Clan FIGHTCLUB

By Dave Kosak | Dec. 9, 2004

Can you say team work!

"Charlie team, hold position outside the base," our Commander tells us. Although I know he's a human being, the little voice inside my headphones sounds suspiciously robotic as he efficiently barks out orders to each of our Squad Leaders in turn. "I'm going to soften them up," he announces. Moments later, the airstrike hits: towering explosions erupt all along the hillside. When we move in immediately thereafter, not much is left inside to put up a resistance. Our tanks move into position next to the flag while infantry scouts ahead. Soon, new orders came in, and a new waypoint highlighted itself on our mini-map. The war raged on.

But this time around, the war doesn't have to be the bungled free-for-all affair that you so often see in online shooters. Battlefield2 features some of the most advanced teamplay organizational tools built into an online game since Tribes 2. These new features were the emphasis of our most recent visit to EA headquarters to see the game in person. Fans of Battlefield 1942 -- even those who might have been disappointed by Battlefield Vietnam -- will find a lot to love here.

The version of the game we played was "pre-alpha," that is to say, playable but still very early in development. Graphically it was stunning, with terrific soldier models covered with gear and vehicles that looked almost photographic in their level of detail. Framerate was still an issue with this version of the game, prompting Executive Producer Scott Evans to remind us optimizing the speed of the game is one of the team's major priorities heading into the game's release in March of next year.

So as we played, we focused instead on the gameplay mechanics, particularly how teams were created and the new roles of commanders and squad leaders. Here, Battlefield 2 really shines.

Whenever you play Battlefield 2 online, the game tracks detailed statistics on everything you do. These statistics are persistent and follow you from server to server, almost like you're creating a character role-playing game. As you do important things -- score enemy kills, capture points, heal teammates, etc. -- you'll earn some notoriety for yourself and your player profile will move up in the ranks. This doesn't impact gameplay very much until you want to become a Commander for your team, but more on that later.

The developers at DICE have worked hard to make sure that everyone is rewarded, no matter what role they play on the team. Support characters like engineers and medics no longer suffer in silence while the kills and credits go elsewhere. These classes are also more important than ever: there are no health or ammo packs sitting around the map. If you need medical attention, it's up to a medic to make it happen. If you're going to defend a position for a while, a medic can scatter health packs around, Enemy Territory style. They get credit whenever a teammate is aided.

Support vehicles have an increased role as well ("target," "bait," or "cannon fodder" no longer being their only functions.) If an APC has a medic inside, it acts like a mobile infirmary, healing any infantry within or standing nearby. If an engineer is aboard, the APC will repair all nearby vehicles -- the engineer doesn't even have to jump out where he could be shot. Combined with the fact that players inside of APCs can now aim their weapons out of the windows and fire, these support vehicles are now a real force on the battlefield. Sure, you still wouldn't want to lead an assault with an APC, but you definitely feel better when one follows just behind your main force.

Battlefield 2 comes with built-in voice-over-IP. It's pretty effortless: just plug your headphones into the back of your PC and the game will take care of the rest. Of course, you wouldn't want everyone talking at once in a giant 64-player game, but Battlefield 2 solves this problem by allowing players to divide up into squads.

A squad is a named group of about half a dozen players with a designated leader. All of a squad's headphones are tied together, so you can communicate easily as a group. The squad leader can also set goals through a simple on-screen command interface. Basically, he just presses the T key to bring up a circular menu of options, allowing him to quickly select one just by nudging the mouse and clicking. It's all context sensitive. If the Squad Leader looks at the ground and selects "move here," a smoke bomb will be set off on the ground and all the squad members will see the waypoint on the screen as well as a line to it on their mini-map. Different squad goals are available depending on what a squad leader clicks on -- clicking on an enemy held flag will allow him to give capture and hold orders, etc.

In some circumstances (such as when he's in certain vehicles) a Squad Leader can become a mobile spawn point, allowing teammates to respawn at his side during the fight. Obviously a good squad leader can make a huge impact on the course of a battle, organizing a group of players into a fighting force that acts as a single unit. Provided they listen.

Squad Leaders can direct the actions of a group of players, but Commanders can direct the actions of an entire team. It's a whole new way to play the game. Here's how it works: any player can apply to be a Commander, but if more than one person wants to do it per team, only the highest-ranking player gets the job.

The Commander views the game from the map screen, with a special interface along the side showing him the makeup of every squad and any special actions he can perform. The Commander communicates directly with the squad leaders and no one else. He simply clicks on a squad (or multiple squads) to select them, then talks to the selected leaders with his headset. Commanders can give orders to squads by selecting the squad and then clicking on a point on the map. Squad Leaders will see the orders but they have to accept them before they'll be transmitted to the rest of the squad.

For the most part, the Commander sees no more than his troops on the field, meaning enemy forces only appear on his map when they're in line-of-sight of his men. But he has some tools at his disposal to change this. The first is a Satellite Scan, which will reveal enemy forces along the entire map for a few seconds. This information is given to the Commander only, so he'll have to relay the important stuff he learns to his Squad Leaders.

The Commander can also send a spy drone over a particular area. This will display all enemy forces in that area not just on his map, but on the mini-maps of everyone on his team. Both the Satellite and the Probe take about a minute to recharge, so they're best saved up and used before key assaults.

When his men are in need, Commanders can also airdrop supplies. From the players' perspective this is a real trip: A giant crate parachutes out of the sky and lands right where you need it. Good Commanders will drop these at key points that will need a sustained defense or along major roads right where his men are about to assault an enemy base. The crates contain unlimited ammo and health to resupply with.

Finally, Commanders can take on an offensive role, pounding enemy strongholds with artillery strikes. It's as easy as selecting the place to fire the guns, but there's about a 10 second delay before the shells hit. When they do, they hit a large area in a random pattern, meaning it's pretty much impossible to hit something dead on, but fairly easy to devastate an enemy that's all clustered up around a specific point. (it's also easy to kill your own troops if you're not careful). Use of artillery, like other special Commander abilities, has a cool-down time before it can be used again. The best part about being a Commander is that you can zoom down into a close-up overhead view of a specific region of the battlefield. Here you're actually looking not at a map but of the game itself as the battle rages. Little infantry men scurry toward flags, dunebuggies powerslide around corners, and tanks rumble inexorably toward one another ripping off shells. This view is perfect for pinpointing artillery strikes. Actually, more often it's used to yell at your squads to back off just before one hits. Occasionally this cool overhead view can give the Commander some big-picture insight that he'll want to share -- "There's armor flanking your APC around the building to your right," -- but staring at this view too long is a bad idea because you might miss what's happening elsewhere on the map.

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Can you say team work!

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