his is the first time this PC series has appeared on consoles, and there’s a natural reason for that. On the PC, this game thrives because of its online portion. For the consoles, however, you’ve got to make the single-player portion work in order to have a game with any depth or interest – since the vast majority of its players won’t be online. But instead of giving you a single-player campaign that is indistinguishable from all the other video game soldiers out there, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat attempts to tap into its strengths to offer something a little different.
Modern Combat’s single-player campaign attempts to duplicate the feel of online play by letting you hotswap (as EA calls it) to any of your other squad members at any time during battle. This replicates the feeling of a persistent battle where getting your head blown off isn’t a huge deal since there’s always a new body to spawn into during battle. Of course, there are different unit types, and although you can specialize in one particular unit that becomes your favorite, it pays to be well-versed in each type. The game will virtually require you to switch among soldiers to coordinate attacks – similar to the teamwork involved in a good online squad. However, vehicles with space for multiple characters don’t always work well since they often require you to more or less drive and shoot at the same time by constantly switching guys. If the game had co-op, this could be fixed.
Even though Modern Combat takes you through missions from the viewpoint of different armies, you always remain a single character with a single profile. Thus, the medals and brass rank stars you earn will stick with you regardless of which side you’re playing on at the moment. Accomplishing certain feats, such as getting a headshot from over 200 meters, earns you medals. Despite these accolades, the game’s focus on anonymous play leaves it feeling just that – unfocused and shallow. I never cared which army I was fighting alongside or the context in which the battles were fought. Thus, in some ways Modern Combat succeeds in making its single-player campaign feel like an online experience. The problem is that it doesn’t feel like it has much substance, either. It also doesn’t quite give you that rush of satisfaction like when you defeat your enemies online.
The game’s lack of polish is also another problem. The graphics and textures aren’t impressive at all, and the title is hampered by oddities such as enemies that spawn out of nowhere or destroyed vehicles that simply disappear instead of remaining as smoldering wrecks. Also, the rate of movement – particularly in going to and from a crouch position – is too slow, and the vehicle controls could be better.
If you’re as disappointed in the vapid single-player campaign as I was, you can fittingly play Modern Combat online. Here the game really comes to life as you and your comrades work together to take over territory in modes like Conquest. While playing online certainly won’t solve the clunky vehicles, even mindless hours of Conquest mode are more engaging by far than the single-player. Of course, if you call yourself a Battlefield fan, you’re probably not reading this review because you’re too busy playing the PC version online already.