Battlefield 2

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1140 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 929 out of 1140
  2. Mixed: 134 out of 1140
  3. Negative: 77 out of 1140
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  1. Quaoar
    Jun 23, 2005
    7
    Really a 7.5-8. All the fun of Battlefield 1942 with elements stolen from those poor DC guys. Glad to see scoring is based on classes now, so there's acutally a point to being a medic, engineer, etc. The sticky interface, sluggish response time, and plethora of bugs often make it unplayable. And spawn point locations really suck - feels easier to spawn camp than in BF1942.
  2. thecowofbeef
    Jul 19, 2012
    10
    Battlefield 2 is one of those rare games that only comes along every now and then. Some players may be put of by environments being smaller than those in previous entries to the series, but from the start of the mach until the score readout, Battlefield is one journey you don't want to miss.
    With no campaign to play through, Battlefield can sometimes feel like a game that was not    Battlefield 2 is one of those rare games that only comes along every now and then. Some players may be put of by environments being smaller than those in previous entries to the series, but from the start of the mach until the score readout, Battlefield is one journey you don't want to miss.
    With no campaign to play through, Battlefield can sometimes feel like a game that was not completely finished. This is counteracted though by beautiful and well designed environments, all of which have had an amazing level of detail that just wont be found anywhere else. Maps vary from small, tropic covered war zones, to large, open ended dessert battlefields, all of which are a breeze to get around thanks to a number of widely appreciated vehicles. You can step into the helm of a helicopter or jet and tear up the skies, causing endless waves of destruction on the enemies underneath you, or sit behind the controls of a tank, or the wheel of a car. Battlefields huge environments are the factor that brings the game home.
    Whats a war game without Action? When you select a map for an online battle or a single player experience, you can choose from a list of well designed classes, all imperative to the success of your team. You can be an engineer, repairing vehicles and turning the tide in battle as a result, or a heavy weapons operative, sporting an explosive firing missile launcher that can stop the enemy driving into your base with a tank. No matter what your choice is, there's a class for everyone, and everyone feels like the team relies on them as much as anyone else.
    Battlefield 2 and all of it's added content deserves a solid 9.5 out of 10.    … Expand
  3. rtkiii
    Nov 13, 2012
    10
    BEST of all time!!!! Still blows the new FPS genre out of the water. And ported version to PS3 is not garbage but the control on KB/Mouse could not be matched. I miss playing this game with my friends. Those were the days.
  4. Styke
    Jul 20, 2016
    10
    In ten years, we'll look back on the closure of EA and the landmark events that caused it's inevitable collapse. One of the key extinction events took place in 2005 with the release of Battlefield 2 and EA's handling of the franchise from that moment onward.

    Battlefield 2 was a landmark event in the history of gaming and often discussed a decade later as "the best" of the franchise.    In ten years, we'll look back on the closure of EA and the landmark events that caused it's inevitable collapse. One of the key extinction events took place in 2005 with the release of Battlefield 2 and EA's handling of the franchise from that moment onward.

    Battlefield 2 was a landmark event in the history of gaming and often discussed a decade later as "the best" of the franchise. Mind you, over a dozen Battlefield games have come out since 2 and yet it's still regarded as top-tier. It's fanbase was so rabid that even after the release of 4, EA continued to offer exclusive deals to the die-hard fans still playing 2 and refusing to "upgrade" to 3 or 4. When EA finally took the axe to 2's servers and filed cease orders to those running "unauthorized" hub servers for people to continue to play 2, the fanbase went and funded Squad, a spiritual sequel to Project Reality, a BF2 mod that proved to be hugely popular eight years well after launch.

    Battlefield 2 and the way it was handled by EA went on to make many enemies of both the publisher and the franchise itself, a lot of it's concepts where lifted straight from an earlier game - Planetside. Top-down commander view, orbital strikes, supply drops, drawing on the map and directing combat from a handheld computer all went on to be core aspects of 2. EA took it a step further by making an even more direct rip off of Planetside, Battlefield 2142, shamelessly lifting everything from the hover tank design to the giant walker mechs straight from it, prompting Sony to cut support for Planetside and focus on something EA wouldn't fight them for - Everquest.

    EA went on to release a million dlc packs for Battlefield 2, creating an uneven and outright difficult multiplayer environment where the servers would boot you if you didn't own things like "european armored combat 4" which wasn't available as a digital download, you had to go to the local PC World and buy a boxed copy of it for 30$ so that one tank skin the server was running would load. At the time, EA cited "bandwith costs" as the reason behind their refusal to allow for digital DLC, going so far as to buy "Direct-2-Drive" and create a borderline spyware application called EA Downloader. After a lawsuit, even this service was shut down and it wouldn't be until the disaster called Origin reared it's ugly head did digital downloads and dlc become accessible. By then, the juggernaut of Steam had risen to the top and sat comfortably atop it's golden gaben throne. When EA pulled it's games off Steam, some argue Battlefield 2 was hit hardest - It still had a healthy, active multiplayer scene, but to recruit your friends to play required them to run EA's junk while you played DRM-free on Steam without them. It was difficult to talk people through the complex patching methods, considering the original game was six disks and the expansions had to be installed after a clean-start of the original game. EA truly shot themselves in the foot and would continue to do so time after time, year after year, until it's final closure and liquidation in 2025.    … Expand
  5. TechM.
    Jun 9, 2006
    10
    Awesome game ... huge community... everyone who is big on FPSs is addicted to this game regardless of who made it and how bad the patches are.
  6. DerreckC.
    Jun 18, 2005
    10
    Simply amazing!!
  7. GlennP.
    Jun 18, 2005
    10
    Absolutely unbelievable. The team that created this game has managed to take everything that was cool about the first two in the series and refine them into the best online FPS ever made. There is so much depth in this game that soon you will see legions of followers playing it similar to how you see fanatic MMORPG players play those games. This game will revolutionize the genre.
  8. Darthprivate
    Jun 19, 2005
    10
    This game rulez.
  9. AustinH.
    Jun 20, 2005
    10
    Awesome game! Way ahead of older BF games, and an incredible new way to play with teams! Get it for sure!
  10. TheTarget
    Jun 22, 2005
    9
    Excellent gameplay, sound and visuals. Yes, there were some design departures from earlier BF titles, but it works well with this game. Lots of replayability for single user and online.
  11. NationalKato
    Jun 22, 2005
    8
    Let's get this straight: there aren't many other products out there in this genre that can deliver as much fun and 'oh, wow!' moments as BF2. However, for a top-tier developer like DICE to once again release a laggy, frustrating, and frankly poor server browser and out-of-game interface is remarkable. Trying to find a server to play on is a slow, frustrating process. Let's get this straight: there aren't many other products out there in this genre that can deliver as much fun and 'oh, wow!' moments as BF2. However, for a top-tier developer like DICE to once again release a laggy, frustrating, and frankly poor server browser and out-of-game interface is remarkable. Trying to find a server to play on is a slow, frustrating process. There are no 'favorites' list for servers or buddies. Let's hope a patch/update post-release will be quick and attentive to this.… Expand
  12. GeraldN.
    Jun 23, 2005
    10
    An incredible leap forward for the genre and multiplayer gaming. If you liked Battlefield 1942, you'll love this. If you didn't like Battlefield 1942, you still may love this. The new squad system, commander mode and lack of static health/ammo boxes are incredible incentives to promote teamplay. Players who want go off on their own in this game will not be nearly as successful An incredible leap forward for the genre and multiplayer gaming. If you liked Battlefield 1942, you'll love this. If you didn't like Battlefield 1942, you still may love this. The new squad system, commander mode and lack of static health/ammo boxes are incredible incentives to promote teamplay. Players who want go off on their own in this game will not be nearly as successful as in other FPS games. I highly recommend it and I can't wait to see what the modding community can do to further enhance this title's value.… Expand
  13. D.C.
    Jun 24, 2005
    10
    I don't know what the hell Kyle H. is talking about, this game is off the hook. Kyle H. maybe you should try upgrading your CPU.
  14. DaveC.
    Jun 25, 2005
    8
    When you get into the game its a blast, gameplay is simply amazing and its a best realism shooter ever. Stats are nice addition, but there is only small number of ranked servers compared to already huge playerbase, so its really hard to get into ranked server. Also atleast now you find more experienced players and better games from unranked servers which is sad. Almost perfect game When you get into the game its a blast, gameplay is simply amazing and its a best realism shooter ever. Stats are nice addition, but there is only small number of ranked servers compared to already huge playerbase, so its really hard to get into ranked server. Also atleast now you find more experienced players and better games from unranked servers which is sad. Almost perfect game experience is ruined by the weakest game UI ever, server browser does not support friends or favorite servers and its painfully slow to use. 8 years older game like Tribes 1 already had lightyears better server browser than BF2 has which is really weird. Its a sad trend that all the game companies today use Gamespy browsers instead of making their own. BF2 does not require Windows XP, it works fine on my Windows 2000.… Expand
  15. KevinS.
    Jun 28, 2005
    10
    This is the best game I've played in a long, long time. Even with the occasional lag, which is obviously due to it's instant popularity - I still have to drag myself away from the computer.
  16. JulianP.
    Jul 11, 2005
    10
    Excellent FPS, I reccommend it to anyone who likes war games.
  17. PerformancePlayer
    Jul 13, 2005
    10
    Buy one of those new graphic cards and install B2, you wont regret it! Cause this game is simply so damm fun! :) Cya you in the action!!
  18. FPSAdept
    Jul 18, 2005
    10
    There is one thing with this game that is hard to explain and that many games lacks - it is so damn fun! Sure there is some bugs (like in all new games today), se look for the upcoming patch. But the playability still makes this a great one.
  19. OnlineGamer
    Jul 26, 2005
    10
    What to say? I cite Tom's Hardware: " Epic maps? Check. Massive vehicles? Check. Cracking gameplay? Check. Battlefield 2 is an online classic, and anyone who wants to call themselves an online gamer would be loathe to miss it." you get it?
  20. NilsH.
    Jul 3, 2005
    9
    Well worth buying a new video card for. While I agree that this isn't a particularly ground-breaking game, it has all of the old 1942 style fun and frenetic action, while adding enough new features and concepts to keep even a surly old BF 'vet like myself interested.
  21. CompConsultant
    Aug 15, 2005
    10
    This game is itself a reason to upgrade your comp! This is simply the next generation of gaming, which of course demands up to date hardware. I run it perfectly smooth on my 2,6 gig, 512mb, 9800XT.
  22. PaulS.
    Aug 17, 2005
    10
    Best on-line fps so far.
  23. JennyGamer
    Aug 22, 2005
    10
    With the right computer this is a top title!
  24. MichaelM.
    Aug 7, 2005
    9
    Fantastic multiplayer game but could have benefited from some additional play modes.
  25. David
    Sep 1, 2005
    10
    Do any of the people that gave it a rating below a 8 know how to download a patch?
  26. AnonymousMC
    Jun 10, 2006
    9
    the game works fine after you get the 400+ meg updates(wtf way to big to be a update) it works just fine on my comp(custom made and goes 4 ghz with radeon x8000 card)but if yer comp is below 2.5 ghz ya might not want to get the game and it is only fun on online so hope ya got dsl/cable
  27. NickH.
    Jun 22, 2005
    9
    An 8.7 really. The combat is best in the streets and over long, open distances on FOOT. Problems arise when everyone gets a vehical, thusly ruining the the whole urban combat thing - and rendering 32 player battles practically pointless in some maps. Usually, this doesn't happen in 16-24 and 64 player games. That said, when vehical combat is more realisitic and helicopters hover An 8.7 really. The combat is best in the streets and over long, open distances on FOOT. Problems arise when everyone gets a vehical, thusly ruining the the whole urban combat thing - and rendering 32 player battles practically pointless in some maps. Usually, this doesn't happen in 16-24 and 64 player games. That said, when vehical combat is more realisitic and helicopters hover above head while raining bullets at charging infantry, the combat is fantastic (bringing to mind Black Hawk Down - the movie). If you're looking for a warm-up match against the AI, no worries, it's pretty capable. The graphics, while not on par with Half-Life 2 or Doom 3, are lush and satisfying. The distance you can see (especially as a sniper) is amazing. The sound is also a treat. Planes roar overhead, guns fire in the distance, and bullets whizz by your head creating a very emersive experience. The control, sadly, is this games downfall. Now, it's not the gameplay controls that hurt the game but the interface controls. Selecting "Help" from the command wheel is much to hard as you must stop playing and use your mouse to select it (this goes for any command). Also, the menu and selection screens are clumsly and rather ratty looking. But, if you can get a game going by using the shitty menu and don't mind not being able to say "Help" during vehical heavy combat, you've got a great - if not classic - game on your hands. It should entertain you for a long, long time. ((PS - For a really good time, look for small battles or huge battles. The ones in between are a little boring))… Expand
  28. b0bd0gz
    Jun 23, 2005
    8
    Really good game, I would have given it a 9 maybe even 10 if it had less bugs in it, which is something you would expect from a big games company like EA, the fact that it strains sometimes to display the stats table makes me laugh. Really hope a miracle patch will appear and fix the bugs and turn this game into a 10 out of 10, but who knows how long that will take:(
  29. KevinK.
    Jun 26, 2005
    10
    This is astonishing!!! Even though my video card(fx5200) is not supported officially, I can still run this game without a proble. Of course, a lot of details were lost. But in terms of gameplay, this is absolutely brilliant. Some people down here complained about no bots in multiplay mode. But I really think that's a nice feature. I mean when I and my friends play together, I This is astonishing!!! Even though my video card(fx5200) is not supported officially, I can still run this game without a proble. Of course, a lot of details were lost. But in terms of gameplay, this is absolutely brilliant. Some people down here complained about no bots in multiplay mode. But I really think that's a nice feature. I mean when I and my friends play together, I don't want to be bothered. Since when did you add bots when you play C&C against your friends?… Expand
  30. SamF.
    Jun 27, 2005
    7
    Apart from being able to blow up bridges,artillery there is nothing really new here. The physics are no where near Far crys as objects simply dissapear in the game ... Just another version of Desert combat Mod . Too much hype. there are better explosion effects and graphics in games like mercenaries and Battlefront.
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best PC Game of 2005
5
#5 Most Discussed PC Game of 2005
7
#7 Most Shared PC Game of 2005

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 55 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 55
  3. Negative: 0 out of 55
  1. GameSpy
    100
    Once you strap into an F/A-18 and rocket over the landscape, once you're crouched next to a tank trying valiantly to repair it while bullets ping off of the armor inches above your head, once you defend a waypoint and ask for new orders from your commander over the radio, all of those nitpicks about map balance or sniper power fade.
    Read full review
  2. Yahoo!
    100
    With incredible communication tools, top-notch visuals, and a fantastic balance of vehicles and classes, EA has won the battle and the war of online team-based shooters.
    Read full review
  3. IGN
    89
    The thing to remember about Battlefield 2 is that it's exceptionally fun.
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See all critic reviews »