First off, I will mention that I have never played the PC version of any Battlefield game. Based on the opinions I have heard (*all* positive), I would recommend you play on the PC if you can. The requirements can be pretty high. THis is the main reason I pursued the console version.

I did get the original Xbox version and played it quite a bit. When the game first launched, there were MANY problems with the servers, which were later fixed. I am a big opponent on releasing something and fixing it later with patches. I don't feel that the consumer should also be the testing group.

So when I got my 360 and Battlefield 2 came out I wanted to get it again because I had traded in my original Battlefield 2 for Xbox.

So what is good about it? The gameplay is awesome. You have 2 gametypes: Conquest and Capture the Flag. Conquest sets 2 teams to take over checkpoints. If you can stand by a flag for about 30 seconds, you can take the checkpoint and now your team can spawn there if you get killed. Each team starts with a counter of about 400 and if you don't have the majority of the checkpoints, it trickles down faster and faster. Getting killed will also lower it by one when you get killed. The game is also timed, so if you run out of time, but still aren't at zero on the counter, you will either get a 'minor' victory or defeat at the end. Capture the flag is just that, take the flag and take it back over to your flag to score.

There are vehicles to help move you and an artillery strike computer on each map. This computer will let you see where everyone is on the map and you use the cursor to determine where you want the strike to hit. Anyone in that zone, not in a building or under some cover on their bellies will die. Fortunately, it takes awhile to charge back up, so you should only see about 3 or 4 strikes per game and that is if anyone makes it to the PC without dying.

There are five classes that you can pick from. The great thing is that you can pick a new class once you get killed or even commit suicide and pick another class if you really wanted to. The classes are: Assault, Sniper, Spec-Op, Engineer and Medic.

Assault is the heavy firepower guy. You have a scoped assault rifle which will mow almost anyone down. You also have a grenade launcher, grenades and the pistol. The only real downside to this class is dealing with vehicles, which I will talk about later. Otherwise, it is a good solid class.

Sniper has many tricks up their sleeve. They have the best scoped weapon and usually one shot will kill. However, it is very unwieldy short range, but still possible to kill. You have smoke grenades for cover, the pistol and also one of my favorites: the laser target. You have one shot at this, but for any vehicle, simply shoot and hold onto it until you have a lock. Then missles will come and destroy it. The vehicle's driver will heard beeps so they know this is coming, but it is still nice to be able to kill vehicles.

Spec Op is my favorite class. The silenced scope weapon is good for distance and close kills with great success. The knife is for close kills, but is pretty ineffective most of the time...it is mostly for bragging rights (or good for camping snipers!) The weapon of choice is the C4. This sticks on almost any surface and it remotely detonated. There are many tricks you can use with this. For example, you can stick this on a vehicle, drive it and then jump out and detonate the c4 and you have an instant 2 ton grenade. You can also take out tanks with this if you can get close enough to stick and detonate.

Engineer has a short range shotgun and rocket launcher. The rocket launcher can take out vehicles and troops. The shotgun is devestating at short range. Engineers can also repair vehicles which is nice if you have a good defensive postition and want to bring your vehicles back to speed. Lastly they have land mines that only work on vehicles, but are good to prevent a tank from just rolling in your flag and taking it.

Medics are the strange bird of the group. First off, they have unscoped machine guns which are pretty deadly. The obviously can heal with a syringe gun up close. They can also call in mortar strikes which are like mini-artillery strikes. They are like the snipers laser target in activation.

The gameplay is very addictive. You can play ranked or unranked games. The ranked games give you a 'rank' that is similar to the military based on medals you win, total score (1 pt for killing someone, 3pts for taking a flag, etc) and your Points Per Hour, which is based on a mathmatical formula.

The medals are fun to get. One such medal is killing 4 people with the sniper rifle without reloading the 5 bullet clip. There are many others in both single player and mulitplayer. Yes, there are people who are cheating to get them. They do not affect the gameplay or anything, so I say let them if they really want to waste their time. There is no real bonus to being a higher rank. It was meant to show your skill, but now it means either skill or lots of freetime wasted.

Lag is practically non-existant, which is an upgrade from the Xbox version. The graphics also look more polished and definited.

Now, the downside. The game does allow clans. So if you have a group of people who like to play, you can make a clan or join someone else's clan. There are separate servers for these clan on clan matches (which is as close as you can get on this game to being able to play with your friends on the same team). These servers are horrible. They have been shut down when I have used them in the past and have a few bugs when trying to find another clan to play with. The clan leader is the one that orchestrates all of this. The other players have no choice but to sit and wait for a game to happen. Messages can be sent, but it still gives no answers as to what is going on exactly: Do we have another team to play against? Are the servers shut down? You have to wait for the leader to send a message about the status and he/she is usually working to find a match...so 4 minutes of waiting for him/her is an eternity for us not knowing what is going on.

For individual players, getting into a match is a breeze. You can specify whatever you'd like to play and it will find that server. The Xbox version had a real problem finding games, but I have always gotten into a game immediately with the 360 version.

Also, when you play, you will notice you will play on Bridge Too Far and Backstab...ALOT. This is because these are the most balanced maps. There are around 8-10 maps and they are all fun. If you want an obscure map, simply request on on your match prerequistes and you will find it.