The Bottom Line
If you're more interested in gameplay than realism, this could well be the best multiplayer WWII FPS ever. It's easy to learn, full of action, and just plain fun.
Pros
- Control over 35 types of vehicles.
- Excellent multiplayer action.
- Minimal learning curve.
Cons
- System requirements are steep.
- No built-in voice communication.
- Sea and air units are somewhat over-simplified.
Description
- Released September 10, 2002. Published by Electronic Arts.
- Supports up to 64 players online, and allows users to host their own games.
- Uses very familiar FPS controls for most game functions.
- Set in WWII, but highly modifiable, so users are already creating alternative settings.
- Very impressive map sizes and flexible multiplayer objectives.
- Five classes of player to choose from, each with it's own special skills.
- Four theaters of war to play: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific.
- Remarkable integration of the vehicle types that means no lengthy trips to or from the front.
- Graphics get the job done, although there are no blood effects or environment damage.
Guide Review - Battlefield 1942
Whether you are an FPS fan or not, you have to admire what this game accomplishes. I never thought they would make a decent game which would let you take off in a plane from an aircraft carrier, parachute into an enemy base, hop into the gunner position of a tank controlled by your buddy, and have your head blown off by a distant sniper all within an hour of play. Still more impressive is that one doesn't have to spend weeks getting to know the controls of the many different vehicles, since they all follow FPS conventions. Although the maps are wonderfully large, some sacrifices had to made with sea and air units to scale them into one game and keep it playable. Land-based vehicles and infantry are where this simulation truly shines.
