Battlefield 1942 (Preview) (PC)

System Requirements

OS: Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP CPU: 800 MHz RAM: 256 MB RAM HDD: 400 MB free hard disk space VIDEO: 32MB 3D acceleration and T & L support SOUND: 16 bit DirectX 8 compatible sound card

Story

In Battlefield 1942, you will experience the heat of battle as you heroically storm the beaches of Normandy, drive a tank across the deserts of northern Africa, pilot a fighter plane during the Battle of Midway, command a battleship at Guadalcanal, or parachute and commandeer a jeep in operation Market Garden. It is the only first person, team-based action game that places you in the midst of a raging WWII battlefield with 35 \'machines of war\' under your control. You?ll pick up the sidearm of your choice and get behind the wheel of a variety of vehicles, ships, and aircraft to go to war on land, sea, and air during some of the most famous and pivotal battles of the Second World War. *

Game Modes

There are two separate demos available for Battlefield 1942. One is for single player and the other is for multiplayer. The multiplayer demo comes with GameSpy and a dedicated server component. They each come with one map and you can play the respective armies of that battle location. For example the single player map is Tobruk where you can play the Axis or Britain and the multiplayer demo has Wake Island where you can fight as the US or Japan. The fighting system is the same for both demos. You have a ticket count, you can reduce this by defending and claiming rally points, whomever reaches zero first, loses. The single player game looks to have a campaign mode but it is disabled in the demo. I was impressed as the bots are pretty good, and you can adjust their difficulty level.

How do I fight?

The main objective in the demo is to control the map. Capture and hold as many bases as you can. You will have ammo, med kits and a variety of weapons to help you along. Best of all you get vehicles, aircrafts and boats to use too! The full version will have 35 different kinds of vehicles and 64 soldier units. Each soldier unit has varying artillery. > Scout- knife, pistol, sniper rifle, grenades, binoculars > Assault- knife, pistol, assault rifle, grenades > Anti-tank- knife, pistol, rocket launcher, grenades > Medic- knife, pistol, sub machine gun, grenades, medkit > Engineer- knife, pistol, rifle, demolition pack, mines, wrench

Appropriate?

From a Christian standpoint, this is a war game. You will be shooting, bombing and fighting enemies. There is no blood though. The language isn\'t that bad. On the homepage it says \'Give em\' Hell boys\'. When playing people online, you can\'t control people\'s language or use of it, so pick your partners wisely.

Overall experienceEase of use

The game was easy to install and has a nice interface. In the multiplayer games you have tabs on the top of your screen to remind you on how to do the commands. (They use the F1-11 keys) There are many different keyboard controls for the soldiers and vehicles. (I have yet to fly a plane successfully) The mouse is used for movement and firing as well. There are some graphical glitches I encountered. The recommended resolution is 800 X 600. Anything else has distorted fonts. Also the multiplayer demo did not run on my system until I updated my detonator drivers, so make sure your drivers are up to speed. The single player demo was not as picky. The game ran pretty stable otherwise. The graphics and character/vehicle detail is nice. The single player map is a little bland, given you\'re in a dessert and all. The Wake Island map is a bit nicer, with great water effects. The sound effects are good, different voice acting and explosions, gunfire and vehicle noises make you feel like you\'re in the game. If you like army games, I highly recommend this game. The intelligent bots and fun game play will keep you busy and on your toes! Just make sure your system is fast and it\'s video drivers are up to date.