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Battlefield 2142



 
 
Battlefield 2142 is a first-person shooter
First-person shooter

File:Freedoom aaa.pngFirst-person shooter is a Video game genres, featuring a First person , with which the player views the action as if through the eyes of the protagonist and in which the primary element is combat based around shooting....
 computer game
Personal computer game

A personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles....
 developed by Digital Illusions CE
Digital Illusions CE

EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment Aktiebolag is a Sweden video game developer, wholly owned by Electronic Arts, best known for the Battlefield video game series and the recent Mirror's Edge....
 (DICE) and produced by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is an international video game developer, marketer, video game publisher and distributor of video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games....
 (EA). It is the fourth game in the Battlefield series
Battlefield (video game series)

The Battlefield franchise is a series of computer and console games that started with the Personal computer/Mac OS game Battlefield 1942, the series is developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, and published by Electronic Arts....
. BF2142 is set in the 22nd century, during a new ice age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
 which sees two military superpowers – the European Union (EU) and ?an Asian Coalition (PAC) – battle for survival.

The game was designed primarily for multiplayer
Multiplayer game

A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that pit the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or Non-player character, which often lack the flexibility and ingenuity of regular huma...
 gameplay, allowing a maximum of 64 players on a server or a maximum of 16 players in single player mode against bots
Computer game bot

A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch , team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player....
 on Conquest mode.






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Encyclopedia


Battlefield 2142 is a first-person shooter
First-person shooter

File:Freedoom aaa.pngFirst-person shooter is a Video game genres, featuring a First person , with which the player views the action as if through the eyes of the protagonist and in which the primary element is combat based around shooting....
 computer game
Personal computer game

A personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles....
 developed by Digital Illusions CE
Digital Illusions CE

EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment Aktiebolag is a Sweden video game developer, wholly owned by Electronic Arts, best known for the Battlefield video game series and the recent Mirror's Edge....
 (DICE) and produced by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is an international video game developer, marketer, video game publisher and distributor of video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games....
 (EA). It is the fourth game in the Battlefield series
Battlefield (video game series)

The Battlefield franchise is a series of computer and console games that started with the Personal computer/Mac OS game Battlefield 1942, the series is developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, and published by Electronic Arts....
. BF2142 is set in the 22nd century, during a new ice age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
 which sees two military superpowers – the European Union (EU) and ?an Asian Coalition (PAC) – battle for survival.

The game was designed primarily for multiplayer
Multiplayer game

A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that pit the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or Non-player character, which often lack the flexibility and ingenuity of regular huma...
 gameplay, allowing a maximum of 64 players on a server or a maximum of 16 players in single player mode against bots
Computer game bot

A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch , team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player....
 on Conquest mode. It has its own ranking system to keep track of the user's stats similar to the one used in its predecessor, Battlefield 2
Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2 is a video game by the Sweden developer Digital Illusions in which players fight in a modern battlefield, using modern Weapon....
. It also opens up new categories of vehicles and weapons not seen in Battlefield 2. Battlefield 2142 has an unlock system allowing the player to choose a new unlock every time they achieve a new rank rather than making them purchase the item. EA Games has also released a booster pack called Northern Strike
Battlefield 2142

Battlefield 2142 is a first-person shooter Personal computer game developed by Digital Illusions CE and produced by Electronic Arts . It is the fourth game in Battlefield ....
, which contains new maps, unlocks, and vehicles.

Gameplay

Battlefield 2142 includes two gameplay modes, Conquest
Conquest (gametype)

Conquest is a gametype used mainly by EA and Digital Illusions CE's Battlefield franchise. To win a game of Conquest, the teams in the game must capture pre-determined spawnpoints labelled by flags....
 and Titan, the latter of which can only be played online in multiplayer maps. Both modes support varying numbers of players, up to 64, depending upon the server a player chooses to join online. The single player mode consists of a maximum of 16 players, which includes 15 AI bots.

Classes

Battlefield 2142 features 4 different playable kits. Each kit has different weapons and equipment that are unique to that kit. Each kit contains a basic weapon, secondary weapon, and knife (with the knife also deferring to Battlefield 2, as when a player is killed with a knife, the killer gets that player's dog tags.). The player is able to gain rank, options, and equipment by gaining points in the game. Battlefield 2142 now has customization, allowing the player to gain more unlocks using the one kit which makes it more effective. Each class has two unlockable weapons and one passive unlock which upgrades the soldier's helmet, each helmet upgrade having different functions. The benefits of one soldier's helmet upgrade will also be shared with his or her squad mates.

  • Assault: The Assault and Medic classes from Battlefield 2 are combined as the Assault kit in Battlefield 2142. The main weapons are assault rifles with unlockable rocket or shotgun add-ons. Other unlocks include advanced first-aid kits which can be deployed to restore the health of anyone standing close to it, smoke grenade
    Smoke grenade

    Smoke grenades are canister-type grenades used as ground-to-ground or ground-to-air signaling devices, target or landing zone marking devices, or a smoke-screen devices for unit movements....
    s for screening, and a defibrillator for reviving fallen comrades. The Assault kit's helmet upgrade allows soldiers to determine what type of kit the enemy soldier is using, and assigns the appropriate icon above the "enemy spotted" marker.
  • Recon: The Sniper and Special Forces classes from Battlefield 2 are combined as the Recon kit in Battlefield 2142. The main weapons are sniper rifles, while there is also an unlockable carbine for close-range encounters. This class can unlock a variety of explosives, including APMs
    Anti-personnel mine

    File:Valmara69 AP-mine.JPEGAnti-personnel mines are a form of land mine designed for use against humans as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles....
     and remote-detonated RDX
    RDX

    Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, also known as RDX, cyclonite, hexogen, and T4, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications....
     charges, both of which can kill infantry upon detonation, and the latter can also be used for destroying enemy vehicles and assets. Another unlockable item is the Active Camo system, which makes the user mostly invisible to other soldiers. The Recon kit's helmet upgrade increases the time the "enemy spotted" marker stays on the HUD.
  • Engineer: The Anti-Tank and Engineer classes from Battlefield 2 are combined as the Engineer kit in Battlefield 2142. The default weapon for this class is a directable anti-vehicle rocket launcher. Other unlockable main weapons include a high-velocity anti-tank rifle lacking guidance systems and an anti-air missile launcher with guidance systems. The equipment unlocks include motion-sensitive anti-vehicle mines
    Anti-tank mine

    An anti-tank mine, , is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armoured fighting vehicles.Compared to anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines typically have a much larger explosive charge, and a Fuse #Munition fuzes designed only to be triggered by vehicles or, in some cases, tampering with the mine....
    , a vehicle repair kit, and a defusing device for enemy explosives. While the other classes carry a pistol as their sidearm, the Engineer class has a submachine gun to compensate for its lack of an anti-infantry weapon. The Engineer's helmet upgrade works similarly to the Assault kit's, but identifies and assigns icons for vehicles instead of infantry.
  • Support: The Support class from Battlefield 2 remains fairly unchanged for the Support kit in Battlefield 2142. The default weapon is a light machine gun
    Light machine gun

    A light machine gun or LMG is a machine gun that is generally lighter than other machine guns of the same period, and is usually designed to be carried by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant....
    . Unlike other weapons, this machine gun becomes more accurate the longer it is fired. Other unlockable main weapons are a heavy machine gun and a shotgun. The equipment for this class includes ammunition hubs, deployable sentry guns, a sonar device to locate enemy infantry, EMP grenades, and individual deployable energy shields. The Support kit's helmet upgrade passively spots any enemy within a certain range that starts using the Active Camo. The cloaked enemy's marker will appear on both the HUD and the mini-map, and both will track as long as the enemy is within the Support's line of sight.


Conquest

Conquest mode, similar to its predecessors, involves two teams of players fighting each other while working to capture and defend spawnpoints
Spawn point

A Spawn point is a video game expression referring to where either items such as weapons, players or Non-player characters are to reappear a set time after they have been killed ....
. Spawnpoints are represented by flags and display the color of the controlling faction. Holding a simple majority of flags will initiate a ticket drain on the opposing faction, which will only speed up if one faction controls all the flags. Both teams begin the match with a preset number of respawn tickets. Each time a soldier dies, a respawn ticket is removed from their team. Players have the opportunity to reduce their number of lost tickets by reviving their "critically wounded" teammates with the Assault class' defibrillator. By reviving a teammate within 15 seconds (or the amount of time the server has been set to), no ticket is lost and the player does not need to respawn (the player who killed the revived player still gains a kill point). The team that has no respawn tickets, or no places to spawn with no one alive, loses the match.

There are several types of Conquest modes: Head-on, Assault, Assault Lines, and Double Assault Lines, Conquest Assault, No Vehicles.
  • In Head-on, both teams start with one flag that cannot be captured. The rest of the flags are neutral.
  • In Assault, PAC starts with one uncapturable flag, while EU gets the remainder of the flags. There are some exceptions: Office Ruins in the map Cerbere Landing is neither owned by the PAC nor EU, Operation Shingle where the roles are reversed, and Suez Canal where PAC starts with two uncapturable flags and EU gets the rest.
  • In Assault Lines, the EU starts with one flag that cannot be captured and the PAC starts with all of the other flags, one of which is called the Home Base, can only be captured once the opposing team have taken all of the other flags.
  • In Double Assault Lines, each team has one base that cannot be captured until all other flags have been taken.
  • Highway Tampa and Operation Shingle are the only maps apart from the Northern Strike maps that can be played in either of the Assault Lines mode.
  • In Conquest Assault, which is identical to normal Assault in both its coding and function, the PAC starts with one uncapturable flag (an immobile titan), while the EU starts off with the rest of the flags and an immobile titan which can be captured by PAC.
  • In Conquest: No Vehicles, infantry are the only option, which will stack with the conquest mode that the map uses. No vehicles will spawn, including static ground turrets.


Titan

The Titan mode involves players from opposing teams whose objective is to destroy the other team's Titan, while trying to defend their own. Titans are massive, heavily-armored, flying warships, which have powerful force fields protecting them from enemy intrusion or conventional weapons fire. As the force fields are up during the first part of a battle, players must fight to control the anti-Titan missile silos scattered about the battlefield on the ground. Titans can be moved around the battlefield, but only by the team's Commander
Commander

Commander is a military rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement....
. Each Titan can defend itself and contribute to the fight on the ground with 4 anti-ground guns and 2 anti-air guns. Moving the Titans can cause latency issues
Lag

In computing and especially computer networks, lag is a term used where the computer freezes and then continues some time later when an action is performed, for example clicking a mouse button....
, so some players prefer not to move them at all.

The Titan can only be boarded in any way once the force field is completely destroyed. Titans can be boarded by infantry via "assault pods" launched from an APC or from a rival Titan, by air-drop from a Squad Leader Spawn Beacon signal, or by landing an air transport on top of the Titan. Players must then damage the hull by either destroying four reactor security consoles and then the reactor core itself, or by holding onto enough the anti-Titan missile silos. Both methods work together to damage the Titan. When the Titan's hull fails, players have 30 seconds to abandon the Titan before the reactor core explodes, destroying the Titan and everyone trapped inside.

During the beta release of the game, players who managed to escape the destroyed Titan before the 30-second timer ended received an award. In the retail game, the round ends when the Titan is destroyed, and because player deaths triggered by the end of a round do not count, the evacuation of the Titan had little significance aside from inciting a rush in the player. In patch 1.05, DICE reinstated the award for those attacking players who escaped the destruction in the "Titan Survival Pin." However, receiving the pin requires very precise timing to land on the ground, causing confusion amongst players initially.

Maps

Battlefield 2142 comes with ten maps. Three new maps were included in the Northern Strike booster pack. Another new map, Highway Tampa, was included in the 1.40 update, and two new community maps were later released through the 1.50 update, bringing the total number of maps to sixteen. The Tunis Harbor map is unique because unlike other maps which use either a smaller or larger portion of the same playfield depending on the number of players, its 16 and 32 player versions take place on two unique playfields, this would bring the total number of maps to seventeen.
TheatreMapGame mode
Conquest Type Titan No Vehicles
Europe Belgrade Head-on
Cerbere Landing Assault
Fall of Berlin Assault
Minsk Assault
Verdun Head-on
Camp Gibraltar Assault
Africa Suez Canal Assault
Shuhia Taiba Head-on
Sidi Power Plant Head-on
Tunis Harbor Head-on
Operation Shingle² Assault
Northern Strike Port Bavaria Assault Lines
Bridge at Remagen Assault Lines
Liberation of Leipzig Assault Lines
Middle East Highway Tampa¹ Double Assault Lines
Pacific Wake Island 2142² Conquest Assault


¹Available through the v1.40 update.
²Available through the v1.50 update.

Statistics tracking

The ranking and points system of Battlefield 2142 is similar to Battlefield 2
Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2 is a video game by the Sweden developer Digital Illusions in which players fight in a modern battlefield, using modern Weapon....
, however, different ranks
Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchy relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms....
 are featured. As with Battlefield 2, a key feature of the game is "Character Persistence", which saves and tracks almost every aspect of gameplay for players. Unlike Battlefield 2, however, the user is given the option to create up to four soldiers, as opposed to Battlefield 2s limitation of one per account. When playing the game in online multiplayer mode on specified servers, a master server tracks player points, ranks, equipment, and other statistics.

Ranks

The
Battlefield 2142 rank system is comprised of a number of partially fictitious, partially realistic military ranks, and are (for the most part) each divided by a silver/gold format, with players attaining the silver version of the rank (e.g. Corporal Silver) before reaching the gold rank (e.g. Corporal Gold). New ranks are earned by attaining experience points, which can be earned for actions on a ranked server such as killing an enemy soldier/vehicle, healing/resupplying teammates, capturing/neutralizing control points/missile silos, assisting in kills (such as piloting a gunship) or carrying out orders given by the Squad Leader/Commander (negative points may be earned by actions such as teamkilling).

The rank system is designed to be progressive so ranks are earned faster when a player begins (for example, 40 points are needed to climb from the lowest to the 2nd lowest rank while 3600 points are needed to advance from the 2nd highest to the highest rank). This provides new players with a number of unlocks straight away to give them an edge (as well as ambition). Later ranks require more effort, time, and skill from the player as the extremely high amount of points can usually be attained only through awards (which may give up to 2000 points apiece). The final three ranks of the game are only given to a certain number of players at a time, with Major General given to 50 players, Lieutenant General given to 25 players, and the highest rank, Supreme Commander, given to only one player at a time. These top three are brevet
Brevet (military)

In the U.K. and U.S. military, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher Military rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank....
 ranks; players retain those ranks until other players surpass them.

Awards

Awards can be earned only in multiplayer mode, with each award having its own specific criteria. Most awards typically have two to five criteria, composed of In A Round (IAR) criteria and Global criteria. IAR criteria must be accomplished within a single round, not through multiple rounds. Global criteria is accumulated by playing on a ranked server. For example, the Titan Commander badge (silver) requires a player to be the commander in Titan mode for twenty minutes in one round after accumulating 1000 commander points in Titan mode globally. Each award (with the exception of medals, which are more for prestige, since they are the hardest to obtain) delivers a certain amount of experience points, which go towards attaining a new rank. Badges, which have three levels of achievement (bronze, silver, and gold), and ribbons deliver the most points, while pins offer very few points since they are relatively easy to get, and may be obtained more than once.

Unlocks

In
Battlefield 2142, every time a player earns a new rank, they are able to choose a new unlock. Players with the Northern Strike Booster Pack are also able to earn unlocks by earning the badge or ribbon awards associated with Northern Strike. There are a total of 50 unlocks (40 Battlefield 2142 Core Game, 10 Northern Strike) and there are different categories of unlocks including class unlocks, squad unlocks, and ability unlocks. Class unlocks are specific to the class type which is being used. Ability unlocks are universal for all the classes. Squad unlocks can be equipped by anybody but they may only be used by squad leaders who have the required number of people in their squad. Unlocks are in tiers and require the player to progress up through the tree to unlock higher-level equipment. The player can test the other unlocks by picking up a dead soldier's equipment.

A "Field Upgrade" is a temporary unlock which can be awarded to all members of a squad if they follow orders directed by the squad leader and heal or resupply their team mates. The Field Upgrade is a sort of 'try before you buy' feature (while the player has his/her own customizable inventory), allowing players to experience certain unlocks before they use one of their hard earned unlock credits to unlock it. They only allow players to test the equipment one level higher on their original unlock tree. Field Upgrades will be available to the player until the player disconnects from the server. If a player unlocks a new item which they have already Field Upgraded on their current server, the next unlock will not become available to them for a Field Upgrade until they leave the server. Certain unlocks are only available after purchasing the
Northern Strike booster pack, and they are on top of all the other unlocks in the unlock trees of the core game. Field Upgrades also allow players without Northern Strike to have temporary access to the upgrades that are only available in Northern Strike. Field Upgrades are only applicable on ranked servers.

Development

Battlefield 2142 was rumored to be in development
Software engineering

Software engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches....
 ever since a 30 second video was leaked to the Internet in January 2006. The video described itself as an "internal test." The proof of concept depicts the game's various vehicles storming through a futuristic city. A photo depicting the walker was taken from this video and subsequently used in marketing for the game.

The rumors began in earnest following a February 2006 interview with Dan Blackstone, a senior producer from EA
Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is an international video game developer, marketer, video game publisher and distributor of video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games....
, in which he mentioned:

The S.R.
Square root

In mathematics, a square root of a number x is a number r such that r2 = x, or, in other words, a number r whose square is x....
 (Square Root) of 4588164 is 2142 (3213÷3×2 equals 2142 as well), hence the rumors. The only proof of existence was the cover story of the PC Gamer
PC Gamer

PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC game and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries....
 magazine and the trailer, published on the very same magazine
Magazine

for quarterly in Heraldry see Quartering Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of Article , generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscription, or all three....
, until March 21, 2006, when EA
Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is an international video game developer, marketer, video game publisher and distributor of video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games....
/DICE
Digital Illusions CE

EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment Aktiebolag is a Sweden video game developer, wholly owned by Electronic Arts, best known for the Battlefield video game series and the recent Mirror's Edge....
 announced that, the next game in the
Battlefield series would be Battlefield 2142, in their March 21, 2006 Community Update.

In the
Battlefield 2 Armored Fury Booster Pack
Battlefield 2

Battlefield 2 is a video game by the Sweden developer Digital Illusions in which players fight in a modern battlefield, using modern Weapon....
 map Midnight Sun, there was a drivable muscle car
Muscle car

Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high performance automobiles. At its most widely accepted the term refers to American 2-door rear wheel drive mid-size cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s equipped with large, powerful V8 engines and sold at an affordable price for street use and automobile racing, formally and informal...
 with license plate number 2142. Additionally in
Armored Fury, there was a billboard
Billboard (advertising)

A billboard is a large Out-of-home advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large Advertising to passing pedestrians and drivers....
 advertising a digital wrist watch, which displays '21:42' as the time, and a Mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud

A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect....
 with the caption message, "Watch For The Future." Additionally in
Armored Fury, the drivable semi-truck had a magazine on the passenger seat that reads "Ice Age Approaches."

Battlefield 2142 was officially announced and playable at E3 2006."

The
Battlefield 2142 beta was released in the third week of August, after generating immense hype. However, it was revealed that the beta was not a complete "open" beta upon its release, which disappointed many fans. At first, the general belief was that it was to be a FilePlanet
FilePlanet

FilePlanet is a video game download service that provides free game patches, mod files and media downloads to its users. FilePlanet was launched, and is run by, GameSpy, which is now a subsidiary of IGN, and is one of the most used video game download sites on the internet....
 subscriber-only beta, but it was later revealed to additionally have an invite system. At that time the beta was only available to certain Fileplanet subscribers (keys were given out on a first-come, first-serve basis) and those who were invited. Some fansites had been holding contests giving out invitations to the
BF2142 beta as prizes. On August 31, a large number of keys were given out by Fileplanet for free, and the beta client was upgraded. The Fileplanet beta ended on September 12, 2006.

At the 2007 WWDC, it was announced that
Battlefield 2142 would be released for Macintosh
Macintosh

File:Imac alu.pngMacintosh, commonly shortened to Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc....
 computers in July 2007. It was released on August 28, 2007, for Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
. Since the game uses Cedega
TransGaming Technologies

TransGaming Inc. is a company specialized in video game Porting. The company has its head office in Toronto and a research hub in Ottawa. It was founded by Gavriel State, who ran the Linux product division at the Corel Corporation....
 it will only work with Intel based Macintosh systems and not PowerPC
PowerPC

PowerPC is a RISC instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple Inc.?IBM?Motorola alliance, known as AIM alliance. Originally intended for personal computers, PowerPC CPUs have since become popular embedded system and high-performance processors....
.

Advertising components

Battlefield 2142 shipped with dynamic in-game advertising
In-game advertising

In-game advertising refers to the use of computer and video games as a medium in which to deliver advertising. In 2005, spending on in-game advertising was United States dollar$56 million, and this figure is estimated to grow to $1.8 billion by 2010 according to Massive Incorporated, although Yankee Group gives a lower estimate at $732 milli...
 provided by IGA Worldwide. A similar system is featured in games such as
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is a critically acclaimed third-person stealth-based video game developed and published by Ubisoft....
, and Planetside
PlanetSide

PlanetSide is a computer game published by Sony Online Entertainment and released on May 19, 2003. In PlanetSide, three factions fight for territorial control over ten different worlds....
. The system changes advertisements on objects such as billboards in-game. These in-game advertisements have been dubbed adware
Adware

Adware or advertising-supported software is any Computer software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used....
 by some, and there has been a vocal backlash against this element of the game. Some players also alleged that the game contained spyware
Spyware

Spyware is computer software that is installed wikt:surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent....
 that monitors the user's web-browsing habits. However, DICE employees have claimed on the game's forums that the game only reports what in-game advertisements the player look at, and for how long. The Australian version of 2142 did lack the Dynamic Advertising feature at launch, however Australian players are now subject to in-game advertisements while playing Battlefield 2142. Additionally, much of the recent "advertising space" has been used to show propaganda for new in game features and helping to feed rumors of a new game type in the works. Intel has advertised in the game, and recently the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel

The Discovery Channel is an United States satellite and cable TV channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications....
 has placed advertising in the game for their
Future Weapons
Future Weapons

Future Weapons is a television program series first shown on April 19, 2006 on the Discovery Channel. Host Richard Machowicz, a former Navy SEAL, reviews and demonstrates the latest modern weapon and military technology....
series. More recently advertisements for the DVD release of the movie Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (film)

Ghost Rider is a 2007 in film superhero film based on the fictional character Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider . The film is directed by Mark Steven Johnson and stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider....
have appeared. An in-house advertisement for Battlefield: Bad Company
Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, released in the U.S. on June 23 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360....
have appeared recently, stating such things as "Celebrating the 134th anniversary of the Battlefield: Bad Company
Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, released in the U.S. on June 23 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360....
 demo." Another current one is advertising the DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
 and Blu-Ray release of
I Am Legend
I Am Legend (film)

I Am Legend is a 2007 in film Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith....
. Billboards without paid advertisements generally have recruitment posters for the factions, and ads for "DICE Travel." These travel ads sell the reader into going to the various maps, such as Verdun or Berlin, for £2142, with taglines such as "Gun not included" and "One-way." Some billboard ads recently added after the new year can be found during the gameplay saying "Happy 2143 EU Soldiers!" Additionally there is a reference to the sci-fi film Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers (film)

Starship Troopers is a 1997 in film Academy Award nominated science fiction film-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Edward Neumeier, and starring Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer and Denise Richards....
, and by extension, World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 recruitment posters, on billboards featuring the slogan - "He's Doing His Part. Are You?"

Ads have also recently appeared for the
Northern Strike booster pack, displaying pictures like those of the Goliath, with a tag line of "A soldier's best friend", and PAC propaganda posters with the faction flag and a line reading "?????? ?????????!" ("Europe is conquered!"), in Russian. In the UK, ads consist almost entirely of ads for Intel Core 2 Duo which states "Battle-Tested" and EA's own Northern Strike. More recently in Britain (August 2007), the bank Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB

In January 2009, Lloyds TSB Group changed its name to Lloyds Banking Group. This article is now about the brand Lloyds TSB which is still operated as part of the Lloyds Banking Group....
 placed adverts in-game showing various accounts and products available from them. Also recently, billboards sporting ads for
Battlefield: Bad Company
Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, released in the U.S. on June 23 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360....
have been popping up. The most recent of which being advertisements for Bad Company's free Conquest mode addition.

Updates

EA Games has released five updates for
Battlefield 2142 to date. These have addressed various issues in-game, some of which are causes of minor imbalance (for example, a bug causing the missiles of one faction's gunships to be homing while the other faction's gunship had "dumb" missiles). However some players have complained that minor issues (such as small bullet deviation adjustments to guns) were repeatedly tweaked while major issues (exploits which allowed sentry guns to locate players behind walls, allowed critically wounded players to "see through" the whole Titan, and "Pod Surfing" which would allow players who altered their controls to extend the APCs' and Squad Leader Beacons' drop pod range almost infinitely) remained unaddressed. Certain fixes have also created more problems. For instance, an exploit that allows players to reach normally inaccessible locations such as high rooftops was remedied in the 1.25 update. However, the fix has had repercussions in the form of equipment that can kill the player or become stuck on map geometry. Patch 1.4 fixed many of these exploits and enhanced certain features of the game. Three major additions (in 1.40) are the new map Highway Tampa, and an auto save feature that saves the last kit layout used for each class (although there have been noted problems). The 1.40 update allows a second gunship to spawn on each titan after the first one has taken off. In the Highway Tampa map, there are a total of three gunships per faction. Patch 1.50 was released for Windows-based systems on May 30th, 2008 and includes 2 new maps - Wake Island and Operation Shingle - as well as numerous bug fixes and game enhancements; a mid-June 2008 announcement on the Battlefield website indicated that Patch 1.50 would eventually also be released for the Mac OS; as of August 1, 2008 the Mac patch has become available.

Release


Demo

EA released an online-only standalone demo of the retail game, featuring the Sidi Power Plant map with either conquest or Titan modes. Demo versions are limited to demo-only servers, of which a few are official EA-run. Points cannot be earned on the demo. The demo has not been updated in parallel with the complete game, and so several exploitable glitches remain.

Retail bonuses

  • Collector's Edition: A Collector's Edition of the game was released on DVD, which came in a numbered metal box. This edition came with a Battlefield 2142 chain and handphone strap, as well as a free rank.
  • Best Buy: Players who pre-ordered Battlefield 2142 from Best Buy were not only given a free 64MB dog tag styled flash drive, but also a free "downloadable assault weapon", which replaced the existing standard EU assault rifle (Scar 11), with the "Bofors Defense Machine Gun", which was a reskinned version of the same weapon. While some players like the replacement, it has been criticized by others for the excessive size of the gun taking up around one quarter of the screen and potentially blocking out enemies. There is currently no way to restore the original assault rifle apart from a player asking EA support to deactivate their old CD key and issue a new one on a new account without existing stats, unlocks or rewards. Electronic Arts customer service currently has no way to remove the pre-order key from an EA account, which would restore the original skin. On March 23, 2007, EA community management posted a locked and stickied thread on the Battlefield 2142 forums, acknowledging customers' dissatisfaction with the promotional weapon skin, and that EA and DICE were discussing the best way to implement an option to remove the skin for those who did not want it. The forum post was never updated with information from either company. As of June 20, 2007, the forum thread has been removed. There is still no option to disable the weapon skin.
  • GameStop: Players who pre-ordered Battlefield 2142 from Game Stop received a free in-game rank. This rank was stackable with the Battlefield 2 Veteran's Program promotion, allowing players to begin halfway through the second rank upon release of the retail game.
  • BF2 Veterans Program: People that played Battlefield 2 could participate in a "Veterans Program" that let them reserve their name for Battlefield 2142 before launch, get an immediate in-game rank-up, receive an in-game notification icon that lets other players know they played Battlefield 2, and receive exclusive verbal taunts to use against other players in Battlefield 2.


Reception

Battlefield 2142 generally received positive reviews from game-rating communities but lower than those of its predecessors IGN
IGN

IGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games. Its corporate parent is IGN Entertainment, which owns and controls separate sites such as GameSpy, GameStats, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen....
 rated
Battlefield 2142 an 8.4 and GameSpot
GameSpot

GameSpot is a video game website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer and Vince Broady....
 rated
Battlefield 2142 an 8.1. Game Rankings
Game Rankings

GameRankings is a website which keeps track of video game reviews from other sites, and combines them to present an average rating for each game....
's average rating for the game is at 80%. However, consumers of the game (particularly Mac users) were quite disgruntled due to the game's very buggy initial release. Many of these consumer reviews are found on Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American electronic commerce company in Seattle, Washington. It is America's largest online retailer, with nearly three times the internet sales revenue of runner up Staples, Inc....
 (for the and versions), and on the online Apple Store for the . Months after the buggy initial release, EA released a which resolved most of the game's bugs; widescreen support didn't come until the was released for the PC version of the game on May 30, 2008. The Mac version of the patch was released August 1, 2008, several months later.

Northern Strike booster pack

On March 8, 2007, Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts is an international video game developer, marketer, video game publisher and distributor of video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games....
 released the
Northern Strike booster pack for the Battlefield 2142 game. However, in the UK, retailers are selling empty Northern Strike game boxes containing a download code for those who wish to purchase the booster pack in a slightly more material form.

In
Northern Strike, the battle moves to northern and central Europe in 2145, three years after the war began. The PAC has set up strongholds in the urban area
Urban area

An urban area is an area with an increased Population density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be city, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlet ....
s left abandoned due to their constant assault, and the advancing ice sheets. The EU launches an offensive to take back its land from the PAC. This fictional invasion greatly resembles the 1944 invasion of Normandy
D-Day

D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable , designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar terms....
, whereas Europe was finally reclaimed by Allied Forces after an invasion expedition had arrived.

The booster pack contains ten new unlocks, three new maps, two new vehicles, and a new game mode called Assault Lines. The booster pack was exclusively available through the EA Link for $10.00 USD
United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
; Since January 2008,
Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition contains Northern Strike. It is now available from retailers outside the U.S..

Awards and unlocks

Northern Strike contains eleven new awards: Four new ribbons, two new badges (with three ranks each), and a new pin. Each new award in Northern Strike is worth one equipment unlock credit including each level of the badges for a total of ten unlock credits (except the pin, which is worth 10 career points toward a player's in-game rank). While these unlocks can be used to unlock Northern Strike items, they can also be used to unlock items from the core game. While it is not possible to permanently acquire Northern Strike unlocks without purchasing the expansion, they can be chosen as Field Upgrades if the unlocks preceding them are unlocked, or can be used by picking up the equipment of a fallen soldier if that soldier had a Northern Strike unlock equipped when he died.

Maps

Northern Strike offers three new maps, Bridge at Remagen
Remagen

Remagen is a town in Germany in Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one hour's drive from Cologne , just south of Bonn, the former West-German capital....
, Liberation of Leipzig
Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
, and Port Bavaria
Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
. The new maps, which are the only available maps for Assault Lines (excepting the Highway Tampa map, obtained through the 1.40 patch), are the only maps that spawn either of the new vehicles, and feature relatively large numbers of Battlewalkers but no tanks and little air support outside of Titan Mode, which is also available on the Port Bavaria and Bridge at Remagen maps. They also feature a new "Horizontal Pod Launcher" structure that functions similarly to the Pod Launchers found on the Titans (but with reduced range and a maximum time after the player gets in until the pod is automatically launched).

Assault Lines

Assault Lines mode is similar to Conquest, but with a couple of major differences. Most asymmetrical Conquest maps feature the PAC as the attacking force with the EU defending, whereas Assault Lines reverses the roles. In Assault Lines, the APCs on Port Bavaria and the Goliath are spawn points for troops, much like they are in Titan mode, however the Goliath may not be stolen by the other team. Finally, the PAC home base cannot be captured until every other base on the map belongs to the EU team before they can begin claiming the base as their own. Completion of this awards a pin to those playing as EU at the time, players who switch teams after the home base has been captured do not receive the pin. If the PAC successfully recaptures the base and controls at least one other point on the map then it becomes locked again while the EU can not lock this point even through controlling all other points on the map.

External links