Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
- October 25, 2005 16:43 PM PST
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Engaging battlefield innovations are brought low by sloppy A.I.
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Johnny Gets His Gun
You'll serve as both NATO and Chinese soldiers in Kazakhstan. As you progress through the huge, detailed environments, and survive the constant frenetic skirmishes, you'll access more than 30 vehicles, and all manner of performance-based upgrades, including new equipment. The missions vary in quality, from inventive to tired, and you never get a strong sense of story, but varied soldier types lend diversity and replay value.
Modern Combat's one beautifully integrated innovation is "HotSwapping," the ability to leap behind the eyes of any combatant you can see at any moment. Hopping from soldier to soldier in the midst of battle may seem jarring, let alone jumping sides every few missions, but a high-speed traveling effect eases the transitions, and the result is a higher action quotient, as well as a greater appreciation for the intricacy of war in general, and the unenviable role of each individual in it in particular. Making this complexity accessible is where Battlefield 2: Modern Combat excels.
Which Way Did He Go, George?
Unfortunatey, it also stumbles badly with the greatest necessity of any team campaign: artificial intelligence. You'll find your comrades oblivious to gunfire mere yards away; facing an enemy gunner, with their weapons conspicuously inert; and haplessly running into your line of fire. Getting penalized for losses incurred like this is annoying enough; having a mission terminate prematurely because of it is downright maddening. What's worse is staring in disbelief as an enemy materializes out of thin air to cap you, or winks out of existence as you fire rockets at it from the air, only to reappear moments later.
Some ancillary challenge missions give you enjoyable opportunities for promotion, and the crazed 24-player multiplayer modes tap the human element for thrilling results, but the end sum still falls short of greatness. A rental is required just to experience the HotSwapping coolness, but more than that requires a sturdy tolerance for aggravation.
