Battlefield 1942 Screenshots actual in-game screen shots The Final Say! Gameplay 9.2 Graphics 9.5 Sound 8.4 Value 9.3 Battlefield 1942 - reviewed by Andrew B Review Date: 10 October 2002 Review Score: 9.4/10  Distributor: EA

"Online multiplayer action has never been better!" With this onslaught of World War 2 first person shooters on the PC Gaming front, each game is trying to leave their mark in gaming history. Battlefield 1942 is not unlike these games and offers an awesome online multiplayer experience that lets you play with up to 64 players simultaneously. The games developer DICE, have decided to go one step further and have allowed players to control over 35 different vehicles such as tanks, jeeps and even airplanes to spice up the action. Battlefield 1942 takes place during 1942 where the Axis and Allied forces are fighting on four different fronts in one of the most critical stages of World War II. Although the game is primarily a multiplayer game, it does offers some great single player campaigns that lets you play a variety of different characters and missions. Characters range from the standard "grunt" soldier, pilots, engineers, assault trooper, bombardiers and other World War II based military personal.  Most of the missions are based on real-world historical settings and range from a variety of accurate battles in history. Before starting the single player missions, you are briefed about your current mission objectives. There are four different Theatres you can chose from that include the Pacific, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. For example, if you play the Pacific Theatre of Operations, you will find yourself in the Pacific with Allied battleships surrounding the islands and Axis and Allied aircrafts dog fighting in the skies above you. This campaign also takes place after the attack on Pearl Harbour with the Japanese having the upper hand. Single player mode also offers an Instant Action game that is similar to the multiplayer modes but instead your team mates are replaced by bots. The downside to bots is that by having too many bots in your game, you can actually slow the game down to a halt. The multiplayer modes is truly what makes this game stand apart from its competitors. You can play a variety of different modes such as Conquest, CO-OP, Team Death Match and Capture the Flag. Battlefield 1942 is basically a "team" game that means everyone must work together in order to defeat the enemy. You can't just camp in one place with the most powerful weapon in the game and just take out players randomly because certain objectives must be accomplished. Although if you want a pure slug fest, then Death Match is ideal for you because the person with the highest death count is the winner. Capture the Flag allows you to play various teams in order to capture the enemy flag and return it to your base.

Conquestmode is clearly the most favoured mode of online play and can be played in twoways which are assault and head-on games. In assault, your team is given setpoints that must be protected from the enemy. Whereas the enemy must gaincontrol of these points. The other option is head-on that starts both teams witha permanent base that cannot be captured. By protecting or capturing certainareas in this mode, it will help ensure victory for your team. You cannot keepre-spawning into the game because each team is given a set numberof tickets that goes down when a player is killed. Once the team reaches zerotickets, no one can be re-spawned and the team automatically loses.

Thegame plays and handles like any other first person shooter on the market such asMedal of Honor or Return to Castle Wolfenstein. You must use a combination ofmouse and keyboard to control your character through the world of Battlefield1942. When controlling jeeps and airplanes, the game still has that first personshooter feel and is a little limited at what you can and can't do but then againthis game wasn't suppose to be a flight simulator.

Thesound in Battlefield 1942 actually feature five different dialects such asRussian, English and German to help give that realistic ambience. The soundeffects feature all the authentic type sounding battle noises and gun fire tokeep your adrenaline pumping when the action heats up. Musically, Battlefield1942 lacks the majestic scores of Medal of Honor or Castle Wolfenstein.

Battlefield1942 is probably one of the most intensive online experiences at the moment andallows you to play against a plethora of different people from around the world.If you doubt this review then Isuggest you download the demo immediately to see just how good this game reallyis. With awesome graphics, amazing gameplay and action galore, this is one gamethat should not be missed. Highly Recommended!

- Andrew B