A extreamly fun and strong multiplayer completely overshadows the lacking single player mode.
Battlefield 2:Modern Combat features an extremely fastpaced, arcady action style gameplay, completely the opposite its PC brothers. This may be a disappointment to fans of the series, or a welcome change.
Battlefield 2:MC is all about huge open battles, and it delivers that. In the single player game you play 3 different factions in a war in a Russian satellite country. There the Middle eastern forces, China, and the Allies (kind of like NATO or the UN) battle it out in the country. The single player story mode offers a lot of variety but is short and seemed rather difficult to me. The single player lacks some sort of bot match as well. But to say one good thing about it is the huge open maps only rivaled by its PC brother.
The some what crappy single player is made up for in the strongest multiplayer game on the Xbox since Halo 2, in my opinion of course.
The multiplayer modes are the standard CTF and Conquest mode that is found in the PC verison. The Conquest mode has you trying to control several points on the map while defending yours, all the time trying to get the enemies reinforcement count to zero. CTF has you trying to capture the enemy's flag and bring it back to your base.
The huge open maps are a treat here. Up to 24 players can battle it out in the maps. The maps range from desert cities, an oil rig, Chinese towns and cities, and winter towns and cites. In each of the maps there are lots of vehicles to drive. These are really fun and easy to drive. The tanks and APCs are not overpowered at all.
Balance is a huge issue in these kinds of games and BF2:MC pulls it off perfectly. Each kit (type of player) is balanced. For example, the sniper rifle is a noob death cannon, until you get close to it. Also the sniper kit has a laser target that can paint an enemy vehicle for a missile to take it out. The disadvantage to the sniper is the lack of close combat support and is easily killed head on with any other weapon.
All the other kits have their advantages and disadvantages to. The engineer has a rocket launcher, but no long range weapon, only a shotgun. The special ops guy carries a shorter range SMG that is slow to load and quick to unload. The support guy carries a huge machine gun, but this is a weaker machine gun that doesnt deal the damage.
The balance is amazing for the online game and really makes for some interesting fights.
The graphics are good for the Xbox and PS2. You can see almost across the map and there isnt any slowdown at any time. The environments are rich in detail and everything feels like it should be there. Though the environments are rich in detail they are kind of blurry not really crisp and clean.
The sound is a treat. You can hear explosions and gunfire in the distance. There is no background sounds like in DOD or COD. If you hear a gun being fired, somebody is shooting at somebody else in the game. That makes the game even more intense when you cant see the battle but can hear it.
The one thing that holds this game back from being amazing is the lacking singleplayer mode. It is rather bad. Also no botmatch means no training and no other mode for offline player.
If you have XBL and are looking for a game to finally replace that old copy of Halo 2, this one is for you. If you dont have XBL stay far away from this title.