Battlefield 1942

The Good
Battlefield 1942 stands today as one of the hottest games for massive multiplayer LAN gaming, a true gameplay fest based on the simple concept of taking the tried and true class-based fps gaming and enhancing it by making it a truly massive experience thanks to it's 64 players-limit, it's gigantic maps and it's vehicle gameplay.

Based on non-linear game types with conquest and domination-type objectives, the maps span literally miles and miles of terrain, with a spawning base for each team (axis or allied) and dozens of tactically-exploitable landmarks inbetweens, showcasing all of the major theaters in WW2, from the seashores of the pacific islands to the demolished French countrysides and the deserts of northern Afrika. These large areas serve as a way to acomodate the large number of players, yet they also need to be so large due to the other big addition Battlefield brought and which involves the gigantic arsenal of vehicles you can command. Be it a Zero fighter, a Panzer tank or a U-boat, they are all here and allow you to take part in your favorite warfare role, from tactical sniping to aerial dogfighting, blending all gameplay mechanics successfully.

As befitting a game of this type, teamwork is heavily rewarded and most vehicles perform better when separate players handle different functions, at the same time, the class limitations and abilities give another twist to the run-and-gun gameplay that diversifies the gameplay options and extends the shelf-life of the title. The resulting mix could have easily ended in a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation, however Battlefield manages to pull it all off with hardly any problem and thus ends up being a real wonder to play. I had the opportunity to play with 20+ crowds and it's an incredible experience whenever everything works fine (more on that below), I can only imagine what it must be like to play on a fully loaded 64 players Lan...

The Bad
I have one big gripe with the game and a bitching issue. First of all, the big gripe is that if you like single player gaming then don't even bother to look at Battlefield. Sure, the game has bots... but seriously, there's nothing here for single players (and the bots are the Unreal kind: y'know, stupid and predictable in the easier settings, and stupid and predictable in the harder difficulties, except they suddenly gain such a mind-staggering accuracy that causes you to drop dead the second you cross their line of sight).

Besides that, as stated above the game is made by teamplay, and it's also broken by it as another reviewer noted. If everything and everyone works correctly then you are rewarded with a spectacular warfare simulation (sans all the boring details, of course) if not, then you get a lot of idiots running around and crashing onto each other with the planes. This is why I think the game is mostly a LAN game, as it's not only where you'll find the largest amount of players without lag problems, but it's also the best way you can find of making actual teams and coordinating gameplay. Most of the online games I've played where at best counter-strike games with vehicles, exploiting none of the best features the game has to offer.

Also a lot of interface conventions and controls need some time to become used to (case in point: the control changes when entering a vehicle and the infamous default parachute key).

The Bottom Line
Basically one of the best multiplayer games in recent memory, finally the big developing houses start to learn their lessons from the mod community (in fact, Battlefield owes a LOT to mods like the exceptional Day of Defeat). Battlefield brings to the multiplayer arena the best massive team-based fps gaming in recent memory and manages to cover all the bases successfully. Problems include a completely multiplayer-only design and (as with most multiplayer games) a big dependency on the human component.