Trick on the map

European Theater
By early 2138, the world's six factions were heavily fortified, ready to battle over the world's remaining land and resources. Expecting an invasion by the PAC into the agriculture-rich plains of Northern Africa, the European Federation concentrated its resources along the Mediterranean, ready to assist the Union of African States. A foray by two PAC battalions into Egypt seemed to confirm their suspicions, but the attacks were merely decoys, meant to distract the world from the PAC's primary objective, to destroy the military might of the EU's premiere units still located in Europe.


Belgrade
Game Mode: Conquest (16, 32 Players)
Description: In February 2140, the PACs X and II Command Divisions swept through Serbia and trapped the EU 9th Armored Corps in the heart of Belgrade. A massive ice wall blocking its retreat, the EU force, inspired by General Emil Nikoli?, staged a tenacious resistance. In March, the PACs Northern Command Group arrived through recently annexed Bulgaria. Led by a swift, V-shaped formation of T-39 Bogatyr battle walkers, the bolstered PAC forces burst through the EUs eastern flank and forced their surrender. With control of Eastern Europe, the PAC turned its sights to the EUs central command in Berlin.

Cerbere LandingGame
Mode: Conquest (16, 32 Players)

Description: 2142, Cerbere Landing was the last EU stronghold on the European continent. The port served as the chief defensive hub for the EUs Northern Mediterranean operations. Tasked with seizing the harbor, PAC General Yuri Vladomirovic used commando units equipped with the new IT-33 Optical Camouflage to infiltrate the city. Once inside they sabotaged the defenses, allowing the General to land his forces in the main harbor. There they faced the Hell Brigade, the EUs premiere infantry unit, assigned to defend the city. The ensuing violence would establish Cerbere Landing as the most fierce and costly battle of the Cold War.

Fall of BerlinGame

Mode: Conquest (16, 32 Players)
Description: On July 10th, 2140, as part of Operation Thunder, fifteen squadrons of PAC gunships wrested control of the skies above eastern Germany. The victory allowed PAC Titans to airdrop entire regiments of the Northern Command Group behind the EUs Brandenburg Line. Surrounded, the EU Expeditionary Force quickly capitulated. The path to Berlin was cleared. On August 15th, the PAC waged an all-out offensive on the city. After two months of intense fighting, Berlin fell. The remaining EU forces retreated to France where they would make a last stand before evacuating to Africa.

MinskGame

Mode: Conquest (16, 32, 64 Players)

Description: The Cold War began in October 2139 with coordinated PAC invasions from the Persian Gulf to the Baltic Sea. In November, as part of Operation Canute, three battalions led by General Arkadi Petrov entered Minsk, a key EU command center in Northern Europe. The EU's Krieg Panzer 2nd Regiment fiercely defended the city for over four months until the PAC's elite Central Command Group broke through their southern flank, forcing them to withdraw. The Battle of Minsk featured the first frontline use of the militarized Titan, forever altering the character of modern warfare.

Game Mode: Titan (48 Players)

Description: The Battle of Minsk featured the first employment of the militarized Titan in combat operations, changing the nature of modern warfare forever. Because of the Titans unmatched effectiveness as both a transport and assault medium, its destruction became a crucial component of military strategy. At Minsk alone, six full-scale Titans were destroyed within the first week of combat.

VerdunGame

Mode: Conquest (16, 32, 64 Players)

Description: By the end of 2140, the PAC occupied much of Europe but had yet to gain control of the Mediterranean. Northern France represented a key strategic passage, but it was a narrow one, given the wall of ice that had advanced all the way to the 49th parallel. The PAC sped into Lorraine to find a small but resilient EU company holding a section of the Maginot Wall in Verdun. The T-8 Tiger main battle tank more than held its own against the newer Type 21 Nekomata hover tank, allowing the EU to hold the position for almost a month.

Game Mode: Titan (48 Players)

Description: Despite being significantly outnumbered, the EU forces at Verdun were able to severely deplete the invading PAC divisions. This effort was due in large part to the EUs ability to infiltrate and destroy PAC Titans before they could distribute troops and supplies to the front lines. Soon, the PAC matched these efforts, inflicting similar damage to their EU Titan counterparts.

Reception

Battlefield 2142 generally received positive reviews from game-rating communities but lower than those of its predecessors[20] IGN rated Battlefield 2142 an 8.4[21] and GameSpot rated Battlefield 2142 an 8.1.[22] WorthPlaying gave Battlefield 2142 an 8.9 out of 10 and said "Battlefield 2142 continues the tradition of combining ground forces, land and air vehicles, and huge, wide-open maps in an addictive, wholly entertaining package that sets the bar high for competitors to follow."[23] Game Rankings's average rating for the game is at 80%.[24]

Advertising components<<<<<

Battlefield 2142 shipped with dynamic in-game advertising provided by IGA Worldwide. A similar system is featured in games such as Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and SWAT 4.[25] The system changes advertisements on objects such as billboards in-game. These in-game advertisements have been dubbed adware by some, and there has been a vocal backlash against this element of the game.[26] Some players also alleged that the game contained spyware that monitors the user's web-browsing habits. However, DICE employees have claimed on the game's forums that the game only reports what in-game advertisements the player look at, and for how long.[27] The Australian version of 2142 did lack the Dynamic Advertising feature[28] as it was believed to be illegal under the Australian Spyware Act. However, Australian players are now subject to in-game advertisements while playing Battlefield 2142.[29] EA/DICE are currently holding a contest to find the best player in-game ad ideas (futuristic ads) to put into the empty billboards in the game.[30] Additionally, recently much of the "advertising space" has been used to show propaganda for new in game features and helping to feed rumors of a new game type in the works. Intel has advertised in the game, and recently the Discovery Channel has placed advertising in the game for their Future Weapons series. More recently advertisements for the DVD release of the movie Ghost Rider have appeared. The current one is advertising Intel

Billboards without paid advertisements generally have recruitment posters for the factions, and ads for "DICE Travel." These travel ads sell the reader into going to the various maps, such as Verdun or Berlin, for ₤2142, with taglines such as "Gun not included" and "One-way." Some billboard ads recently added after the new year can be found during the gameplay saying "Happy 2143 EU Soldiers!" Additionally there is a reference to the sci-fi film Starship Troopers, and by extension, World War II recruitment posters, on billboards featuring the slogan - "He's Doing His Part. Are You?"
Ads have also recently appeared for the Northern Strike booster pack, displaying pictures like those of the Goliath, with a tag line of "A soldier's best friend", and PAC propaganda posters with the faction flag and a line reading "Европа завоёвана!" ("Europe is conquered!"), in Russian. In the UK, ads consist almost entirely of ads for Intel Core 2 Duo which states "Battle-Tested" and EA's own Northern Strike. More recently in Britain (August 07), the bank Lloyds TSB placed adverts ingame showing various accounts and products available from them.

Maps

Maps
Northern Strike offers three new maps, Bridge at Remagen, Liberation of Leipzig, and Port Bavaria. The new maps which are the only available maps for Assault Lines, are the only maps that spawn either of the new vehicles, and feature relatively large numbers of Battlewalkers but no tanks and little air support outside of Titan Mode, which is also available on the Port Bavaria and Bridge at Remagen maps. They also feature a new "Horizontal Pod Launcher" structure that functions similarly to the Pod Launchers found on the Titans (but with reduced range and a maximum time after you get in until the pod is automatically launched).

Assault Lines
Assault Lines mode is similar to Conquest, but with a couple of major differences. Most asymmetrical conquest maps feature the PAC as the attacking force with the EU defending, whereas Assault Lines reverses the roles. In Assault Lines, all APCs and the Goliath are spawn points for troops, much like they are in Titan mode, however the Goliath may not be stolen by the other team. Finally, the PAC home base cannot be captured until every other base on the map belongs to the EU team before they can begin claiming the base as their own. Completion of this awards a pin to those playing as EU at the time, players who switch teams after the home base has been captured do not receive the pin. If the PAC successfully recaptures the base and controls at least one other point on the map then it becomes locked again while the EU can not lock this point even through controlling all other points on the map.

Demo
EA released an online-only standalone demo of the retail game, featuring the Sidi Power Plant map with either conquest or Titan modes. Demo versions are limited to demo-only servers, of which a few are official EA-run. Points may be earned on the demo, but unlocks cannot be achieved or used, rendering the points worthless unless the user purchases the retail game, which then they may use the points for unlocks. The demo has not been updated with the complete game, and so several exploitable glitches remain.

Development
Battlefield 2142 was rumored to be in development ever since a 30 second video was leaked to the internet in January 2006. The video described itself as an "internal test." The proof of concept depicts the games' various vehicles storming through a futuristic city. A photo depicting the walker was taken from this video and subsequently used in marketing for the game.
The rumors began in earnest following a February 2006 interview with Dan Blackstone, a senior producer from EA, in which he mentioned:
“
We’re about to announce something very big, so stay tuned. One other interviewer asked this and I gave him a hint, so it’s only fair that I do the same for you: 3213/3*2. Or said another way: S.R. 4588164.[10]
”
The S.R. (Square Root) of 4588164 is 2142 (3213÷3×2 equals 2142 as well), hence the rumors. The only proof of existence was the cover story of the PC Gamer magazine and the trailer, published on the very same magazine, until March 21, 2006, when EA/DICE announced that, the next game in the Battlefield series would be Battlefield 2142, in their March 21, 2006 Community Update.[11] In the Battlefield 2 Armored Fury Booster Pack map Midnight Sun, there was a drivable muscle car with the license plate number 2142. Additionally in Armored Fury, there was a billboard advertising a digital wrist watch, which displays '21:42' as the time, and a Mushroom cloud with the caption message, "Watch For The Future." Additionally in Armored Fury, the drivable semi-truck had a magazine on the passenger seat that reads "Ice Age Approaches."
Battlefield 2142 was officially announced and playable at E3 2006."[12][13]
The Battlefield 2142 beta was released in the third week of August, after generating immense hype.[14] However, it was revealed that the beta was not a complete "open" beta upon its release, which disappointed many fans. At first, the general belief was that it was to be a FilePlanet subscriber-only beta,[15] but it was later revealed to additionally have an invite system. At that time the beta was only available to certain Fileplanet subscribers (keys were given out on a first-come, first-serve basis) and those who were invited. Some fansites had been holding contests giving out invitations to the BF2142 beta as prizes. On August 31, a large number of keys were given out by Fileplanet for free, and the beta client was upgraded. However, as of September 2, the beta was closed as all the keys had been given out. The Fileplanet beta ended on September 12, 2006.

Retail bonuses

Collector's Edition
A Collector's Edition of the game was released on DVD, which came in a numbered metal box. This edition came with a Battlefield 2142 chain and handphone strap, as well as a free rank.

Best Buy
Players who pre-ordered Battlefield 2142 from Best Buy were not only given a free 64MB dog tag styled flash drive, but also a free "downloadable assault weapon", which replaced the existing standard EU assault rifle (Scar 11), with the "Bofors Defense Machine Gun", which was a reskinned version of the same weapon. While some players like the replacement, it has been criticized by others for the excessive size of the gun taking up around one quarter of the screen and potentially blocking out enemies.[16]. There is currently no way to restore the original assault rifle apart from asking EA support to deactivate your old CD key and issue you a new one on a new account without existing stats, unlocks or rewards. Electronic Arts customer service currently has no way to remove the pre-order key from an EA account, which would restore the original skin.[17]
On March 23, 2007, EA community management posted a locked and stickied thread on the Battlefield 2142 forums, acknowledging customers' dissatisfaction with the promotional weapon skin, and that EA and DICE were discussing the best way to implement an option to remove the skin for those who did not want it. The forum post was never updated with information from either company. As of June 20, 2007, the forum thread has been removed. There is still no option to disable the weapon skin.[18]

GameStop
Players who pre-ordered Battlefield 2142 from Game Stop received a free in-game rank. This rank was stackable with the Battlefield 2 Veteran's Program promotion, allowing players to begin halfway through the second rank upon release of the retail game.

BF2 Veterans Program
People that played Battlefield 2 could participate in a "Veterans Program" that let them reserve their name for Battlefield 2142 before launch, get an immediate in-game rank-up, receive an in-game notification icon that lets other players know they played Battlefield 2, and receive exclusive verbal taunts to use against other players in Battlefield 2.[19]

Expansions and Booster Packs

On March 8, 2007, Electronic Arts released the Northern Strike booster pack for the Battlefield 2142 game.[8] In Northern Strike, the battle moves to northern and central Europe in 2145, 3 years after the war began. The PAC has set up strongholds in the urban areas left abandoned due to their constant assault, and the advancing ice sheets. The EU launches an offensive to take back its land from the PAC. This fictional invasion greatly resembles the 1944 invasion of Normandy, whereas Europe was finally reclaimed by Allied Forces after an invasion expedition had arrived.
The booster pack contains ten new unlocks, three new maps, two new vehicles, and a new game mode called Assault Lines. The booster pack was exclusively available through the EA Link for $10.00 USD; Since January of 2008, Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition contains Northern Strike. It is now available from retailers outside the U.S..[9]

Vehicles
The expansion adds two new vehicles (IFVs, or Infantry Fighting Vehicles): the Hachimoto IFV for the PAC, and the Goliath IFV, a heavily armored urban warfare vehicle, for the EU.

Type 36 Hachimoto
The Hachimoto is an extremely fast hover vehicle. Its lack of friction while moving paired with its high speed makes it a challenge to control without practice. It shares the FAV's speed boost function, giving it an enhanced ability to make hit-and-run attacks; this makes it especially lethal to the EU's slow and cumbersome Goliath provided there is a gunner present as the driver's weapon can not damage heavily armored vehicles. It also has very weak armor; it is only immune to small arms fire and takes heavy damage from anti-vehicle munitions. The driver and gunner are also almost completely exposed to enemy fire, making them extremely vulnerable to snipers when not moving. It features driver-operated cannons similar to but weaker and less accurate than the auto-cannons on the PAC battlewalker that cause a small amount of splash damage. Curiously, these guns also feature aircraft 'lock-on' rings when pointed at enemy aircraft which have no effect other than outlining the aircraft since none of the weapons will seek the locked target. The gunner seat features a high-speed grenade launcher as the primary weapon and a secondary TV-guided missile launcher which always faces the vehicle's, not the turret's, forward direction and is similar to the TV-missile in the gunner seat of the gunship except that it has a shorter range and a consequently slower speed.

A3 Goliath IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle)
The Goliath is similar in size and shape to an APC, but has significantly stronger armor that continuously regenerates. The armor’s regeneration is generated by seven repair cells which are located on the top frontal area, back and both sides of the Goliath, with one located on the top frontal area and two on each of the remaining areas. The cells are black with blue highlights and glow electric blue while making repairs, otherwise lying dormant. These cells are easily destroyed, requiring only a single direct hit from most anti-vehicle munitions (you are awarded 'Points for Destroying a Strategic Point or Object' for each one you destroy). As each repair cell is destroyed (they cannot be repaired once damaged or destroyed), the Goliath's ability to regenerate armor is diminished, making the vehicle progressively easier to destroy.
The Goliath's frontal armor is exceptionally strong (even among vehicles) and can withstand a large number of anti-vehicle motion mines, sustaining fairly minimal damage (which is then quickly repaired by the repair cells). This ability allows the Goliath to clear minefields for other vehicles behind it. The forward armor is much more resistant to rocket and anti-vehicle turret fire than the rest of its body. The strength of the armor is balanced by the vulnerability of the repair cells to motion mines: motion mines have a high damage and a large blast radius, enabling a single well-placed mine hit to destroy one or more consoles and deal significant damage if they strike the side or rear of the vehicle.
The repair cells stick out from the side of the vehicle which allows them to be targeted. even when the Goliath is facing directly at its attacker. In a teaser trailer, the Goliath is shown completely unscathed from an EMP strike, orbital strike, a number of blows from infantry missile launchers, and even a head-on collision with a FAV. The Goliath operates similarly to an APC with respect to passengers: both vehicles have a weapon for each passenger; however, the Goliath does not have drop pods and has fewer seats.
The Goliath has only four turrets. The front two are projectile cannons, whose rounds explode upon impact and easily kill infantry (but have a limited ammo supply). The rear turrets are machine guns that have an unlimited ammo supply but are less effective against infantry. Neither of these weapons are effective against heavily armored vehicles, such as the walker or tank, and both overheat when fired continuously for any great length of time.
The Goliath driver's weapons consist of a shotgun-like scatter-cannon with limited effectiveness at long ranges, and a launcher for a motion-mine-like ballistic projectile that explodes when a vehicle comes too close. (or on direct impact with an enemy vehicle while still in the air)
The Goliath is only available in Assault Lines mode on Northern Strike maps and only to the EU forces at one spawn point.

Awards and Unlocks
Northern Strike contains eleven new awards: Four new ribbons, two new badges (with three ranks each), and a new pin. Each new award in Northern Strike is worth one equipment unlock credit including each level of the badges for a total of ten unlock credits(except the pin, which is worth 10 career points toward your in-game rank). While these unlocks can be used to unlock Northern Strike Items, they can also be used to unlock items from the core game. While it is not possible to permanently acquire Northern Strike unlocks without purchasing the expansion, they can be chosen as Field Upgrades if the unlocks preceding them are unlocked, or can be used by picking up the equipment of a fallen soldier if that soldier had a Northern Strike unlock equipped when he died.

Battlefield 2 On MacBook Pro

It is done. Battlefield 2 runs on a MacBook Pro and as far as I'm concerned, it runs well enough for anyone interested in the game. It took me a good minute to get Windows XP installed and updated via Windows Update. I also installed Grisoft's free version of AVG for my Anti-virus fix. No anti-spyware at the moment, but I'm cool.
The Battlefield 2 install process was long and painful akin to it's PC counterpart. Being the smart person I am, I didn't have a backup of the 1.22 updater, so it felt good to download the 300MB patch again. (sarcasm for those impaired). The game was up and running about 11:30PM and I got a quick half game in with FRAPS running. I performed a benchmark using the tool and got these results: Min - 21fps, Max - 85fps, Avg - 53fps.
As this graph depicts, I put all the graphic settings on "Medium" and turned off Anti-aliasing. I figured this would be a good place to start since the game looks quite acceptable with these settings. I'll do more tweaks and settings changes tomorrow when I have more time. I am very pleased with the outcome and I highly recommend the MacBook Pro to anyone who is looking for a MacOS X/Windows XP solution with Battlefield 2 support!
I posted a little video clip of me playing the game. It's short and sweet, but you'll get the idea.

ByBWANA

Technology nut, Blogger, Gamer, and Podcaster

Battlefield gets free and funny

EA has officially announced Battlefield Heroes, the first title in the company's new Play 4 Free initiative which will offer downloadable PC titles - yes - for free. They're ad-supported of course, but will also feature micro-transactions (possibly new characters, weapons, etc) - a business model that's well established in Korea where titles like Kart Rider are free to download, making their (huge piles of) cash out of buyable extra items.
And this is no ordinary Battlefield title. As the press release makes clear (if you can make it through the grammatically nightmarish first line):
It's fun cartoon-style graphics and gameplay caters to players of all skill levels. It is easy to pick up and play but with robust character customization and a deep online meta-game, gamers can spend hours building up their characters and conquering the world.
Developer EA DICE is promising to keep updating the game with new content, much of the amends based on player feedback. Clearly the company has been inspired, not only by the rise of PC casual gaming communities (the multiplayer component features a matchmaking service that ensures equally skilled, or unskilled players get to meet each otehr), but also Wii, Xbox Live Arcade and the coming LittleBigPlanet. Update: plus, as PhilWal comments below Team Fortress surely also played a part.
It'll be interesting to see if more publishers start experimenting with this sort of thing, getting small teams to work on cheaper projects during downtimes. In the past, developers have talked about doing this sort of thing with mobile games and XBLA/PlayStation Store titles, but it's rarely transpired. Maybe studios will feel they can get away with a less polished product if they're not charging upfront - and get the chance to refine the project in response to player feedback

By Keith Stuart

.

Battlefield 2142 – Review

For a good long while I was looking for the right compound word to use to describe this game. After consulting with my friends and family, town elders, and unnameable things that live in the outer walls of a madman’s imagination, I settled on one: Review-Proof. Battlefield 2142 is made for people who played Battlefield 2, which was made for people who played the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942, which was made by people who played Battlefield 1942, for people who played Battlefield 1942. Okay, that got a little complicated towards the end there, but that incoherence serves to illustrate my point—this isn’t a game for newcomers or the uninitiated. So what’s the point in reviewing it?
A multiplayer-only first person shooter (FPS), Battlefield 2142 is set in the titular year, when a new ice age has arrived, and the Eurpoeans are battling the Asians for the relatively small amount of land left available for the Earth’s humans to safely inhabit. They do this with assault rifles, tanks, and bipedal mechanized assault vehicles (think Mechwarrior’s Battlemechs, but far less powerful and more awkward to pilot). Beyond that, there’s nothing to synopsize or explain. The game has no content beyond its concept—up to 64 players gather on a server and shoot at each other until they decide to stop. There’s no beginning, no ending, just endless conflict. One of those ‘long wars’ that are so popular these days.

Whether the game is good or bad is almost beside the point. It’s like asking if basketball is a good or a bad game. It’s not either one. It’s just something that people do when they want a little fun competition. 2142 is based on the exact same concept. It’s little more than a way for people to kill a little time killing strangers on the internet. There’s nothing wrong with that, and the game delivers what it promises—but it’s more than a little strange just how aggressively the game is marketed solely to its base—to the point that it seems actively hostile anyone picking it up for the first time.
2142 features no training mode of any kind. If this was a player’s first FPS ever, they would find themselves bewildered in a bizarre, brutal landscape. Obviously this isn’t a game that attracts first-timers, but it’s equally hostile to anyone who hasn’t played previous Battlefield games. I’ve played every important FPS ever made, and a large number of the obscure ones as well, and I was in way over my head with this game. This problem is mostly caused by the vehicles that are featured so prominently. To say that they’re alienatingly hard to use would be quite an understatement. The various airships are basically impossible to use without training, and the game offers none. The only way to learn was by trial and error, crashing over and over again until I kind of got the hang of it. Of course, doing this massively annoyed my teammates, who probably would have preferred that the aircraft be used to actually help them beat the levels.

Whether the game is good or bad is almost beside the point. It’s like asking if basketball is a good or a bad game. It’s not either one. It’s just something that people do when they want a little fun competition. 2142 is based on the exact same concept. It’s little more than a way for people to kill a little time killing strangers on the internet. There’s nothing wrong with that, and the game delivers what it promises—but it’s more than a little strange just how aggressively the game is marketed solely to its base—to the point that it seems actively hostile anyone picking it up for the first time.
2142 features no training mode of any kind. If this was a player’s first FPS ever, they would find themselves bewildered in a bizarre, brutal landscape. Obviously this isn’t a game that attracts first-timers, but it’s equally hostile to anyone who hasn’t played previous Battlefield games. I’ve played every important FPS ever made, and a large number of the obscure ones as well, and I was in way over my head with this game. This problem is mostly caused by the vehicles that are featured so prominently. To say that they’re alienatingly hard to use would be quite an understatement. The various airships are basically impossible to use without training, and the game offers none. The only way to learn was by trial and error, crashing over and over again until I kind of got the hang of it. Of course, doing this massively annoyed my teammates, who probably would have preferred that the aircraft be used to actually help them beat the levels.


By Daniel Weissenberger