E3 06: Battlefield 2142 Preshow Report

Battlefield 2142 is a game that has instant brand-name appeal, thanks to the huge success of Battlefield 1942 and last year's Battlefield 2. As the next big thing from developer Digital Illusions CE, Battlefield 2142 has a lot going for it. It also has big shoes to fill. To answer our questions, we got a briefing on Battlefield 2142 from Marcus Nilsson, senior producer at DICE.

There are two big question marks for Battlefield 2142. First, will its sci-fi roots appeal to the Battlefield fan base? The Battlefield series was built on portraying historical and modern-day conflicts, letting up to 64 players wage virtual war with real-world weapons and vehicles. In Battlefield 2142, the action veers into science-fiction territory--it's set in a world where a new ice age sparks a global war. Second, will Battlefield 2142 be able to lure players away from Battlefield 2, which still remains wildly popular nine months after launch? Judging from what Nilsson had to say, it sounds like the developers have taken these questions into account.

Nilsson explained that Battlefield 2142 will build on the strengths of the Battlefield games. Once again, you'll be dropped onto a large, virtual battlefield, and you can be armed with a variety of weapons or use a variety of vehicles. Battlefield works because of the rock-paper-scissors nature of the combat--every weapon and vehicle has a counter. That keeps the gameplay unpredictable and means you can play the game for months and still see new things happening. More importantly, Battlefield 2142 will introduce a brand-new game mode, which is huge news, considering that the first three Battlefield games relied on just a single, amazing gameplay mode: conquest.

"I'm sorry to say that 2142 is not a golden age," Nilsson said, introducing us to the game's setting. In the year 2142, the sudden onset of a new ice age means that giant glaciers cover large parts of the Northern Hemisphere. With billions displaced by the ice, habitable land becomes incredibly valuable, and the game lets you play as either the American-European Alliance or the Pan Asian Coalition as they battle for territory. Though the game is set in the 22nd century, Nilsson said that the designers were aware of the danger of alienating players with weapons and vehicles that are too futuristic. So there are no lasers or other magically advanced weapons in the game. Instead, you have gear and vehicles that are essentially advanced versions of their modern-day counterparts. Infantry are clad in stylish armor and carry projectile weapons, while tanks look just as powerful as today's tanks, only they walk on two legs rather than roll on treads.

The squad-based nature of Battlefield 2 was one of the best parts of that game; however, Nilsson said that only half the Battlefield 2 players out there used it, which DICE regards as foolish, since the game is a lot more fun when you're in a squad rather than running around on your own. To fix this in Battlefield 2142, DICE is introducing incentives to play in squads. Basically, squads will be able to collect points faster for special "field upgrades." Even without these upgrades, squads will be more potent. Squad leaders now have the ability to place a beacon that squad members can spawn on. This beacon can be destroyed by the enemy, but it gives the squad even more tactical flexibility if you can place a beacon in a strategic location. Meanwhile, squads can also use the SD-18 sentry drone, which Nilsson described as "your new best friend." The drone hovers along with the squad leader, and it's capable of covering your back and taking care of close-range threats. The downside of the drone, however, is that if you use it, it always floats over the squad leader, which blows the squad leader's cover, so there's an upside and a downside to the drone, just like with everything else in Battlefield.

Infantry will also be more powerful in Battlefield 2142, thanks to active camouflage, which sounds like something that players can acquire. Active camouflage "cloaks" the infantryman and makes him invisible. The downside is that you create a distortion in the air when you move, and you cannot use weapons when invisible. Still, this means that you can sneak up behind someone, decloak, and then stab the person in the back with your trusty Battlefield knife, which is always good for an instant kill.

There are only four classes in Battlefield 2142 (compared to seven in Battlefield 2): recon, assault, antivehicle, and support. However, these four classes will be customizable, thanks to the persistent character system. Persistence was introduced in Battlefield 2, and DICE feels that it's a big reason the game's popularity endures. (Nilsson noted that Battlefield 2 had more than 790,000 players log on in March, which is impressive considering that it was nine months after launch.) In Battlefield 2, your user account keeps track of all your statistics, which not only lets you find out what your hit accuracy is with a particular weapon or how much time you've spent on a specific map, but also lets you earn promotions, medals, and badges. Players spend dozens, if not hundreds, of hours trying to earn a promotion so they can unlock a new weapon or trying to get enough kills to qualify for a certain medal. You'll be able to unlock even more items in Battlefield 2142, such as weapon upgrades, so you can attach a silencer or a scope to a certain weapon. You will also be able to mix and match your equipment and gear, so you can choose which grenades to take along, or you may know what your opponents are carrying and customize a weapons load to counter them. The more you play the game, the more you'll unlock and the greater your customization options will be.

Vehicles are also a huge part of Battlefield's success, and you'll once again have a large variety of them at your disposal. In addition to the walking tanks, we saw gunships and the P-11 armored personnel carrier, which looks like an armored rhino on six wheels. The P-11 can carry eight soldiers and can cloak if one of those soldiers has that ability, and it has a really cool ability to shoot soldiers high into the air in "pods." This will be important, particularly in the new Titan game mode (more on that later). Nilsson showed us the action from the seat of a T-39 battle walker, a two-man vehicle that's capable of inflicting antipersonnel, antivehicle, and antiaircraft pain. You really get a sense of the power when you're in one of these walking tanks, as your view is elevated well above the ground. You're not invincible, though, since there are plenty of things that can kill you, from other battle walkers to gunships to infantry armed with the appropriate weapons. Those pesky grunts can also temporarily disable you with electromagnetic pulse grenades.

Battlefield 2142 will feature the traditional conquest gameplay mode that Battlefield is known for. This mode requires your team to seize and secure various objective points on the map, with the loser being the team that runs out of tickets (respawns) first. While that can make for a game in and of itself, the new Titan mode promises a new way of enjoying Battlefield. Titan mode gets rid of all the objectives and tickets. Instead, each team has a Titan, sort of a floating aircraft carrier that was originally designed to move large numbers of people and goods away from the ice. The Titans were militarized, and these floating platforms are now piloted by each team's commander. They're armed with various weapons, but more importantly, they serve as a spawn point for infantry and vehicles. To win Titan mode, your team has to destroy the other team's Titan while protecting its own. This won't be easy, though, as the Titan can move around. To destroy it, your team has to assault it by having the infantry board it via pods and then battle inside the corridors of the Titan, destroying various security checkpoints. Once the checkpoints are cleared, you gain access to the nuclear reactor powering the Titan and plant explosives on it. It sounds simple, but from what we've seen, it looks to be pretty crazy, just like Battlefield should be.

The game will also ship with a new cooperative mode that lets you team up with friends and battle bots, which should improve the single-player experience (which has always been a weak point in Battlefield games). Battlefield 2142 will support up to 64 players in conquest mode, and DICE is thinking about capping Titan mode at 32, but that will be determined with play testing. The game will ship with two factions, more than a dozen vehicles, and enough weapons and equipment to create 1,500 different combinations of soldiers. That's a lot to chew on, but we have some time before Battlefield 2142 is scheduled for release, which will be sometime this winter.