Battlefield 2: Modern Combat – Review

Let me begin by stating that, before this review, I’d never played a Battlefield title. I’d only heard PC gaming friends go on and on about it—much to my chagrin as I generally despise PC gaming. It’s common knowledge, however, that EA’s Battlefield series is extremely popular, and the Xbox 360 version has certainly garnered its fair share of press. As a fan of Ghost Recon, I started out with plenty of hope that I would actually enjoy this game, and wasn’t overly surprised that it was similar in a few ways. The game concerns itself with those poor Russian neighbours, Middle East, and China, who are always in trouble when it comes to videogames—and nothing is different in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is, at its heart, another FPS war title, where you find yourself playing a soldier across various mission-based levels. It differs to many other FPS titles because it gives you the freedom to instantly switch to whichever troop member is needed at any given time. For example, in a situation where enemy choppers are incoming and you’re moving forward as a simple foot soldier, you can press a button and swiftly find yourself in control of a tank or certain other heavy weapons to deal with the problem(s) ahead. This is a very cool feature of the game. It adds an extra element of flexibility to the gameplay, and the way the camera zooms over to the required soldier is also pretty sweet. On the downside, though, the first time I played Battlefield 2: Modern Combat it appeared to think a level I was playing hadn’t finished—when in fact it had. This was extremely frustrating as it meant spending a good half hour running around a deserted level, before eventually conceding defeat and having to restart. This was definitely a glitch the developers should have ironed out prior to release and it sort of put me off the game from an early stage. As the game progressed though, it certainly showed signs of fun and entertainment, but ultimately nothing that could be considered as groundbreaking in any way. The game follows a fairly linear plot—as per usual—and although it’s got some interesting aspects, it’s unlikely to be something you’ll be talking about for weeks afterward.

The controls on Battlefield 2: Modern Combat are laid out in the usual FPS fashion, with the firing control mapped to the right trigger while movement is made via the left thumb stick; anyone who’s played an FPS title on a console will know the sort of thing on show here; and, as they say ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Graphically, the title is very nicely produced, with weather effects and environments feeling far more intense than some other genre titles. Character models also have a fair bit of detail and aesthetically everything seems very polished. There is plenty going on simultaneously in Modern Combat, and you’ll perhaps be a little overwhelmed early on in the game considering how many enemies there are and how many graphical components are working well at the same time. It looks good and this does help with the overall enjoyment of the game; but, again, don’t expect to be completely bowled over.

Audio in Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is a mixed bag, with voice acting being slightly ropey at times, usually within the NATO briefing sections—which you may even find yourself laughing at. However, sound effects and in-game music are extremely well done, and really contribute to the game’s overall feel. Weapons fire packs a real punch in Modern Combat and the game’s upbeat music gives it a definite feeling of urgency. Little added aural details, such as the sound of spent shell expulsions, really show that developmental effort has been invested in the title. There’s also a subtitle option, so deaf and hard-of-hearing gamers can follow the story with no problems at all. Pre-mission briefings are relayed via speech and text. In-game speech is also subtitled, though it may be difficult to follow when in the thick of the action.

Female gamers—here we go again. Evidently the army’s brave fighting women are back at home cooking, or looking after the nippers, as this title is brimming over with testosterone and there’s pretty much no female input anywhere. How hard would it have been to slot in a few female squad members yelling in the midst of battle like their male counterparts? Well, much too hard apparently.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat doesn’t offer up anything you haven’t seen before, other than the cool gameplay aspect of quick switching from one playable character to another—but that hardly warrants a standing ovation. What you have here is yet another war based first-person shooter that sees you in the role of a male soldier; it doesn’t bring anything new to the genre table, but can’t be completely lambasted for that either since this appears to just be the way the games industry is going of late. Overall, this is a very nice looking FPS with good sound and fairly large environments—and certainly a multiplayer aspect that outranks its single-player campaign. If it sounds in any way like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, that’s because the two titles have a lot in common. If you’re a fan of FPS war, you’ll love this, but if you’re looking for something revolutionary then you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Review by Tracy

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