In that same PC Gamer section talking about the upcoming FPS games, they went into more detail on Battlefield 2: Special Forces. This article started making me think about the current state of Battlefield 2. I have seen a lot of people who prefer the city based maps over the larger terrain maps, present company included. There is something about the battles in close quarters with multiple paths of attack that I find more satisfying than the non-city maps.
The focus of the new BF2: Special Forces expansion is going to be close quarters, infantry based battles. There will still be vehicles, but the focus is on the infantry. Additionally, this will be more of a stealth based game. Oh and lots of new toys like Zip lines, grappling hooks and night vision goggles.
The article also mentions the armies will be the British Special Air Services, Navy SEALs and Russian Rebels. Further on in the article it mentions insurgents versus Navy SEALs on one map. Is it me or does this sound a lot like the most popular FPS of all time, CounterStrike? I am not sure if that is good or bad, but I know one thing. After the way BF2 was handled when it was first released, I swore I would not buy the expansion. Having played BF2 and finding the play style I prefer to be city maps, I find myself more interested in this expansion than I initially thought.
Which brings me to my last point. Even though Battlefield 2 has sold over a million copies, is it actually a successful game? I guess that depends on your definition of success. BF42 in my opinion was a highly successful game because it lasted so long. Heck, there are still people playing it, just not as many since BF2 was released. BFV on the other hand was not a very successful game because people quickly became bored with it and moved on. With all the unique features BF2 brings to the table, I really feel it is going to fall somewhere between BF42 and BFV. The only chance of it being played as long as BF42 is a mod as successful as Desert Combat was. Could the Special Forces expansion be that mod? Wouldnt it be ironic if BF2 actually wound up being 2nd to a DICE Canada produced expansion pack for BF2? Think it cant happen? My gut instinct says if it is a bug free game focusing on the tighter aspects of special forces urban combat, it just may surpass BF2. Could it be the game to dethrone CounterStrike? I dont know, but only time will tell.