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An excellent 'combined arms' game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: September 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This review is just based upon the demos (single and multiplayer).
Battlefield 1942 offers you the ability to run wild on the battlefield. The multiplayer demo offers a taste of each of the types of combat: Infantry, air, armor, sea. Infantry has several basic classes, and the other three categories offer a variety of vehicles to steal...er...use.

First off: The game looks and runs fantastic. I have a PIII-800 and it runs well. I know people with better machines, and they report it runs fantastic.

The first person shooter aspect runs fine. It isn't groundbreaking when compared to other contemperary FPSs, but it performs well.

The 'flight sim' aspect also runs fine. It seems geared more towards close air support, as high altitude winding air battles ain't happening...but I still feel like I'm 'flying' an aircraft. Strafing and bombing can't be described easily in words...dropping a bomb on an unsuspecting enemy ground troop was a priceless first in my gaming experience :)

The tank/armor/vehicle portion is STRONG. It isn't fancy, but it is fast and furious action, and provided (for me) the most nerve wracking and exciting moments of the game.

The sea aspect of the game scores a little lower than the rest. It just feels a little 'cheesy.' It is hardly a surface warfare game, but then again, it never claimed to be. There is ample opportunity to put sea power to use. The destroyer in the demo MP game made for an excellent bombardment platform. Once you get over the fact that a single man can control a destroyer/carrier, it is rather fun. However, most players tend to ditch the ships for tanks/planes, as they offer more exciting ways to smite your opponents :)

For sheer gameplay, BF1942 scores all 5 stars easily. I have wasted many hours online, every moment of which was exciting and fun. The gameplay is fast, balanced, and easy to jump right into. It also runs great online, and I played in games with a server ping up to about 170, and it was hardly noticable.

My *ONLY* negative comment on the game is the 'realism' claim. In order to make it a fast, furious and easy game to get into, EA had to (understandably) simplify things quite a bit. Clearly, and engineer can't repair a destroyer in 20 seconds (as I was able to do in the Demo). Aircraft in real life can't buzz airfields and pickup teammates on the fly. There are several other examples, none of which take away from the game at all, but are hardly realistic.
The other realism complaint is the weapons and vehicles inventory they are advertising on the webpage. There was a missed opportunity to provide more historically accurate weaponry...specifically, the Russians had plenty of potential weapons that aren't reflected in the game (i.e. the PPsH40, a superb SMG). The final game isn't out yet, so they may very well have added more specific weapons/vehicles (or do a patch later).

Overall, my minor complaints have nothing to do with the actual gameplay. Grab hold and hang on for a gameplaying experience you'll not soon forget!

Fast open ended action

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 28
Date: June 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

An extremely fun pick me up game for a quick action fix. Has very open ended gameplay. Not for the type who like realism or team play though. This is a very clan oriented game.

Pros:
Open ended
team play
Use of vehicles and different classes for foot soldier
Desert Combat Mod (quickly becoming the next Counter-Strike)

Cons:
Not realistic just an action game
buggy sometimes
Need a fairly powerful Computer
Single Player is just sad

Cool Game!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 20 / 33
Date: June 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is cool!!! It has great graphics, realistic battles, neat vehicles, and more. This is a WWII game, you acting as a soldier in the Japanese, American, Russian, German, or British army. You have a choice of being 1 of 5 types of soldiers: medic, assualt, engineer, anti tank, and scout. You have a machine gun, healing equipment, a knife, and some grenades as a medic. An assualt gets a knife, machine gun, handgun, and grenades. Engineer gets rifle, mines, wrench (to repair vehicles), explosive, and knife. Anti tank gets bazooka, handgun, grenades, and knife. Lastly, scout gets sniper rifle, handgun, binoculars, grenades, and a knife. Very accurate!! Has the battles of Iwo Jima, Battle of the Bulge, Omaha Beach, Battle of the Midway, Wake Island, Operation Battleaxe, and more. Not good for people with slow processors!! Can freeze if you don't have at least a 800 mhz processors. You can fly planes, bombers, drive a jeep, fire some shells in a tank, explore the underwater world with a submarine, command an anti aircraft gun, and command a large sheller. A must for WWII buffs!!!

I'd like to give it a little more, 3.5 stars

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 20
Date: February 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I got this game for christmas, and i am not a big fan of FPS games, but i am very happy and impressed with the game and its play. I'll list the good points first:
1: Lots of different ways of playing. I.e. Tanks, PLanes, Artillery, battleship, infantry, etc.
2: Lots of different ways to change the difficulty level, tailoring it to your strengths and weaknesses to change how challanging it is.
3: Fun to play and just enjoy the simplicity of it.
4: multiplayer capabilities allow for lots of fun and enjoyment for neverending scenarios.
5: not bad for the money.
Ok, now for the cons:
1: a massive slothful, gargantuan program that has, i am sure, shortened the life of my poor hard drive considerably. The reason being, the program sucks up memory like crazy, and causes real problems with the amount of information the poor computer has to process. Many users have complained about it in gross detail about how slow it makes their computer, and i cant help but think that they probably could have made it a more efficient program, however, one does have to consider the tasks that the program has to perform, namely: the physics for a flight simulator for a myriad of different planes, each with their own unique trim, attitude, and speed characteristics, tanks and artillery all with their own physics laws, eveyr weapon has a different sound, zoom range, reload method, etc, also various ships, including carriers, battleships, and more, and each one fo these has certain physics attatched and i gotta admit, they did a very good jopb with all of thiks in terms of getting it as realistic as possible. But, that does suck up a lot of memory and processor. also, the computer has to deal with the AI for up to 60 odd some characters all at the same time, and some of them are also flying, driving, shooting, etc.
2: I cant help but think that EA wanted to get this out at a certain time, as it is quite a buggy program. I didnt have very many major issues myself, but i do know that i am well above the minimum system and recommended requirements and yet, it still runs slow and choppy, and i had a very difficult time with some maps keeping the framerate smooth. I have heard of problems with a manually set refresh rate on monitors, but mine has been manually reset and i have had no issues. i had to download a ptach that was 143 MB, and i see on EA's site that the next one is much bigger (above 200 MB if i'm not mistaken), not too bad for me, i have a cable line and it only took me about 20 mins to download, but if you have a slower connection you're gonna be a while, pack a lunch. also, i had to scale down some video and sound settings to get it to run smooth.
3: In continuing my theme of a fast production date, the manual just downright sux. it has no help whatsoever for technical issues, and gives you no information than basically what button does what and what some features of the game are. There is NOTHING telling you about basic gameplay, or how the spawning delay works, or even why its there(i still dont know)and nothing that explains how to perform certain tasks. Also, they would have done well to have had tutorials to allow you to get used to the basic operation of many of the vehicles. there is nothing that tells you how to control a ship, or what to do to get your team to help you. nothing explains really how the radio controls work, and no legend of what button is what.
4: Multiplayer can be summed uop in one word. horrific. This could have been designd and executed a lot better. my brother and i spent hours trying to create our own game, to no avail, and the manual is useless in telling you anything otehr than "click here, there, put in a name, and you're done". No support on the website either, telling you what to do. or if there is, neither my brother or myself could find it. it's diffivult to co-ordinate efforts team wise, and to push forward sometimes becasue it's hard and time consuming in a fast paced arena like this to type and not get killed.
5: infantry play is quite simplistic. I can understand somewhat, it' a very complex game, and maybe sacrifices had to be made somewhere, but you should at least be able to control how far you throw a grenade, but nope, it's point, shoot, let go. and hope it lands where you want it to. Though i am told jumping at the point of release helps go further. also, there's no running at all. Your guy walks semi fast, but there's no button to hit to get hime to make a dash for it if you need him to, making him a great target for snipers and guys who are good enough to shoot ahead of the point to nail you with bazookas. There are some cplaints of having to lead your target in distances, but i believe that was buil;t into the game as iun real life to shoot a moving target, especially a fast one, you do have to lead it. I have heard of audio complaints, but i have none, when it is at 44 Hz quality level, and the sounds is very realistic and very authentic if you were actually there, i doubt there's be much difference.
i could go into farther detail, but suffice it to say, i like the game, it's fun to play, but difficult due to its size, and it's inability to use system resources wisely. i pity anyone that tries to play the game with less than 1.5 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, a 32 MB video card, and one amazing sound card. also, if you have less than DSL, forget multiplayer, there's just too much information to be transferred to really play it well. thats my 2 cents worth, if you buy it, enjoy it, but dont expect eveything to operate smoothly, but it is a very realistic, authentic, and reality based combat game, that really was well thought out, and many parts evry well executed, but also very unfinished and untested.

Buggy Game, Derivative Gameplay

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 17 / 30
Date: December 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The lure of Battlefield 1942 is impressive - the purported ability to engage in large-scale battles with tanks, planes, infantry, and even naval units. What is unfortunate is that, like so many great game concepts this one falls victim to the specter of terrible execution.

Collision detection is spotty. The integration with Gamespy is virtually nonexistent, requiring ridiculous load times just to get a "server full!" message. For a game that is suppposedly about mass battle, the network code is atrocious. Anything more than 32 players becomes a slide show - over a T1, cable modem, or DSL line. The game absolutely falls apart at low framerates - the chat interface loses keystrokes, players teleport large distances.

And the gameplay. Oh, how agonizing. Planes kill everything with one shot; they take multiple shots from a flak cannon (if you can find one) to kill. The planes have _tremendous_ amounts of ammo, enough to do numerous passes on single infantry targets, killing them instantly - then the driver can just parachute out behind enemy lines and camp as a sniper. Ships destroy emplaced weapons with one shot; it takes 18-20 shots from these guns to destroy a ship. Mounted machine guns (.50s and MG-42s) take multiple shots to kill a target. It takes an average of three bazooka rounds to destroy a tank, some requiring four. The first-person shooter element is horribly outclassed by virtually any other shooter, as players skip and jitter everywhere. There are no hit reactions for small-arms fire, and no blood or dust puffs, so you're never sure if you're hitting your target. Animation is non-fluid. Enemy and friendly markers appear only when you are close enough to see if the unit is friendly or enemy, which is always too late. Tanks take damage from going over barbed wire (!). If you barely nudge a wall with your tank or jeep, it gets damaged. Trying to use the MG mounted on the tank in cooperative mode is suicide, as it turns with the turret, making tracking very difficult. Weapons don't automatically reload - when your clip runs out you just sit there, on an empty clip, with no sound warning or indicator. And the sniper problem continues with this game - why make sniping a "one shot, one kill" experience, then not clean up your other damage models? A sniper bullet to the head kills you, but five pistol rounds at close range don't? A BAR clip in the back doesn't?

The vehicles are decent, but due to lack of balance combat becomes so heavily vehicle-slanted that being infantry is suicide. This results in people stacking up behind vehicle depots, shooting one another for vehicles, etc. Teamwork is nonexistent, except on maps that ban vehicles.

The makers of the game bypassed realism to make some parts more fun, but ruined other parts by making them too real. An example of this is the plane flight simulation - it is ridiculously complicated, requring rudder, flap, and speed control, tilt, roll, etc. Sure, you can master it, but it makes flying a niche skill, and with their devastating firepower it is detrimental to the first-time-player experience.

Not to say there aren't good times. But the bad-times-to-good-times ratio here is terrible, significantly higher than the freeware CounterStrike. More often than not you are left wondering "how did I get killed?!?", particularly after stumbling upon enemy troops with their back to you, emptying a BAR clip into their backs, to have them turn around and shoot you in the head.

Most aggravating is the fact that this FPS still has every FPS problem that has been around for years. People can still bunnyhop in firefights. I've seen real firefights. There is rarely jumping involved. Also, in the game momentum reversal is instantaneous, meaning players zig and zag unrealistically. Combine this with the lag, and you have a frustrating experience where the person nearest the server always wins.

Take it back in shop, fix the obvious bugs, and release it six months from now, and I'd give it four stars. For now, it only gets two.

Battlefield 1942

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has a new twist on first person shooters... vehicles, but Battlefield didn't just do vehicles, they did them right! The gameplay is strategic: you fight your way up to spawn points and capture them by taking out nearby enemies and then standing on them for a few seconds. There is a system of "tickets", and the first team to lose all their tickets loses. Since you are always losing tickets, you slow that loss down by taking spawn points and killing enemies. You speed up your loss of tickets by losing spawn points, letting the enemy gain ground, or dying. This game also has a class system with medics, engineers, assault, scout, and anti-tank. Throw in the vehicles and you have limitless possibilities. The only downfall of this game is that it needs a pretty good computer. Before you buy, check the system requirements.

GOD HELP ME I CAN'T STOP!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: December 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I can't stop playing this game!! I want my life back!! HELP ME!

This game is sooo addicting. The multiplayer battles are too much fun; fighting on a HUGE battlefield with 63 other people blowing each other to bits with explosives, guns, and various naval, air, and armored vehicles is irresistable.

There are some flaws with the gameplay; the infantry combat isn't as polished as some other first person shooters, but believe it or not that really doesn't matter. The focus here is on using vehicles and strategy rather than charging in with your guns blazing, as a rambo style approach will get you minced up in no time. The use of vehicles really is the selling point for this game; they really make the game more fun and add complexity to the gameplay. You can either bomb your enemy from above or fire artillery shells at their base from a distance; or you can sneak in by foot or jeep and go for their flag, it's really up to your preference.

Single player is useless here however; if you're looking for a good WWII single player experience refer to Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault or Return To Castle Wolfenstein. The learning curve for online play with those games is less steep than BF1942 as well, since this game requires you to learn to navigate a large battlefield which is much more complex than most maps from other online shooters. While both of those titles also boast great multiplayer modes, they aren't quite as authentic as BF1942, nor are they as engrossing; there's just more freedom here and more methods for destruction.

If you like playing games on the net, buy this now!!

Great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: September 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Great. I love it!! At 26 years old, I should be mature enough to have my priorities straight and get enough sleep for work the following day, but I have the urge to (and I do) stay up playing it until 4:00A.M. I CAN'T STOP PLAYING!!!.AAHHHHHH!!!.

Simply The Greatest!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is simply one of the best RPS games that I have played to date. It ranks up there with Unreal Tournament 2003,Black hawk down,and Half life.

You can go on missions,and can use a good number of weapons to help you and your AI team,accomplish your goals.

You can drive a jeep,tank,all-terrain transport vech,various airplanes,and boats. You can man the Anti-aircraft guns on a battleship.Your AI team members,will get into your vech,and man the guns in your vech,if they have guns.

After fraging a AI or real player in multiplayer games,you can pickup and use the ammo,and weapon,but you must put down,the one you were previously carrying.

What makes this game even better is the ability to set up a LAN game,or even better play on the Internet,with up to 64 players.

I use my dial-up modem,and only have been kicked off twice for slow ping rate. Find a server with a slower ping rate,and you can play for hours,this is what i did.

Dsl or cable modems,usually donot have this problem.

Install GameSpy arcade,upgrade your BF1942 at the official website (takes about 1hr.13min on dial-up),and you are ready to play on-line.

Wasting away in front of my computer...it's BF 1942's fault!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: January 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I received BF1942 for an early Xmas present and have been wasting away in front of my computer ever since. Well, not really...but I'd like to.
My system is a Sony Vaio 2 GHz, 512MB RAM, and GeForce4 card running XP Home. No problems with the game running smoothly, so I'm not sure why we see so many gripes here...
This is a highly addictive game.
Positive points:
+ Online playing is FREE unlike some other games.
+ You can control virtually any vehicles you encounter. You can even steal enemy stuff!
+ Multiplayer gaming is more fun because of the unpredictable behavior of real humans.
+ The rendering of terrain and objects is quite good. Even the trees sway in the breeze!
Negative points:
- Map loading is rather slow
- Spawning and respawning is slower than I'd expect
- There are still a few annoying bugs, but perhaps a patch is coming soon

Wish list:
? How about field artillary, Howitzers, cannons, etc.
? How about more initial spawn points closer to the action. Too much time spent getting there...
? How about taking POWs to collect tickets. This was a major part of WWII and is realistic.

I am having dreams about some of the battle scenarios. It is THAT absorbing. I can't get the music out of my head either.

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