Battlefield 1942

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Battlefield 1942
Battlefield 1942 box cover
Developer(s) Digital Illusions CE
Publisher(s) EA Games
Engine Refractor 2
Release date(s) September 10, 2002 (NA)
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T), PEGI: 16+
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh
Media CD (2)
System requirements PC Version: 500 MHz CPU, 128 Megabytes of RAM, 3D accelerated 32 MB video card or equivalent with HTL and a 24-bit z-buffer, 1600 MB free hard disk space plus space for saved games, 8X Speed CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, DirectX 8 Compatible Sound Card, Mouse, Keyboard
Mac OS Version: Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later, PowerPC G3/G4/G5 700 MHz or faster, 256MB of RAM, 1.6 GB free disk space, 3D Graphics Acceleration (ATI Radeon 7500/nVidia GeForce 2 or better, 32MB of VRAM), CD drive required to install and play

Battlefield 1942 is an expansive first-person shooter (FPS), set in World War II, developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows (2002) and Apple Macintosh (2004). The game can be played single-player against bots, but most playtime has been in its multiplayer Internet games.

Battlefield 1942 combines high polygonal and high texture resolution 3D computer graphics with extensive gameplay. Players are able to fly World War Two era fighter aircraft and bombers, navigate capital ships and aircraft carriers, man coastal defenses, drive tanks and jeeps, control stationary weapons on the battlefield or aboard vehicles or just fight as one of five classes of infantry. Some argued that Battlefield 1942 had one of the most realistic physics and game engines available in FPSs on the market when it came out in 2002[citation needed]; others however, find this debatable because of certain details. For example, tanks tended to lob their projectiles (which should have had a very flat trajectory) and target leading was arguably due to game and network lag rather than programmed physics.

Each battle takes place on one of several maps located in a variety of places and famous battlefields in all of the major theaters of World War II: the Pacific, European, North African and Eastern Fronts. While the combat is always Axis Powers versus Allies, the location determines which specific armies are used (for example, on the Iwo Jima map, it is Japan versus the United States, while on the Battle of Britain map, it is Germany versus the United Kingdom). The maps in Battlefield 1942 are based on real battles, but are not necessarily realistically portrayed; an example of this is the presence of American forces on the Operation Market Garden map, even though, in reality, the Americans had no participation in the battle at Arnhem where this particular map takes place.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay generally has a more cooperative focus than previous games of this nature, as it is not only important to kill the opposition but to also hold certain "control points" around the map. These control points allow players and vehicles to respawn as well as reduce the enemy's reinforcement pool if enough are held. Unfortunately, the gameplay suffered from some serious issues such as: lack of spawn protection, team killers/griefers, various map and engine exploits, as well as a lack of team play mentality from players on public servers. Despite these setbacks, Battlefield 1942 was one of the first main stream games to represent a dramatic shift in gameplay mentality, from the "One Man Army/Rambo" mentality to a more cooperative, team orientated mentality.

In detail, the default gameplay mode, called Conquest, revolves around the capture and control of "control points" of the map; once a control point has been captured, it can usually be used to respawn from by the owning team. When a team loses control of all their control points, they are unable to spawn again. And if no one is alive, the team with no "spawn" points, loses.

Games operate on a round to round basis, a round can be won when one team has forced, through the killing of the other team's players, the other team to run out of tickets, or when one team holds all of the capture points on a map. A game cannot officially end until all players on the losing team are dead or a team runs out of tickets due to lack of control points. The hunting and defeating of straggling or hiding enemy forces offers an occasional extra task at the end of a round for the winning team. On rare occasion, with one team holding all of the available spawn points on a map and with a few enemy forces left loose, the spawnless team can manage to re-capture a spawn point and give their team another slim chance for a round victory. However, this is unlikely because the newly recovered forces will probably have fewer tickets remaining and will definitely have fewer resources available than the 'winning' team; typically in this scenario the stronger team's victory is merely delayed as the sheer weight of their tickets, team and available equipment (air power, extra tanks from all the owned spawn points, etc) is no match for the 'losing' team which probably has little or no resources.

On some maps, controlling all available spawn points is impossible because it is configured to be a defensive map, where one team's goal is to defend as many spawn points as possible, all the while slowly shedding the enemy's tickets until they lose. Conversely, the attacking team's goal is to capture all of the defending team's spawn points, thus winning the map. Alternatively, the attacking team can attempt to slowly deteriorate the defending team's tickets by holding certain spawn points and not attacking in full force, thus slowing their own loss of tickets while the defenders also lose tickets. This however, is less likely to result in a victory than the former method of attack. Another map configuration that prevents total ownership of all spawn points is where both teams posses a permanent, uncapturable base (Battleaxe, for example); unfortunately these maps easily lead to spawn camping (the map Kursk is especially prone to this), especially after one team captures all the points that are capturable and the other team is confined to their base.

Spawn tickets also play a vital role in the success of both teams. Every time a player on a team is killed and respawned, his or her team loses one ticket. Each team starts every round with tickets in a range from 150-300 depending on the particular team's role that certain map (defense, offense, etc). Teams can also lose tickets varying on how many spawn-points they control, as a general rule, the less spawn points controlled by a team, the more tickets that deteriorate from their overall ticket score. For a team of 32 on a 64 player map, with 150 tickets, this means a little less than 5 respawns or deaths on average for every player if they hold their starting spawn points, in perspective, this can make victory a difficult task for inexperienced players.

[edit] Community

[edit] Popularity

In 2005, there were more than 1,500 servers running Battlefield 1942 at a time, with up to 64 players playing on each. The number of servers has dropped as of April 2006 to around 800 or 900 servers with about 2,500 players online. This is still quite respectable for a game of this age, and a testament to its lasting appeal, since typically most videogames don't retain this level of popularity 4 years after release. Many consider that the game's lasting appeal marks it a classic in the PC gaming genre. Some contributions to this popularity may be due to many players prefering the WWII setting of the game as opposed to the more modern weapons and vehicles of its sequels, and that the game is sold separately from its sequels. Also, the supportive community that continues to release gameplay modifications and host the 1,500+ servers, despite newly released sequels, certainly contributes to the game's ongoing popularity and longevity.

[edit] Mods

Since its release on September 10, 2002, there have been a large number of mods (modifications) developed by independent gamers and studios (see list of Battlefield 1942 mods). Each mod changes the gameplay by adding new content, gameplay balance, or both. There are dozens of a large content total conversions and many times that number of smaller gameplay, texture, and sound modifications. One such mod, Desert Combat, moves the setting to modern combat in the Middle East. Modern helicopters and tanks were introduced for the first time. The creators of the Desert Combat mod were hired by EA to work on Battlefield 2. Desert Combat itself has been the subject of several modifications such as Desert Combat Realism Mod, and other gameplay and realism mods.

BF1942 mods have greatly aided the success of the game, driving sales and popularity of the game later into its life cycle. Players of the many modifications typically outnumber those playing the original game online (see Bftracks' mod statistics). Early on there was little mod support by the developers and no SDK to work with. The release of a Battlefield Mod Development Toolkit (MDT) offered some support, though early versions were criticized as not being extensive enough. Battlecraft42, a tool for creating maps (also for Battlefield Vietnam), was also released for the game. BF has also spawned a modding wiki for the game. [1]. The Mac OS X version of Desert Combat, SilentHeroes and other mods are available from Macologist.

[edit] Comparisons of Battlefield 1942 mods

For a graph comparison of the popularity of currently played BF mods see: BF Tracks. Another tracking site, Csports.net also offers comparisons of BF42 and other computer games statistics.

[edit] Development

Battlefield 1942 was a development of the less successful Codename Eagle (2000) computer game which was set in an alternate history World War I. It featured single and multiplayer modes. The earlier engine had more arcade-style physics and a less realistic focus than its sequel. A fan-made port of the game to the Battlefield 1942 engine, compatible with the 1.45 patch was made though. In continuation of the series, Digital Illusions developed a sequel to Battlefield 1942 called Battlefield Vietnam. It has conceptual similarities to the Desert Combat mod, except that instead of present-day helicopters and tanks, it features Vietnam War-era weapons comprising the game's arsenal. Its new features include a new game engine that heavily uses normal mapping, multiple weapons for most classes, and new maps. The next game in the Battlefield series is Battlefield 2 which has a Desert Combat-like theme, some changes to gameplay, and an updated graphics engine. The extreme demand for the Battlefield 2 demo upon its release crashed servers around the world as fans flocked to download it. The Battlefield series currently continues with the future-themed Battlefield 2142.

More patches and maps may still be released in the future for Battlefield 1942, and a Macintosh compatible version of BF1942 was also made and released by Aspyr Media in mid-2004. A huge amount of content is available in the form of its many mods, with an unknown amount still to be added. With the release of new battlefield games, another full-blown expansion pack for Battlefield 1942 is unlikely. The Macintosh port by Aspyr Media, and especially the 1.61d patch which added full mod support, added a new influx of players as do the periodic releases of mods.

[edit] Gameplay statistics and player rankings

Main article: Computer game tracking websites

Player statistics and rankings are not officially colated by EA/DICE; however, there are third-party websites which have similar functionality.

[edit] Expansion packs

The creators of Battlefield 1942 have released expansion packs entitled Battlefield 1942: The Road To Rome and Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons Of WWII. Both add various new gameplay modes and design concepts. The Road To Rome features a focus on the Italian battles and Secret Weapons Of WWII focuses on prototype, experimental, and rarely used weapons. Downloadable patches fix bugs in the game and sometimes add extra content (such as the aforementioned Battle of Britain map).

[edit] Milestones

  • June 28, 2004 - Aspyr begins shipping the Apple Macintosh Version of Battlefield 1942
  • March 15, 2004 - 3 million copies sold, BF1942's sequel, Battlefield Vietnam released
  • October 10, 2003 - 2 million copies sold
  • September 4, 2003 - Secret Weapons expansion pack released
  • August 8, 2003 - Battlefield 1942 Secret Weapons demo released (Hellendorn map)
  • February 2, 2003 - Road to Rome expansion pack released
  • 2003 - 6th annual Interactive Achievement Awards, BF1942 receives awards for:
    • "Online Gameplay"
    • "Innovation in PC Gaming"
    • "PC Game of the Year"
    • "Game of the Year"
  • September 10, 2002 - Battlefield 1942 released
  • August 16, 2002 - Battlefield 1942 multiplayer demo released (Wake Island map)
  • July 19, 2002 - Battlefield 1942 single-player demo released (Tobruk map)

[edit] Maps

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Official
Other


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