This was followed by Battlefield Vietnam. A personal favourite of the series it was the same style of warfare only this time in Vietnam (surprisingly). The weapons of war were updated to reflect the times, Huey's would buzz overhead dropping off troops and supplying ground support blaring out tunes from the era and Flight of The Valkyries, it was once again a battle were each game could either way. Napalm would light up the jungle and the ever present snipers were always lurking to dispatch those foolish enough to walk into their crosshairs. Despite the fact that it contained some major flaws it was still great fun and the larger battles would always make me want to come back for more.
Then we have Battlefield 2.
This is probably one of the best online FPS of the time. It came when everybody was stuck doing World War 2 games still, and in my opinion they had become a bit boring. As much fun as they were, I craved more modern guns, tanks and aircraft. Battlefield 2 delivered. Set in modern times it pitted America, Europe, China and the fictional Middle Eastern Coalition in a fictional war. the story wasn't the strong point in this game but it didn't need to be. It added a vast arsenal of new weapons, equipment and vehicles to the fray and quickly surpassed the original in popularity. The servers would be alive with matches every night and I have many stories of wins, defeats and near misses. Times when it looked like the situation was dire and then a perfectly times artillery strike would even the odds. At it's best battles were close fought with the winner be decided in the closing moments. BF2 also received multiple add-on packs that added yet more new maps, weapons, vehicles and destruction to the series. These would also spawn epic battles for control points. The one set on the Great Wall of China was deeply enjoyed and always gave a steady battle that would swing one way and then the other. Of note was the Armoured Fury add-on that brought the war to American soil and introduced the A-10 Thunderbolt II, a plane that I consider one of the best is existence and could destroy all in it's path.
After this we were given Battlefield 2142.
Set in the near future we were armed with futuristic assault rifles, tanks and gunships. While the popularity didn't meet that of BF2 it did quickly become a popular game and once again lead to many moments that made everything worth it. Many of the features were the same, take and hold control points on a map to claim victory, though they did add a new mode where you would fight to take down an enemy Titan, a huge flying battlestation that would dispense troops and firepower onto the field. One major improvement in the series with this one was with flying. It was easier to control the gunships and transports and this made playing much more enjoyable and much less frustrating. I became quite adept with the transport craft to the point that when I was actually accepted into a guild I usually became the designated driver. There were many a time when me and my squad would seize a control point from the enemy, me charging in at high speed, the guns of my squad blazing and cutting down troops, tanks and walkers left, right and centre. We would take the control point, killing all who stood in our way, toss out all our mines, and then take off before the enemy had a chance to retaliate. Instead on artillery strikes you had EMP strikes in this game, and I remember one time we were being chased my a gunship in our slow, lumbering transport craft. With nothing else to do to get ride of it I flew through a EMP barrage to see if he would follow. He did, and while we passed through unharmed he was struck, lost power and fell crashing to the ground. It was moments like that that made the game worth while. Equally fun times were had defending or attacking Titans. Once the shields were down a battle could be ended if you brought the opposing teams Titan down by destroying the core. This of course was no easy task.
After all of these the series left the PC and moved to the consoles with Bad Company. This added destructible scenery to the mix and looked brilliant, it was just a shame that I could not afford a Xbox 360 or PS3 and therefore missed out. Luckily we have Bad Company 2 out in March which returns once again to the PC, and from the looks of things I'm excited about this one.
God, that music at the end still makes me shiver with excitement!
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