The first boosterpack for the online multiplayer shooter Battlefield 2. Is it worth the 10 dollars?
A big part of the community has been screaming for infantry maps, but they will not find those here in this booster pack.
The first map Great Wall does have some good infantry moments, but there's still plenty of armor going around. So is that a bad thing? No it's most definitely not a bad thing! The map is well balanced unlike some of the original BF 2 maps where some maps start out with one team on the defence and one team on the attack. A lot of those maps end in the same way every time with a particular army usually winning. Here in Great wall there's none of that. The map is based on a kind of fort within the Chinese wall. Inside these walls in the fort is where the main battles will take place. Both teams have two entrance points to this staging area. One entrance is for infantry only and the other for vehicles as well. Both infantry and vehicles will play a big role here, meaning the teams will have to be balanced in what kits they use, but there's enough ground defence possibilities like stationary rocket launchers like the TOW to keep the armored vehicles at bay. Overall it's an interesting map which reminds me a bit of the Hue maps on Battlefield Vietnam (my favourite maps on BFV I might add).
The next map is Operation Smokescreen. The map resembles the good old maps Gazala and El Alamein from Battlefield 1942.Mix that up with the burning oil images from the movie Jarhead and you've got yourself a new map. It's a big desert with oil sources burning here and there. The battles here will mostly take place between tanks, choppers and fighter jets. The good thing is, there are no bombers like the SU34 or the F15 on this map which gives the ground forces a bit of a breathing space to have one less worry. The fighter jets can still take out tanks, but it's a lot harder for them, which means the tanks stay alive a bit longer. Overall the jets will mostly keep themselves busy with each other and the choppers. It's a great map with well balanced fun for everyone who likes huge fights.
The last map is Tabara Querry. This map is pretty widespread, barren and mostly covers ground battles by armor as well. Apart from all the ground vehicles there's also a fighter jet and a bomber on each side. The bombers can be a very big pain in the behind for the ground troops, unless the fighter jets keep them busy. What's another downside of this map? There's a huge river flowing through the two camps and to get on the other side you have to either use the bridge in the middle or go around the north side if the bridge gets destroyed. This can get pretty boring especially when most of the tanks spawn at the camps in the south and it's quite easy to get taken out by a bomber while travelling all the way. If everyone on both teams knows exactly what they're doing and all the vehicles get used to their max abilities then you can have a great battle, but in public servers this map can become quite annoying for ground troops.
So much for the maps. The other new thing in this booster pack is the Euro Force army. First thing you'll notice is the funny voices (everyone is speaking English with either German, French, Dutch or what ever accent.), but ok, what are voices in a battle game. You'll get used to them soon anyway. After 30 minutes playing with the Euro army I didn't even notice it anymore.
The new things with this army are also weapons. All the kits on the Euro side have received new weapons (except for the P90 and L96A1 already seen as unlockables in the 1.2 patch). Some of these like the FAMAS for the medic are very powerful, but you won't be able to use them outside of the Euro Force maps. They don't really add anything new to the game as they just present the player with a different choice in fire possibilities for one side on the euro force maps.
Next are the vehicles. There are a total of 4 new vehicles to represent the countries participating in the Euro army. First there's the German Leopard 2A6 tank and the British Challenger 2 tank. Both have a bit different armor and firepower, but you won't notice much in the heat of the battle. Then there are the air vehicles. These are the most sensitive in changes. The Tiger HAP chopper flies differently and will take some getting used to which is good. It means it's not the same chopper as one of the older models with just another look. it flies a bit more sensitive and wobbly, but it's a valuable addition to the game. Last, but not least there's the Euro fighter Typhoon aircraft. This fast manoeuvrable jet can stand on his own when in battle with the Mig-29 from the MEC forces.
So is it worth the 10 dollars? It depends on you, the buyer. Are you interested in more maps and you like big balanced fights in vehicles, go ahead and buy it. It's 3 more maps adding a nice chance to scenery and more land to conquer. Don't expect new gameplay, it's not an expansion.
If you only play maps like Strike at Karkand, Mashtuur city and Sharqi Peninsula just for fast points or because you only like infantry fights, stay away from this boosterpack. 10 dollars is not much, but make sure you like the idea of those battles before you spend it. As for me, I'm going back for another round of operation smokescreen.
See you on the battlefield!