2142 Review (by me, von, whats played it ‘an I)

After my typical hasty synopsis of this game being ‘shit’, ‘shit’, and ‘shit’ again… I decided to give it another try, like the rebels had another bash at blowing up the death star, …it was a tough job, but someone had to do it.

The demo maps name is Verdun.

Released no doubt to make us feel some similarity between all the BF series, an old world battlefield name, with a new world battlefield war.

And a war it is. My initial thoughts about this game were that it is far too slow, I approached it thinking that all the uber skillz I have in BF2 would be applicable instanlty in BF2142, this isn’t the case, it’s back to square one as you take on the role of basic grunt once more, basic weapons, basically not knowing where the roll of the battle will take place etc etc.

But after about 8 rounds, and some rather headless chicken fights it all fell into place, now fast forward some unlocks, and some ranks, (I’m now a master corporal gold which is at the higher end of the player spectrum)
I have been playing ‘support’ which is similar to the support role of BF2, you’re given a very large gun, you look very armoured and everyone looks at you for ammo… Ok, so add those unlocks I was talking about…

Support. (+ = unlock)
Large LMG
v.02 LMG with armour piercing round +
Grenades +
Sentry Gun +
Endurance +
Demo EXpack +
Sprint +
EMP grenade +
Cammo Sensor +
Squad leader beacon +
Enemy Detection +
Accimilator +

Now what I have created is the first step to becoming a hard assed uber soldier.
You spawn into the game on the deck of a rather large flying carrier, boarding an evil looking hovver vehicle that oozes sexual appeal when it starts it’s engines.
The hovver craft flys like a dart straight down, Aliens drop ship springs to mind, the land below is battered and pit holed like post war Verdun, but this time there is the presence of fortification with the large scale wall running along the centre of the field. Sensors on the hovver craft ping away and its time to bail and cap a flag.
This is the usual cap flag procedure, more players at the flag the faster it is, once the flag is capped a missile automatically launches at your enemys Titan ship taking their shields down by 10%, once their shields are destoryed you can board, so as you can tell theres a furious battle about to take place over flag points all so we can get onboard each others ships.

Fast forward again some… The flags are capped nicley and the enemy is down to “one more hit and we can board” It’s time to find a boarding APC, I can see an empty one at flag one, but this is being over-run by swarms of enemy, and I’m only one man, how can I do this … easy. I got the kit.

so I get close, theres 5 infantry, one jeep, and one mec Walker, I take out the sentry gun and place it hidden by some pipes, I sprint like a mad dog to create an arc of fire like an X, I go prone and wait for my LMG to lock on, the lock on does not ‘lock’ targets but locks the cone of fire meaning you can look around and not spread your fire as in BF2 it takes some time to do this so best to hide while it locks red, the sentry gun is a high powered machine gun on a tripod, it detects motion so any poor bugger nearby will get their legs steadily cut off if they stand still too long.

The sentry whirrs up and minces a couple of guys stood near the flag, I open fire too taking down another one. the mec walker sees the sentry gun an destroys it with a missile, so in retaliation I throw and emp grenade at the walkers legs, it freezes and anyone near to this blast will have their HUD fried, … it’s best not to shoot when you get EMP’d, especially if you are infantry, as you all look the same (no tags), during training I opened fire on some dudes while my HUD was severly busted and I got 6TKs and was kicked from teh server.
Anyway, I spot a guy running around in circles waiting for the EMP effect to wear off, this is the opportune moment, I draw a knife run at him and gut him like a pig, his dog tags appear on my screen, he is furious, WTF!!!! WTF!! you bitch!! he communicates to me, I ignore his threats as I have more pressing worries, the MEC walker is a very large set of guns on top of some odd looking legs, the chances of me surviving if I get in it’s line of fire is pretty non existant, so, a few more EMP grenades then board the nearby spawned APC take position 2, and arty the **** out of the MEC, the MEC looks angry, it puts up a defense shield and anything I have barr a nuke (which I have yet to unlock) will not even scratch the MEC now, so it’s quic thinking batman, instead of driving the APC away, I jump into position 4 and alt fire, I am launched in a capsual across the map thats is player controlled, I drop it down near an empty APC in a different location… time to board their Titan and do some damage inc. But first preperation, squad leader time, I invite the three top players on my team to join my sqaud, and equip myself with an Accimilator this is like a flying sentry gun, it follows me wherever I go, if an enemy come near it shoots back with force, and aims for the head only.

I launch from the APC onto the deck of the enemy Titan, the accimilator is furiosuly buzzing away already picking off guys as run through to the door, I drop a squad leader beacon on the landing platform, this is a permanent spawn point for my team, it is the only one I get until the enemy destroy it so best to put it somewhere hidden but advantageous to the battle. no sooner have I layed this beacon down, two more capsuals land, my squad mates.
We burst into the Titan guns blazing, the objective is to take out all four shield consoles in order to gain access to the reactor room, destory the reactor then it’s back home for tea… the Accimilator is taking some hits from an enemy it can’t see, “damn snipers!”, he’s probably decloaking taking a shot then cloaking again.. no worries I have cammo sensor, I scan the room and I see him move, like a cloaked predator he appears like a heatwave signature against the wall, I run at him drawing my knife, he has to decloak to do anything to me, I gut him, his dog tags are mine, his delcoaking dead body falls to the floor and I admire my work… but I get EMP’d, dangerous to stand still so I sprint down the star wars looking corridors to a choke point battle, two squads are fighting over the last sheild console until someone sexy, like me, thorws a grenade into the mix, boom, the enemy retreat and minus a few lads from TKs we go to work on the last console..
it’s basically all over for the enemy. & My fingers are tired of typing.

Verdict, this game starts off shit, but the more people you kill, the more unlocks you get, the better and faster the gameplay increases. Plus the first time you knife someone is a real buzz, the second time it’s like heroin, only do half or else it’ll **** you up!
demo scores: 7/10