Battlefield 1942

"Finally a war game that feels like a war."

Battlefield 1942 appears to be one great game, but you shouldn't judge a game by its cover. This game also appears to be just another WWII shooter only with a few tweaks; however, you could never be farther from the truth. Battlefield 1942 is like a party you don't want to end or at least one where you don't want any consequences.

Graphics: 8/10
Even though this is sorta old the graphics are above average. It's nice to see the expansive levels and the smoke from a grenade covering a large part of the screen. Units themselves don't look too different so you usually just use the blue and red names above. The vehicles are very diverse for each side and it's clearly visible whether that tank coming at you are going to help or not. It's also nice that once you get into a vehicle you are actually looking at the outside from inside. You may say: “But that's in every game.” An example is if you get into the back of an ACP. You can't see what's going on outside because all you can see is the face of the people around you and the battle noises outside. The only complaint I have is that for some reason your guy gets all pissed for no reason. Look at your allies' faces go from placid to vein-popping anger.

Sound: 7/10
There isn't really much music in the game, as it seems to interfere with the ability to listen for gunshots. When anything is happening, you can easily hear how far away vehicles, people, and planes are from your current location. The troops also have their little sayings when shot, kill, or killed. Also, when using the quick command function your character will utter a phrase for each button, which I found to be pretty neat.

Story: NA/10
There really isn't much of a story outside of what you've heard in a history class. Allies against Axis is what this games about. The Chinese are also thrown in there so you can fight for Iwo Jima and the Philippines though. Don't buy this game thinking your going to get some RPG story because this game is all about the satisfaction for action, not a first rate story.

Gameplay: 9/10
The true beauty lies not in the single-player but in the multi-player. It's great having large open maps with tons of bushes and mountains. You choose which side of the map you want to be and which of the five classes: medic, assault, anti-tank, engineer, and scout. Each with basic equipment of a knife and a pistol but after that they change it up. Medic can heal and has a machine gun that is slightly weaker than assault. Assault is the basic filling of most armies with a supped up machine gun and grenades. Anti-tank is, in essence, a tank buster; however, it doesn't seem to be as good as an engineer at destroying tanks. Engineer is supposed to fix vehicles, which is what they do, but they are very effective at medium range and defending bridge and control points. Scouts are snipers who have the ability to call down artillery strikes. The aim of most games is to gain control of command points to lower your opponent's tickets. First side to 0 loses. There are plenty of maps with different focuses like boats, planes, or tank fighting.

Re-playability: 10/10
Battlefield 1942 is all about getting back into a game and doing it all over again. Constantly choosing different sides and different unit types keeps the game quite interesting. It's a shooter so you can pretty much expect to be jumping straight from the lobby into your favorite map or game types.

Overall: 9/10
If you need a war game with an emphasis on war, then I highly recommend Battlefield 1942. This is one of the best war games I have ever played and certainly the one with the most action. Do you hate dieing? Then get better at this game fast because you will be doing plenty of dieing. One gripe I have is that sometimes people will boot you from a game just because. People are quick to judge and rule that you are hacking if you win by a lot. People also complain about their team a lot when their losing and it seems that on on-line games this one does it more than others but that just may be me.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/06