Battlefield: Modern Combat Hands-On

We blew up a lot of vehicles when playing Battlefield: Modern Combat for the short time we had with it on the show floor of E3. But to be fair, many of those vehicles we blew up were ours, and many of the others were parked. At any rate, we still got a feel for the gameplay that EA is going for here. It's unfair to call Battlefield: Modern Combat a stripped-down version of the extremely popular PC franchise, as it will feature 24-player multiplayer action on both the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, as well as battles on land, sea, and air, which ought to collectively make for some of the larger-scale multiplayer experiences available on both of these consoles. However, EA only has the game set up with five players each on the PS2 and the Xbox versions of the game, so we couldn't really get a sense of the big scale from our hands-on time. But did we mention we blew a lot of things up?

The map that was being demonstrated on the Xbox was the same one we saw at a recent EA pre-E3 event. The map is set in a devastated Chinese city, and features combat between jeeps, tanks, helicopters, and even boats. The PlayStation 2 version of the game, meanwhile, showed off a new map that was set in the Middle East. This Black Hawk Down-looking scenario emphasized air power as helicopters ruled the skies. The two versions of the game played pretty much identically and looked very similar. However, they're still both a way's off from their fall release.

The gameplay was certainly reminiscent of the PC Battlefield games, though even more arcadelike. Tanks and jeeps moved with breakneck speed, and the helicopters were easy to control. The game still needs a lot of tuning, judging by the E3 demo. Physics on the vehicles didn't feel quite right, and the on-foot action seemed sluggish as well, probably because the game's frame rate wasn't particularly smooth. But there seems to be plenty of time for these issues to be ironed out, and when they are, Battlefield: Modern Combat could very well be a very significant new game on consoles. It'll be great to see two-dozen players all going at it at the same time, especially on the PlayStation 2. What we played today at E3 looks promising, but we're looking forward to seeing a lot more, with more players, in these big, complex maps.