Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (XBOX)

This is yet another FPS of the millions that are already available. However this game has a twist. Sort of. What we mean by that is that, in this game, when you die you don't have to start from the previous checkpoint or whatever, but instead you get to switch players. This may sound strange, but bare with us and all will be revealed. In each mission there are a set number of allies that you have, so let them all die and you fail. Basic. Soldiers are classified by their skills - assault, engineer, support and so on. Each different skill is represented by a small, purple coloured circle above the soldier with a shape in the middle. To switch from soldier to soldier you simply have to face them until the circle above their head is white and press Y. Imagine a battle situation: You are amongst a team of ground troops walking to your destination while a tank appears with lots of enemies behind it. Your teammates take on the the enemy infantry and its your job to take out the tank. Instead of wasting your time with grenade launchers and grenades you can just face upwards towards a building, where there would normally be one of your men with a rocket launcher (doing nothing), and press Y. Now before you go mental and accidentally kill yourself by shooting an enemy point blank in the head it is best to take out the tank first. When you've done that you can easily switch back to one of the ground troops. This is a new solution to frequent deaths, and pretty damn cool. If you die then you will automatically control the nearest ally to you. It's a very clever add on that helps bring something fresh to the FPS genre. One thing that this game has, which other FPS's don't feature, is a ranking chart. After each level you are rated on the things you have done in the mission giving you stars. You are given stars for the time taken for you to complete the mission, the number of team mates you had left in the end and so on. For example the quicker you completed a mission the more stars you'd get. You also get ranked on how many points you have gained which are acquired by killing enemies and basically causing some damage. You lose points if you die however. Obviously the more points you have the more starts you get. These stars all contribute to your rank as a soldier. You start of as a private and slowly have to make your way up to general. Although to become general you must also obtain stars from unlocked challenges and hidden objectives which we will explain later on.

Other features are included such as 'power-ups' which increase your reload speed, walking speed, fire rate and others. When we say power-ups don't go thinking that these are weird shaped objects lying scattered about on the field, which you can pick up. Power-ups are simply obtained by going on a killing spree and killing as many enemies as you can, as fast as you can. Sounds good huh? Well there's more. There is NO LIMIT on the amount of ammo you have. If you run out of ammo you have to wait for about half a minute and you instantly have a full magazine loaded in your rifle and another 5 spares at your side. This is the perfect game for someone who likes 'going in all guns blazing'.

There is a range of vehicles which you can drive in the game. By 'range' we mean only an armoured jeep and tank, but then again you cant really expect to drive much else in a war game. If you are driving a jeep or a tank you can switch between being a driver and the guy who operates the turret. You can also control two types of boat. They are both exactly the same except that one has a mounted machine gun while the other has a mounted grenade launcher. The tanks can sometimes be annoying to control however and the mortars on the boats cannot move very far upwards which means you cant fire very far.

Graphics wise this game is not average, but not amazing at the same time. It is somewhere in the middle. The environments look nice and realistic and the guns look crisp and detailed. The explosions are well done and the building are, erm, building shaped. The only let down here is that every single enemy (and ally) you face all look identical which makes the game seem abit unfinished.

When you buy this game you will somehow feel that it is unfinished. Like I have mentioned before every ally looks the same as the next and every enemy looks the same as the next. The other let down is the lack of features. By this we mean that there is no multiplayer and no XBOX Live. It can get boring playing the game all by yourself, but fear not as there is a solution to that. As you progress through the game, completing missions and what not, you will unlock challenges. There are about twenty of these ranging from racing to sniping to burying enemies with rocket fire. These challenges take quite a while to fully complete and will add to the longevity of the game. You can also earn medals for things such as "500 shotgun reloads" or "15 RPG kills in a row" and that should keep you coming back for more after you've completed a mission. Throughout the game you also have 'hidden objectives' which are not 'hidden' as such. These are just objectives which, when completed, will give you bonus stars. They are basically things like destroying 15 signposts in a level, or destroying billboards and boxes. They will distract you from your main missions so its best top complete all the missions first and then repeat them for any additional or bonus stars.

This game is a blast. It is the perfect remedy for FPS fever and you know it. You can go in using tactical maneuvers such as fire team rushes, or you can just run in all guns blazing and inflict hell on the battlefield. It's quick, its fun and you don't have to restart from the beginning when you die thanks to the innovative, erm, switching system. This game does not contain any multiplayer content whatsoever, but there are so many unlockables and the urge to become general will keep you coming back for more. One last notice is that if you are more of an 'online gamer' and you have a computer which is online gaming enabled then get Battlefield 2 for your PC and not your XBOX. You will also need to buy the expansion packs although the game is relatively old now they wont cost that much. You can get both of course, the XBOX version containing all the single player action, while the PC version will be all about its multiplayer aspect.

Sound - 8/10 Not bad. Nothing special yet distinctly above average. Good sound effects though.

Graphics - 8/10 Very nice. The weapons look sharp and the environments, realistic. Character design is a bit bland however.

Gameplay - 9/10 An awesome FPS which cant go wrong. It adds some new elements to the FPS recipe which work very well.

Value - 9/10 Incredible amounts replay value here however the only thing keeping this score from being a 10 is the fact that there is no multiplayer option.

Final Score: 8.8