Battlefield 2: Modern Combat review

Yeah, it's fun, but shouldn't it look better than this on 360?

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GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Slightly upgraded graphics

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    Fun online modes

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    Improved hotswapping feature

Cons

  • -

    Too much like last year's console version

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    Single-player not as cool as multiplayer

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    Enemies are a bit too smart

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It’s just about time for this better-late-than-never porting business to stop on the Xbox 360. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is nothing more than a slightly-tweaked version of the (admittedly cool) military shooter we were all playing on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 last year. So if you already played the heck out of it then, you can probably stop reading the review at this point.

Modern Combat’s major tweak is obviously the graphics. While Battlefield isn’t the most impressive looking game on the 360 (especially following games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), everything does look quite nice. The massive levels are filled with impressive textures and lots of cool fire and explosion effects.

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As with earlier versions, the big sell here is the hotswapping- a trick the single-player experience uses in an attempt to emulate the multiplayer madness the Battlefield games were originally built around. Basically, your boys go in as a team, and you can switch at any time from the soldier you're controlling to any other man you can see.

Thus, if you're pinned down by enemy fire, you hotswap to the sniper you see on a nearby rooftop and clear the way, then hotswap back and continue. Now, it works even better - instead of needing to have direct line-of-sight with other units, you can swap with another any time you can see the icon floating above their heads. It does a bit to fix the general chaos of the single-player mode, but still doesn’t help the fact that the game is too arcadey and doesn’t quite emulate the true multiplayer greatness of the PC experience.