Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4543 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2002-09-20
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review
Aimed squarely at the growing online-gaming market, Electronic Arts' latest PC action-strategy title Battlefield 1942 is a tense, involving game that wisely doesn't totally ignore the single player.

Set in the midst of the Second World War, the action plays out as a satisfying hybrid of the tactical, slow build-up of Ghost Recon, mixed in with the more action-based Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Kicking off with an overall map of the area, each game requires some strategic planning before you get down to business, and with 35 vehicles on offer, as well as five classes of character to step into the shoes of, there's much to consider. To the developers' credit, it's quite an easy game to get to grips with, and it positively reeks of polish. The stylised graphics and sound convey the action well, and do contribute to the nice, slow build-up of tension before the skirmishes kick off. Even though you only control one character at a time, you are left feeling part of a team fighting against a common enemy.

As a one player experience, the game's not too bad, thanks to an unscripted approach to each level. It does leave you without a real long-term goal to aim at though. However, in multiplayer mode, Battlefield 1942 really comes into its own, as no matter how strong the artificial intelligence of the computer opponent--and here it isn't bad at all--it's scant compensation for a real, unpredictable human opponent.

At its maximum capacity, up to 64 humans can take part in any single game and, even with smaller numbers, the online nature of the game is completely compelling. It's an easy recommendation for those who like to fight their battles over the net, and a reasonable, if limited single challenge too. --Simon Brew

Customer Reviews

Best World War II shoot 'em up you can get!
I bought this game after purchasing a new Windows XP, and I'm glad I did. The game is absolutely suberb - you can go by air in a bomber, divebomber or fighter plane, by sea in battleships, submarines or boats, or most commonly, by land, whether it be in a jeep, an APC or a tank, or just on foot.
The gameplay is simply brilliant - you can jump in an APC and drive around, picking up more men on the way who jump in beside you. You can go around as the driver, gunner or even just sit inside as you get healed, while the other men take to the mounted machine-gun or the wheel. If you're in a plane, you can head off in a friendly plane or even an enemy plane, and blast the enemy into hell by dropping scores of bombs all over their armies and territory, or even just strafe men in the water or take part in dogfights. What makes it even cooler is that you can jump out in a parachute anywhere you want - one of my favourite places is jumping onto an enemy battleship where you can take out all the men and steal a boat!
The missions are all famous battles - Stalingrad; El Alamein; Kursk as the Russians and many more, including the most famous one from Saving Private Ryan, Omaha Beach, where you can watch as enemy planes sweep overhead in an attempt to rip you to shreds with their machine-guns. You can choose to be Axis or Allies, each side having different objectives. For example on Wake Island, you can be the Japanese and try to bomb the American island and take it. On the other hand you can be the Americans who are trying to defend the island, calling for reinforcements and air support. The key to success in each mission is to take enemy outposts, which reduces the enemy points. As you can tell, this makes a wicked multi-player game.
The weapons are amazing; at the start of each spawn you can choose to be a Scout (Sniper), Assault, Anti-Tank, Medic or Engineer, each who have different weapons. The scout has the deadly sniper-rifle, which is brilliant for picking off soldiers at mounted brownings and gunners poking out of vehicles. Or you can go anti-tank and wield a bazooka, ideal for taking down artillery. You can also pick up weapons from killed enemies, totally changing your kit, as the enemy also has different weapons to you, such as STGs and stick grenades.
Not enough? Well try legging it to an outpost and mount a browning automatic or an anti-aircraft gun, which can cause utter devastation.
Unfortunately, for this game to run properly, you do need a high-spec PC and the game does take up a HUGE amount of disk space (1.2GB!). But if you have the right PC, then this game is awesome.

Best Multiplayer Wargame
...If you are in to playing single-player wartime shooters and don't mind linear gameplay then Medal Of Honour is the game for you. The game is a classic and no-one has come close to matching the tension of the Omaha Beach landing.

However if you have a broadband connection and enjoy an open-ended multiplayer game then buy 1942. The sprawling landscape, the tanks, the jeeps, the planes and the battleships all filled with online soldiers co-operating to defeat the enemy. How you defeat the enemy is up to you and your comrades - there are no flashing red targets for you to attach bombs to...

The gameplay is so varied that it has to be filled by human players who don't rely on basic AI to instruct them to drive tanks or landing craft. Each game can be different in that you can hold the fort, attack the enemy base, co-ordinate a devastating bombardment or just have a sniper shootout with another player - it's your decision.

The graphics are fantastic and with so much happening you do need to have a very good spec. PC and internet connection. If you have these don't worry about finding servers to play on as it seems that the whole world is playing this online.

Battlefield 1942 is what you make of it and it has to be the future of gaming.

It's an amazing game, but still has some issues.....
I must say that Battlefield 1942 is by far the best game I've played since Counterstrike. The sheer freedom of play it allows makes it alot of fun. You can drive tanks, jeeps, supply trucks, fly planes, steer ships, submarines, landing boats. There are four different player classes; Engineer, Medic, Assault, and Scout. by far the most fun in my opinion is the engineer. Armed with TNT and landmines, it allows for great strategic play; mining bridges, roads etc. There's nothing like seeing a german kubelwagon speeding across a bridge, hitting one of your mines and ejecting its passengers 30 feet into the air :]
One of the main things I like about this game is the fact that there are so many things going on at once. There are tanks trundling about, planes flying overhead, and infantry charges ahead. It's by far the most realistic simulation of war I've seen in this respect.

The game states to have a single player campaign mode, but this pretty much just the same maps as used in online games, but populated by bots.

The game is quite a system hog. I've got a 1200 Athlon, with 512mb RAM, and a Radeon 7200. I'd say this was the minimum spec. With less RAM the loading times are rediculous, and the game runs slowly. Also, the game isn't 100% compatible with all drivers. After my second week of owning this game it rufused to start up at all, and when it did it caused a device failure after seconds of play. It took quite a bit of fiddling to fix this problem, but its fine now.

To summarise:

Excellent game, if you have a fairly meaty PC to run it on, and broadband internet to play it online. There are some bugs (that will probably be fixed in the next patch due out sometime before the end of November) but its worth persevering as its an excellent game.