and the control scheme wouldn't stink. Let us see how they fared.
Plane Going Down in Smoke.
Visually, BF1942 is impressive. While not groundbreaking, as individual models
are merely functional, faces are good, but overall polygon count is low, but
that hardly matters because WWII soldiers didn't have intricate armor as seen in
games like Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament. What is impressive, though, is that the
game doesn't become absolutely unplayable when all those players are on the
screen.
BF1942 creates a brand new visual experience. While most online shooters usually
modify the Quake 3 engine (not that it is bad, great engine), EA and Digital
Illusions CE (aka DICE) had to do something more for the scale they desired.
They needed impressive visuals, but not so much as to choke a powerful system.
They needed large and well textured levels. They needed a variety of models that
went beyond human models, like Tigers and Shermans, Zeros and Spitfires,
Battleships and Carriers. And it all needed to work together. And it did.
Everything from an anti-tank soldier carrying a panzerschrek to that machine gun
emplacement, everything looks pretty darn good, and authentic. I'm still
impressed with the smoke effects, especially from damaged planes.
MEDIC!
Again, BF1942 doesn't create any groundbreaking sounds, but manages to create a
sound system that allows a TON of really well done sounds. Sounds are all tossed
into create yet another authentic feel. Tank shells blow around you, automatic
rifle fire whizzes by, planes buzz you as the whir of a jeep engine flies by,
carrying two soldiers to their doom. Killin an enemy close up usually causes
them to emit a curse as they fall to their deaths. Planes hitting the ground
sounds grittingly real.
Variety Galore
Variety is the name of the game in BF1942. You can go into battle as one of 5
different units: assault, scout/sniper, anti-tank, medic, and engineer. Each has
their own advantage and disadvantage and each is needed for a successful team.
You can also hop into one of 35 different vehicles, ranging from shore
shattering battleships, stealthy submarines, heavy bombers, fighter-bombers,
heavy and light tanks, or even a jeep or troop transport (both land and sea
varieties). Everything has a function, and if you can grab an open one, whatever
you want to drive around in can be done.
Superb Online Excitement.
Multiplayer is the name of the game. It is so well set up that no matter how
good you are at shooters, if you have a poor plan of attack, you will usually
die. Quake players, jumping won't help you here, its really hard to do so
carrying 150 lbs of equipment. Anyway, games usually consist of 32-64 players,
all out for blood. So, you really have to keep it slow and methodical, lest you
accidentally go too far into enemy territory, and thus get slaughtered. You have
to hang out in groups to survive as solo players who do their own thing, even
those in the formidable Tiger tank will get their backsides handed to them. War
is chaos, and BF1942 does an absolutely excellent job portraying that.
 Great Controls
So, I was first thinking, with all these different vehicles and classes, won't
controls be a bit convoluted? Lo and behold, EA created a very easy to use
method. Each transportation type (foot, ground, air, sea) all have their own
separate controls. Might get confusing? Not really. (I bet you aren't reading
this part - just testing) EA managed to get it set up so using the typical
movement keys (a,w,d,s) will be all you need to get your chosen vehicle to move.
Take the tank for example, W and S move forward and backward, while A and D turn
you (while moving) or pivot (while still). Vehicles also have a realistic stop
distance, so don't expect to go steaming your destroyer full tilt toward shore
and expect to stop or turn on a dime. The only problem is getting used to the
flight part, as bombing and the very fact of staying in the air is difficult at
first as your plane is VERY sensitive.
Mighty Physics
The physics in this game is incredible. They came just shy of implementing
realistic bullet physics, but everything else is incredibly real. Shoot ahead of
your target in the tank while moving as it will follow your speed. You cannot
just aim directly at your enemy with the bazooka like rocket launchers in other
shooters as these rockets ARE affected by gravity. Don' drive that jeep too fast
over the hill, you might just flip it. Tanks rock when they fire the shells,
forcing you to wait for the bounce to stop before firing again, or simply
attempt to compensate on the fly. So many details, so impressive.
Some Lag
BF1942 is a prime example of how dial-up services are obsolete. Connection take
a bit of time, even on a speedy server. While in game, if your opponent is even
remotely on a bad connection, he will bounce around like no tomorrow, and when
in a slow moving vehicle, that means certain death. Connecting to a server takes
a while, too, as loading the map is a bit slow, and spends too much time reading
the CD when it could have just been loaded to the HD. Mostly, the games really
are smooth, but when you get those occasional dial-up people that brave to
venture into a shooter, you might have some trouble with their teleporting
selves.
Steep System Requirements
The minimum requirements state 500 MHz and a T&L card. The T&L card is really
true, but that 500 MHz is an understatement. My 2 GHz monstrosity gets chocked
up every now and again, and people trying to play it on 500 MHz have to turn
every cool visual feature off for it to run, then they still get slowdowns with
many people on screen at once. I wouldn't even suggest TRYING the game if your
rig is under 800 MHz and don't have at least a GeForce 2. My GeForce 4, the TI
variety, gets a hiccup now and again (usually at the beginning).
Single Player? Don't Make Me Laugh
EA decided to include 16 single player campaign modes. 8 ally, 8 axis. The AI is
so horrible it is not even funny. Trying to watch them fly makes me sick as they
fly around in perfect lines, getting shot down by AA with ease. You will
personally take up the brunt of the fight as you wait for your idiot AI to
decide to move the tank forward a few more feet then stop again.
Few Online Morons
BF1942 requires teamwork to win, but sometimes you will end up on that server
where your teammates don't want to work together. Instead, they will hang around
the airfield and wait for a plane to spawn. So, while you are trying to capture
command points alone in your tank, and two others are flying around, the other
12 players are hanging around the airfield waiting for one of the players in the
air to get shot down. It takes a bit of coaxing occasionally to get them moving,
like blowing up unused planes that happen to spawn.
Misc. Cool Thing
BF1942 has the coolest opening cinematic ever. EVER!
Bottom Line
Battlefield 1942 is easily the best online game to date. Sporting 40 weapons and
35 vehicles on servers that reach up to 64 players of pure chaos, there is no
lack of excitement. Excellent controls, decent visuals and sounds add to the
mix. Apart from the rare dial-up player and the steep system requirements,
Battlefield 1942 is a near flawless game. If you can play it, get it, drop
everything else. Consoles are dead. Battlefield 1942 is a contender for Game of
the Year.
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