Battlefield 2142 is more of a Battlefield 2 mod than a new game

I am a huge fan of the Battlefield series of games from Electronic Arts and up until recently, Battlefield 2142 was the only part of the series that I had not yet played. As much as I loved Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 on PC, as well as Battlefield: Modern Combat and Battlefield: Bad Company on consoles, I have to say that Battlefield 2142 was a big friggin' disappointment. I wish I hadn't wasted my $19.95 on this game at Wal-Mart.

This is a futuristic combat first person shooter game where you play on a variety of different maps. You have different character classes to choose from, which basically means you get different weapons, and there are a small variety of vehicles you can pilot. What always set the Battlefield series apart from many other shooters is that you can actually drive vehicles like tanks and jeeps around, and it adds another level of fun to the gameplay. However, it can also throw the balance way off since a foot soldier with a machine gun can't stand much ground against a tank.

The graphics in this game are just like Battlefield 2, but with different character and vehicle designs. My GeForce 9600 GT on my 22" widescreen monitor with all the settings maxed out still has a somewhat fuzzy look to it, and you can tell this was built on a graphic engine that should be retired. Some of the vehicles, like the walking MechWarrior type things are nice to look at it, but looks only get you so far when you realize the rest of the vehicles moves just like they did in the older games. The sound is at least updated to reflect all the laser guns and shields, but sci-fi sound effects are nothing special.

The main reason why I didn't like this game is the same reason many other reviews have been disappointed by it. I should have heeded their advice when so many people said this game was more like a mod for Battlefield 2 than a brand new game. The gameplay is exactly like BF2, as well as the controls and vehicle movement. The only real difference is that the whole thing had a facelift. The graphics are different, but the quality is still the same. On top of that, I don't really like the new weapons. Instead of selling this as a brand new game, Electronic Arts should have been more honest with people and just sold it as a $20 add-on for BF2. Otherwise, it's really kind of a rip-off.

Bugs? Oh yeah! First, and this is more of an annoyance, but the maps take forever to load. Just the process of ending and starting a new game takes minutes, and I'm playing this on a computer that should make this game run lickity split. On top of that, playing online is a mess because PunkBuster doesn't always update correctly. I had to go manually download and install PunkBuster updates just to get online and play. This would probably keep a lot of inexperienced computer users from even playing, and that is not cool.

If you never played Battlefield 2, then you might actually like Battlefield 2142 a lot better than I did. It's the same game but with different graphics - not better or anything; just different. Between BF2 and this game, nothing is improved or expanded upon. It just looks different. Even now that it is cheaper, I still think it's not worth the money. Just go play Battlefield 2 instead, or better yet - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.