Battlefield 1942 Deluxe Edition

"Bloody brilliant game, EA."

Don’t you hate the times when you want to buy something that looks like it’s going to be really good, and gets hyped a hell of a lot, but when you finally buy it, it turns out to be crap? Turns out that this, surprise surprise, ISN’T that kind of game. Battlefield 1942: Deluxe Edition, only for PC.

Now, you may criticize me for saying it’s the exact opposite of that kind of thing, but it’s true: you think it might be bad, it doesn’t have much hype, but you buy it out of pity, and it turns out to be one of the best games you’ve played. You also may criticize me for typing a review for this game when the two games INSIDE it both have multiple reviews. I don’t care, I like the damn game anyways.

As a brief history, I’ll just say this: This game is the original Battlefield 1942 and the first expansion, The Road to Rome. The original was released on September 10th, 2002; expansion included in this released on February 2nd of last year.

Alright, here we go.

Graphics/Sound

The graphics of this game and its expansion[s] are some of the most excellent I’ve seen in a non-RPG PC game to date, even on low graphical detail. It’s like Zelda 64 compared to the original Legend of Zelda, except that you’d compare this to DOOM. It’s like heaven, dammit!

Even the frame rate’s excellent on slow computers, but you’ll have to wait a while for servers to load, especially if you don’t have an Internet connection that’s 128kbps+. But hey, it’s all in a day’s work for a BF1942 fan...

Adding to this, I’ll say this: playing this on a 1.8 GHz computer really destroys the frame rate lag in it, and overall makes it a bit more fun.

The sound? Words cannot describe how perfect the sound is. The music just kinda catches the spirit of the war, and the sounds are probably exactly the same as the real weapons used in the war.

Controls

The basic controls of this game are just these: W, S, A, and D to move around, E to enter/exit machine gun thingies or vehicles; use the mouse outside of planes to aim and fire, and in planes to try not to crash it, though you can also use the arrow keys for that. Z to go into the prone position, and CTRL to crouch.

As usual in an FPS like this, you press the space bar to jump. You press K to chat to everyone, L to teamchat, and you press the F-keys to send radio messages to other members of your team; the messages include “Requesting pickup!” and “Enemy submarine spotted!”

That’s all I’m going to say about the controls (it’s less than ¼ of all of it), so you, the reader, will have to find out the rest for yourself.

Difficulty

Instant battles aren’t impossible to beat, even with the difficulty set to Insane; but they’re still extremely hard. I haven’t tried out the campaigns yet; I’ll have to try that soon, but for now, I don’t have much interest in them.

The difficulty of the multiplayer (up to 64-player online) varies with the skills of the people you’re playing against, and sometimes, it even depends on the skills of your own teammates. Sometimes, the end result of the game depends on whether your team’s going on a huge TK binge, or whether they’re actually playing the game and not acting stupid.

Story

Basically, you’re either an American, British, or Soviet soldier fighting against the Axis in World War II, meaning you’re participating in either boat battles, dogfights, or just plain war, as I calls it.

There really isn’t that much of a story in this game, other than the fact that it’s a game that’s supposed to let people have fun AND learn about WWII.

Play Time & Replayability

The single-player campaigns are just right in the matter of play time and replayability, I’ve heard, but the multiplayer will keep you hooked for a very long while. It’s hard not to get addicted to a game like this. It’s just so mesmerizing, you won’t want to go back to your normal life.

Well, just let me tell you this: you’ll be playing this a LONG time after you buy it. For a package with just BF1942 + The Road to Rome, plus 3 maps and Battlecraft 1942, this is really damn good, bringing us to the final category.

Final Recommendation

Are you seriously thinking you should return this if a relative bought it for you? If so, you must be insane; this is one of the very best games I’ve seen, let alone played. I’m going to have to say you should buy this AT LEAST ONCE; but if you don’t want to spend <$40 on a game that you might not like, you should at least rent it, or borrow it from a friend.

High Points, Low Points
+ Practically everything
- Controls can get a bit confusing sometimes
- Story’s nonexistent

Final Scores
Graphics: 10 out of 10
Sound: 10 out of 10
Controls: 9 out of 10
Difficulty: 10 out of 10
Story: 8 out of 10
Play Time: 9 out of 10
Replayability: 10 out of 10

TOTAL SCORE: 10 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/29/04