Battlefield 2142: Revive - Review
The 22nd Century, was to be a golden age... We never expected the ice, it spread, everywhere. Nations fought over the last remaining land...
Introduction:
Today, I thought it'd be good to take a look at this amazing game, albeit old but still gold.
But, to come to that conclusion, first we have to go through this entire hassle of writing and reading this 3k article review, right?
So, let's not keep this article stalled any longer and let's just get on with it. (Also send help, I have 3.8k words and Wix's interface is laggy as all hell)
The Game:
Now, the game is Battlefield 2142, released in 2006 when futuristic shooters were the new modern, EA ventured hard into this one albeit the game had its own fair share of issues back when it first released.
Like the lag that wasn't issued until months after its release through a service patch. And that's not counting the bugs that plagued the game before that master patch came in.
Nonetheless, the game was praised and received major critical acclaim from players and reviewers alike.
Like Hyper Magazine's Kosta Andreadis commended the game for its "Titan Mode, refined reward and promotion system [and] well-designed maps"
However, the thing about Titan Mode is that it is the best game mode that you can ever play in a Battlefield game.
So good that Battlefield 4 made an attempt that came with the third DLC expansion Naval Strike; Carrier Assault failed to capitulate in what made 2006's Battlefield 2142's Titan Mode so great.
Which, perhaps a lot of it had to do with the setting of the game, the Titans themselves, and the difficult, well-defined objectives in the maps and game mode that put teamwork over who got more kills. Which often times, that behaviour can plague Battlefield 4's servers.
However, I shall carry on this tangent later on, for now, I shall speak about the setting and story itself of Battlefield 2142. It wouldn't be me if I didn't go over some of the story and events in a short summary.
Story:
Now, I want to make sure that I state that the legitimacy of all the information is probably questionable, it comes directly from Battlefield's Wiki, and seeing as how most of the different wiki communities never really come close to Halo's attention to detail. Some details may be left out.
Our story begins; in the Cold War of the 22nd Century. The main reason for the outbreak of the war was the onset of a new ice age, which caused vital natural resources to become scarce on the globe.
Whilst the European Union had the sufficient resources that it would need to sustain itself, the Pan-Asian Coalition, however, did not and eventually found no viable options other than taking resources by force from the Union.
This war would last eight years, beginning in 2139 and being brought to an end in 2147.
The Cold War began in October 2139 with coordinated PAC invasions from the Persian Gulf to the Baltic Sea. In November, as part of the colossal Operation Canute, three battalions led by General Arkadi Petrov entered Minsk, a key EU command centre in Northern Europe and the nearest city on the border. The EU's Krieg Panzer 2nd Regiment fiercely defended the city for over four months until the PAC's elite Central Command Group broke through their southern flank, forcing them to withdraw.
At Minsk alone, six full-scale PAC and EU Titans were destroyed within the first week of combat.
Though, it didn't stop there. The PAC was quick to move on from their first victory, swiftly pushing towards Germany - the official headquarters of the EU.
PACs X and II Command Divisions swept through Serbia and trapped the EU 9th Armored Corps in the heart of Belgrade. The massive ice wall blocking its retreat, the EU forces, inspired by General Emil Nikoli, staged a tenacious resistance.
In March, the PACs Northern Command Group arrived through recently annexed Bulgaria. The bolstered PAC forces burst through the EU's eastern flank and forced their surrender.
On July 10, 2140, as part of Operation Thunder, fifteen squadrons of PAC gunships wrested control of the skies above eastern Germany.
The victory allowed PAC Titans to airdrop entire regiments of the Northern Command Group behind the EU's Brandenburg Line. Surrounded, the EU Expeditionary Force quickly capitulated.
The path to Berlin was cleared. On August 15, the PAC waged an all-out offensive on the city. After two months of intense fighting, Berlin fell. The remaining EU forces retreated to France where they would make a last stand before evacuating to North Africa.
By the end of 2140, the PAC occupied much of Europe but had yet to gain control of the Mediterranean. Northern France represented a key strategic passage, but it was a narrow one, given the wall of ice that had advanced all the way to the 49th parallel.
The PAC sped into Lorraine to find a small but resilient EU company holding a section of the Maginot Wall in Verdun.
The EU forces at Verdun were able to severely delay the invading PAC divisions. This effort was due in large part to the EU's unexpected proficiency at infiltrating and destroying PAC Titans before they could distribute troops and supplies to the front lines.
Soon, however, the PAC countered and eventually matched these efforts, inflicting similar damage to their EU Titan counterparts.
By 2142, Cerbère was the last EU stronghold on the European continent. The tiny port served as the chief defensive hub for the EU's Northern Mediterranean operations.
There they faced the Hell Brigade, the EU's premiere infantry unit, assigned to defend the city. Though the objective of the EU forces was to retreat, the ensuing violence would establish the Cerbère Landing as the most fierce and costly battle of the Cold War.
Following the defeat of the EU army in Europe, the stage was set for the PAC military to force its way into the EU-occupied African mainland. In February 2142, the EU formed The Mediterranean Wall, a line of defences along the North African coast from Morocco to Egypt.
The attack on Camp Gibraltar was the first deception attack used by the PAC to draw EU forces out of position. Although not of great military significance, the site was an important staging point for refugees from the western Mediterranean territories.
On April 10, 2142, the PAC's AA Command Division attacked the camp. The EU's 4th and 5th Armored Battalions had been forewarned about the attack and were stationed at Camp Gibraltar accordingly. PAC troops fought vigorously but conservatively.
The EU forces relied on sniper tactics to hold key positions in an attempt to occupy the PAC forces as long as possible. While the firefight lasted several hours with minimal losses, the PAC forces eventually withdrew.
As the PAC launched diversionary strikes from Italy into North Africa, it secretly gathered forces in the Sinai Peninsula to prepare for a full-scale assault on the continent.
On May 1, four PAC Command Divisions flew into Libya to engage in a running battle with the EU's 6th Army Group.
This left the 5th Corps at the Suez Canal without support when the Southern Command Group, led by General Muunokhoi, raced into Egypt. To attack the EUs Suez Canal position.
The EU forces narrowly staved off the efforts Muunokhoi's army until help finally arrived via the 10th Airborne Division. Had the PAC seized the Suez Canal, it would have severely compromised the EU's ability to defend Africa.
In an attempt to stop the flow of EU reinforcements to the Suez Canal, the PAC launched a series of raids against key transportation hubs.
The most vital of these targets was Tunis Harbor. Thick fog in the Strait of Sicily allowed the PAC to land its 8th Command Regiment almost on top of the harbour defences.
This strategy enabled them to pin the EU forces in the harbour with the Mediterranean at their backs. The Valkyrie Brigade formed the backbone of the EU's defence.
Though the PAC crippled multiple EU supply ships and made off with several thousand tons of foodstuffs and technology, the EU would maintain control of the harbour.
During the attack on the Suez Canal, the EU discovered a Titan factory that had quietly been established in the city of Karkand to help fuel the PAC war effort in Africa.
They quickly assembled a small strike force to take out the factory and end its production of vital Titan equipment.
The operation succeeded, but there were still numerous other secret Titan factories in the Mediterranean that threatened the EU.
By the end of 2142, freezing temperatures, mass migration and warfare had rendered most of the PAC's occupied territories near uninhabitable.
Desperate to sustain its dwindling population, the PAC changed its military focus to capturing key energy, food and water supplies.
Shuhia Tabia, a large-scale, EU agricultural project located in northern Egypt, was one of the PAC's primary targets.
The resulting battle raged fruitlessly for more than a year. When the EU and PAC clashed at Shuhia Taiba, both sides utilized more than twenty Titans between them.
By the end of fighting a year later, only two remained. Continuous assaults rendered half of the plant's capabilities useless by the first month.
Years later, covered in hulks of metal carnage, Shuhia Taiba would be referred to as the Titan Graveyard.
In January 2143, the PAC tried to appropriate another key resource target in Egypt, the Sidi Power Plant.
The modern but city-sized facility provided more than 40% of the Egyptian population's energy. Each coalition initially depleted of manpower and equipment, the battle began primarily as a ground war.
The EU's 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions established three lines of defence, fighting off wave after wave of incursions by PAC Special Forces. In March, armoured and airborne divisions arrived for both sides.
Within weeks, the fight intensified to become one of the largest and most fervent of the entire war.
Soon, however, the ground war intensified. More air support and delivery were required. Within a month, the skies were again filled with Titans.
But the battle quickly turned sour and ended in a stalemate, with PAC seriously crippled and the EU force badly weakened. After nearly two months, the PAC ceased the attack on the station in order to recuperate.
The war in Africa eventually began to come to a close. Repeated PAC attacks, including endless assaults across the Suez Canal, had failed to break the European armies and the once multi-thousand strong PAC Titan fleet had failed to achieve anything substantial. The situation had evolved in Central Europe, 2145.
A few years into the most desperate struggle in the history of mankind, temperatures were dropping fast but the war was setting Europe ablaze.
With the bulk of the EU army mired in fierce fighting to the south, PAC forces had marched unhindered into the European heartland, seizing the most defensible urban and mountainous positions in anticipation of a potential, if unlikely European retaliation from Africa.
After six years under siege, the EU made plans to go on the offensive whilst the PAC was recovering and push them out of Europe.
The first EU units landed in France in early 2145. As the EU forces advanced through Europe, the frozen Rhine – now an almost impassable barrier of icebergs and crevasses – became an important line of defence once again.
On March 7, 2145, exactly 200 years to the day since the U.S. 9th Armored Division crossed the Remagen bridge in World War II, the EU launched a sudden and bold attack across the Rhine in the hope of establishing a foothold on its eastern shores.
The small number of PAC Titans present were taken by surprise and brought down, and the PAC defenders quickly surrendered, allowing the EU to push into Germany.
EU commanders in the continent began to split off to focus on separate targets. One of these forces headed towards the French Alps. The Port Bavaria Titan supply base, high up in the mountains, was once a vital stronghold for the EU forces.
Now the EU made a determined effort to take back control of the vital link in the PAC Titan supply chain, eventually succeeding and destroying several Titans defending the yard or still in dock.
The victory effectively ended the threat of PAC Titans in Western Europe, a monumental achievement for the EU.
Gaining new strength from the liberated EU territories, the combined African and European armies swept through Germany, crushing the now disorganized PAC defenders wherever they headed.
In the late summer of 2145, EU forces had reclaimed most of Western Europe and the heartlands of old East Germany and the state of Saxony lay before them.
As the Arctic winter drew closer, they staged a night assault on the city of Leipzig, the last stronghold of the PAC forces in Europe.
The single Titan that remained over the city was downed by EU commandos and crashed in the city park.
A heavily defended canal split the city in two. The resistance in Leipzig took the EU by surprise, as they had had a relatively easy time in the counterattack compared to the beginning of the war.
And that is the entirety of the war that we know of, there are a few bonus bits and pieces to it without specified dates such as the Pacific Theatre and the Middle Eastern theatre of war, through the maps of Wake Island and Highway Tampa.
Sadly, though, not much else is known about this war. And well, while gathering this up I didn't know most of this myself, so hopefully, this serves as a learning experience for everyone else just like it was for me.
I shall remain waiting and ever vigilant for a second part to this timeline. Given that Battlefield 4 and the 'War of the 2020' has already started to lay down the seeds for the 22nd Century of Warfare.
As all that came through actual vehicles and models in the maps for the last Expansion DLC Final Stand. Which in their canon saw the end to the War of 2020 as the Russians had their last stand.
This is also the canonical time where the Pan-Asian Coalition would be formed.
Hell, even the Titan can be seen in this DLC.
Factions:
The factions in the game are both the good old European Union and the PAC - the Pan-Asian Coalition. But I will speak about both of them below.
Pan-Asian Coalition:
The PAC was formed during or near the end of the War of 2020[Battlefield 4].
It can be presumed that the motive behind its formation is because of the expected dwindling of natural resources by the 22nd century, brought on by a new Ice Age. By supporting each other, the member countries of the PAC could manage to survive.
However, it is presumed that eventually even this failed and all member countries began to suffer from a lack of resources.
Eyes greedily turned towards Europe and Africa.
European Union:
They are a military force comprising of the militaries of EU countries and their allies, including those from the West such as the United States of America.
They would retain the last of the healthy land on Earth, as well, as enough resources to sustain itself through this new Ice Age that was onset on the world.
The EU was formed initially by France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, in the 1950s.
Its range has since expanded significantly to include most of the European continent.
Nonetheless, the Union continued to be under the heavy influence of, largely, France and Germany.
Weaponry:
Now, the weapons is an interesting subject because it's not like every weapon is unnecessarily unrecognisable or too futuristic. They're created in a way that you can easily recognise who's using what and what is what.
Not to mention that both factions have their own type of ammunition, the EU with ballistic weaponry and the PAC with plasma based ammunition.
There are also several differences in the handling of vehicles and weapons between the two factions enough to make every experience unique in any faction vehicle or using any faction weapon.
For instance, the PAC uses hover based vehicles, the tanks and APCs are hover controlled, while the EU uses rails for their tanks and wheels. Even the scout vehicles for the PAC use hover based movement. - With the exception of the walkers. Both factions use the same type of two legged walkers.
All of this builds enough differences in the two factions that they're truly a force to be reckoned with on their own ways. No weapon feels overpowered or less powerful than a PAC or EU weapon but they still handle differently.
There's also the focus of your commander. Being able to provide UAV support, EMPs, Orbital Strike support, Sattelite scanning, dropping supply and he could even move your team's Titan to different positions along the battlefield.
But that brings me to my next point:
Gameplay:
The gameplay is a blast. It brings the best of Battlefield 2 and puts it in a futuristic package with enough differences to set itself apart from it.
As well as it being the first game to properly bring in the dog tag reward for killing a player with your knife as well as being rewarded a cosmetic knife once you have earned 50 career knife kills which bore the name 'Dog Tag Dagger' (Pictured above)
This promptly saw the rise of the knife only matches in BF2142 which, of course, was an absolute blast, as the knife was actually difficult to properly get kills with it was an experience of skill and progression.
Battlefield 2142 also saw the first - successful in my opinion and fun - experiment with Conquest 'Assault Lines' which started the defenders controlling every point on the map and the attackers with one as their main staging area being an uncap zone.
All the while, the defenders owned a main base that was not an uncap zone, if the attackers succeeded in capturing their main base, they immediately won the match.
There's also the beloved Titan Mode, which I can't stress enough, this is the way BF2142 should be played along with Assault Lines.
Titan Mode follows like this:
Stage One: Players have gotta respectively fight on the ground for capture points that come in the form of anti-titan missile silos called 'Block III'. Once this is achieved, the silos will launch a missile towards the respective enemy Titan and weaken its shielding. Once the shielding is sufficiently weakened it goes down and players may board the Titan.
Stage Two: Now, with both teams inside the Titan, one faction defending and the other attacking. Your team must achieve certain objectives inside the titan and destroy them, they come in the form of four reactor consoles scattered around the outside of the reactor. Once this is achieved, you must rush toward the reactor room and defend it while your team either destroys or defends it.
It should also be mentioned that both teams can weaken both Titans and it turns into a timed race. While both teams work on defending and attacking the respective Titans at the same time or focusing on one objective alone.
Other than this, the standard Conquest mode would be everything that remains for you to play. Although it is fun, it does get old after a lot of subsequent playthroughs, especially when playing it alone.
Issues - That Revive Team can fix:
A few issues I want to discuss right now that quite honestly can be fixed if the purpose of this article is achieved are the following.
The lag in the game can often be quite annoying, although it only causes minor screen shudders at times, it can also cause some major slingshotting and prompt disconnection.
Your rank progression takes a long time to update, if not ever. This is something that should most definitely be fixed because the best part about 2142 is its minimalist and simplistic rank progression system and unlocks. It is satisfying when you finally earn that piece of gear that was missing from your default class.
Not a lot of servers. Which can also be derived to the fact that most people will obviously flock towards Battlefield 2. But also, the lack of support. Although, I am yet to figure out which server is the best one to play in.
The page service can be a turn off to some. It seems like a site that was created as a copy cat to the actual Battlelog. But, with enough good word of mouth, I'm sure people will look past that. At least that was just me.
Add 64 player server support.
What is the Revival Project:
Now, what exactly is the Revive Project? Well, they're a talented group working on bringing back and restoring Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142 to their former glory.
They have worked on reviving a couple of servers for the game. Which to this day, they see quite a bit of activity despite some of the issues discussed before. And they're most definitely a ton of fun.
Although, I couldn't play with friends while I was researching for this article and recovering all experiences lost for Nostalgia's sake. I would still recommend this whole heartedly to be played with a couple friends.
Especially as it delivers some of the best gameplay experiences that have been missing from their modern [Battlefield] counterparts.
And of course, they're offering all of this for free, including the only expansion to come to 2142; Northern Strike.
Conclusion - Why Return?:
Well, to come to our conclusion of today.
I truly do think Battlefield 2142 is a fun game, especially 11 years later. I think it is still delivering some of the best experiences that are natural to the gameplay itself in how you play with your team and how you achieve these objectives respectively without the focus on the spectacle that newer games have.
As for why you should return to this game? Well, the point is to repopulate this great game, either for studies, mods, recreationally, etc.
The more you return to this game the more support it will have, and the more some of us will enjoy it more. Even today, the guys at Revive themselves have two servers running with the 'First Strike' total conversion mod for Star Wars which changes the face of the game entirely.
Although, as a verdict on this game and to Revive, as this is a review after all.
I would give an honest score of eight Venezuelan skeletons out of ten. And that's for one of the best games in my very own list of amazing games.
Author's Notes:
And that my friends, is my review of Battlefield 2142: Revive Project. If you liked all of this don't forget to leave a comment on my Twitter or to join my Mailing List as it will keep you updated about every article that I pump out for everyone. And if you liked this let me know if you want more like this.
I also want to thank everyone that have managed to get me to 1,489 followers and have stayed by me as I shitpost my horrible memes and retweet a lot of political stuff. You absolute fucking mad men. Thank you a lot.
I also want to thank the guys that have donated to me, Kaleb, and everyone else this past couple of days on the thought alone that you would be helping a Venezuelan, really, thank you. Especially donating to Kaleb, I am 100% sure he needs it the most for his mum.
Below I shall give the shoutouts to the mad men that have donated to my Patreon.
Thank you guys:
- Brendan Lor Lowry
- Nels Jones
- H8TRFFC
- ULTRAMANZX
If you want to help out, I will hyper link the moment I created that contains all of our respective information in one place with all our tweets. From artists like Striker and Paco to writers like Kaleb and me.
All my own information is in my 'Begging for money' tab on this site as well. Including my newly created Ko-Fi.
Donate anything at all or don't donate anything at all, anything can help, even sharing my site, Kaleb's or Paco's art. This will help us as well.
But, as always. live your life, stay safe and play a lot of Halo. (And other Vidyas)
P.S. I am listening to the BF2142 soundtrack, my ears hurt, and I am sure I will listen to these songs even without my headset on tonight.
