Battlefield 2142

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battlefield 2142
Battlefield 2142 box art
Developer(s)	Digital Illusions CE (DICE Stockholm)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Distributor(s)	Electronic Arts
Series	The Battlefield series
Engine	Modified Battlefield 2 engine
Latest version	1.20
Release date(s)	NA October 18, 2006 (PC) AUS October 18, 2006 (PC) HK October 18, 2006 (PC) EU October 20, 2006 (PC) BR October 27, 2006 (PC) TU November 2, 2006 (PC)
Genre(s)	Online First Person Shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) PEGI: 16+
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Media	DVD, download (via the EA Link)
System requirements	Windows XP operation system, 1.7 GHz processor, 128 MB Video memory (Nvidia GeForce 6 series or higher) 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0c or higher, broadband Internet connection
Input	Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick (optional)

Battlefield 2142 is a computer game designed by Digital Illusions CE and is the fourth game in the Battlefield series. It is set in the 22nd century, during a new ice age. Currently, there have been over one million rounds played since its release.^[1]

The game was built primarily for multiplayer use allowing a maximum 64 players on a server and allows a single player mode with AI bots on Conquest mode with a maximum up 16 players. It has its own ranking system to keep track of the user's stats similar to the one used in its predecessor, Battlefield 2. It additionally opens up a new field of vehicles not seen in Battlefield 2 as well as new futuristic weapons the player is able to use. Battlefield 2142 has an unlock system allowing the player to choose a new unlock every time they rank rather than making them purchase the item. EA has also released an expansion pack which contains new maps, weapons, and armies (see Northern Strike below).

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Conquest 1.2 Titan 1.3 Maps 1.4 Statistics tracking 1.5 Unlocks 2 Story 3 Expansions and booster packs 3.1 Northern Strike 3.1.1 Vehicles 3.1.1.1 Hachimoto 3.1.1.2 Goliath 3.1.2 Awards and unlocks 3.2 Assault Lines 4 Development 5 Retail bonuses 6 Reception 6.1 Advertising components 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Battlefield 2142 uses a modified version of the critically acclaimed game engine of Battlefield 2.^[2] and is the first game in the series to not include the United States as a playable faction.^[3] Battlefield 2142 includes two gameplay modes, Conquest and Titan^[4], the latter of which can only be played online in multiplayer maps. The Conquest mode supports up to 64 players online, while the Titan mode normally supports 48 due to performance concerns. However, the Titan mode can be modified to support 64 players as well. The single player mode consists of a maximum of 16 players, which include the 15 AI bots.

Battlefield 2142 features four different playable kits for the EU and PAC forces: Assault, Support, Engineer, and Recon. All of the kits have different weapon and equipment combinations, however they share several core weapons and abilities. The armor type is choose-able by the player when selecting their kit for their spawn.

[edit] Conquest

Main article: Conquest (gametype)

The Conquest mode involves players fighting each other and working to defend and capture spawnpoints labeled by flags. There are several types of Conquest modes. In Head-on, both teams start with one flag that is uncapturable. Whichever team has the majority of the flags will initiate a ticket drain on the other team. The ticket drain is constant and cannot be increased by controlling more than a simple majority of the flags. The other variant is Double Assault, in which neither team has an uncapturable flag, and they both start with one base. Whichever team holds the majority of the flags initiates a ticket drain. In all of the conquest modes, every respawn of a soldier takes one ticket.

[edit] Titan

The Titan mode involves players from opposing teams whose objective is to destroy the other team's Titan,^[5] while trying to defend their own. However, the first stage in these epic battles occurs on the ground, capturing missile silos, which fire at the enemy titan. Titans are what can be simply described as large, flying strongholds, which have powerful shields protecting them from boarding. Titans can be moved throughout the battlefield by Commanders, players who are elected to lead each team. However, they are not often moved near each other due to performance concerns. Titans can be boarded by infantry via pods launched from an APC, pods launched from a rival Titan, pods launched onto a Titan because of a squad beacon (unlock item), or by landing on the Titan in an air transport, after the Titan's shields have been worn down by missiles. Players must then destroy four reactor consoles and then the reactor itself, or simply keep using the missiles to destroy the hull. When the hull of the Titan fails, a 20-second abandon ship timer is triggered, allowing players to evacuate the Titan before it is completely destroyed and avoid dying in the ensuing explosion. During the beta release of the game, there was an award for those who managed to escape the destroyed Titan before the 20-second timer ends. In the retail game, the round ends when the Titan is destroyed, and because player deaths triggered by the end of a round do not count, the evacuation is entirely for inducing a rush in the player. The Titan escape award, sometimes known as the "Titan Survival Pin", has been re-introduced by the 1.05 patch as a receivable award.^[6]

[edit] Maps

European Theater

• Belgrade
• Cerbere Landing
• Fall of Berlin
• Minsk (T)
• Verdun (T)

African Theater

• Camp Gibraltar¹
• Suez Canal (T)
• Shuhia Taiba (T)
• Sidi Power Plant (T)
• Tunis Harbor

Northern Strike Theater

• Port Bavaria (T)
• Bridge at Remagen (T)
• Liberation of Leipzig

¹Camp Gibraltar is not actually based in the current British overseas territory of Gibraltar, but is actually set in a refugee camp in North Africa.
(T) Available in titan mode.

[edit] Statistics tracking

The ranking and points system of Battlefield 2142 is similar to Battlefield 2, however, different ranks are featured. As with Battlefield 2, a key feature of the game is "Character Persistence", which saves and tracks almost every aspect of gameplay for players. Unlike Battlefield 2, however, the user is given the option to create up to three soldiers, as opposed to Battlefield 2's limitation of one per account. When playing the game in online multiplayer mode on specified servers, a master server tracks player points, ranks, equipment, and other statistics. At the current time statistics information for Battlefield 2142 players is not public except for on EA's Official Battlefield 2142 Website or on third party websites.

[edit] Unlocks

In Battlefield 2142, every time a player earns a new rank, which is attained when points or awards are received, they are able to choose a new unlock. There are a total of 50 unlocks and there are different categories of unlocks including class unlocks, squad unlocks, and ability unlocks. Unlocks are in tiers and require the player to progress up through the tree to unlock higher level equipment. A temporary unlock can be awarded to squads in-round if squad members follow orders directed by the squad leader. This type of unlock, known as a field upgrade, persists only until the player disconnects from the server.

[edit] Story

In 2106, the world froze. After a hundred years of debate and dissension, the world's governments were forced to face the reality that the next Ice Age had arrived.

As snow and storms swept down from the north, living spaces and resources were swallowed by the encroaching ice and a frantic battle for survival began across the globe. Small-scale conflicts bloomed into major confrontations, as desperate nations united to form new superpowers-- the European-led EU forces and the Russo-Asian PAC army. With the formation of these coalitions came the consolidation of brains and resources needed to develop deadly new battlefront technologies: the Titans, vast dreadnoughts with the colossal destructive power to dominate the skies, and lethal, armored Battlewalkers, designed to outpace and outgun infantry.

By early 2138, the world's six factions were heavily fortified, ready to battle over the world's remaining land and resources due to the northern lands being covered in a layer of ice. Tensions rose between factions to compete over the last lands suitable for human resources. Expecting an invasion by the Pan Asian Coalition (PAC) into the agriculture-rich plains of Northern Africa, the European Union 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 feints, 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.

Following the defeat of the EU army in Europe, the stage was set for the Pan Asian Coalition military to force its way into the EU-occupied African mainland. In February 2142, the EU formed 'The Mediterranean Wall', a line of defenses along the North African coast from Morocco to Egypt. Meanwhile, the Pan Asian Coalition was drawing up a series of deception plans under the code names Kupalo, Dazhbog and Perun. These exercises were designed to preoccupy and divide the EU forces in preparation for the PAC's primary mission, Operation Motherland, a comprehensive, multi-pronged assault on the African continent.

[edit] Expansions and booster packs

[edit] Northern Strike

On January 18, 2007, Electronic Arts announced that they would release the Northern Strike booster pack for the Battlefield 2142 game, which was released on March 8 2007.^[7] In Northern Strike, the battle moves to northern and central Europe. The PAC has set up strongholds in the urban areas left abandoned because of the advancing ice sheets. The EU launches an offensive to take back its land from the PAC.

The booster pack contains ten new unlocks, three new maps, two new vehicles, and a new game mode called Assault Lines. Additionally, Electronic Arts has only announced the booster pack being available via the EA Link for $10.00 USD instead of being available from a retail store. Northern Strike is available for download as of April 2nd 2007. ^[8]

[edit] Vehicles

The expansion adds two new vehicles: the FAV (Fast Attack Vehicle) Hachimoto for the PAC, and the IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) Goliath, a heavily armored urban warfare vehicle, for the EU.

[edit] Hachimoto

The Hachimoto is an incredibly fast hover assault vehicle. Its hover ability, paired with its speed, makes it difficult to control. It features a driver-operated cannon similar to the one on battlewalkers, and the gunner seat features a large grenade launcher and a remote-guided missile launcher.

[edit] Goliath

The Goliath is similar to an APC, but has better armor that continuously regenerates. The armor's regeneration can be slowed down or halted by destroying seven repair cells located on the exterior that glow while making repairs. In the 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 PAC-commandeered EU light transport in the video. The Goliath operates similar to a EU APC, except without the pods - both have a mounted weapon for each passenger. The driver's weapon consists of a scatter-cannon and a launcher for an upgraded motion mine that explodes when a vehicle comes too close. The passenger weapons are two normal machine guns in the rear, and two explosive projectile cannons in the front which do no damage to heavy armor.

[edit] Awards and unlocks

Northern Strike contains eleven new awards (including the pin). Each new award in Northern Strike includes an unlock credit. The Northern Strike unlocks are available for use in the core Battlefield 2142 for play also.

[edit] Assault Lines

In Assault Lines mode, the PAC starts out with all but one flag, which is the EU's and is uncapturable. Much like Conquest mode, except with reversed roles, the EU has a steady ticket drain and can win by capturing all the PAC's control points. However, the PAC has one point which cannot be captured until the EU controls all other points on the map. If the EU does capture the PAC main base, all soldiers participating in the capture receive the Assault Lines Pin.

[edit] Development

Battlefield 2142 had been 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.^[9]

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.^[10] 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."^[11][12]

The Battlefield 2142 beta was released in the third week of August, after generating immense hype.^[13] 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,^[14] 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.

[edit] Retail bonuses

Players who pre-ordered Battlefield 2142 from Best Buy were not only given a free 64MB dog tag styled flash drive, but a free "downloadable assault weapon," which replaced the existing standard assault rifle (Scar 11) of the EU faction's assault kit which was a reskinned version of the same weapon. While some players like the replacement, it has been criticized by the size of the gun blocking nearly the entire right side of the screen^[15]. There is currently no way to restore the original assault rifle. Electronic Arts customer service currently has no way to remove the pre-order key from an EA account, which would restore the original skin. ^[16]

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.

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.^[17]

[edit] Reception

Battlefield 2142 generally received positive reviews from game-rating communities but lower than these of its predecessors^[18] IGN rated Battlefield 2142 an 8.4^[19]and GameSpot rated Battlefield 2142 an 8.1.^[20]. 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." ^[21] Game Rankings's average user rating was at 6.6 out of 10.^[22]

[edit] 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.^[23] 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.^[24] 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.^[25] The Australian version of 2142 however lacks the Dynamic Advertising feature^[26] as it is believed to be illegal under the Australian Spyware Act.^[27] 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. ^[28] 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 series "Future Weapons" (For games out of the USA).

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". As of 17th March 2007, ads consist almost entirely of ads for Intel Core 2 Duo which states "Battle-Tested" and EA's own Northern Strike.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Battlefield 2142 website
• An EA/DICE follow up Community Update
• The Official EA/DICE announcement
• Battlefield 2142 Reviews at Metacritic.com
• Battlefield 2142 Northern Strike information site
• Northern Strike Complete Info. Site
• (French) Videos Database of battlefield

v • d • e Battlefield video games

Battlefield 1942 • Battlefield Vietnam • Battlefield 2 • Battlefield 2: Modern Combat • Battlefield 2142 • Battlefield: Bad Company