Battlefield 2: Armored Fury

Battlefield 2 won our 2005 Game Of The Year award for one simple reason: our entire game-playing staff was completely absorbed by the game for the second half of last year. After more than a year of regular play, however, Kubra Dam and Dalian Plant were getting a little tiring. That’s where the BF2 booster packs come in.

Unlike full-blown expansions, which offer new weapons and tons of new content, the booster packs simply add a few new maps and vehicles to the basic BF2 experience. Euro Forces, the first $10 booster pack to Battlefied 2, added a new European front in the form of three new maps, but they didn’t see regular play on many servers. Armored Fury adds three damn-near-perfect new maps that focus on a North American invasion by aggressor nations.

The beauty of these new maps is that they place you in familiar suburban and rural locations within the U.S., and they focus heavily on open-field armored combat. Operation Road Rage is the fight for a key cloverleaf on an eastern Interstate. Operation Harvest places you in the rolling fields of Amish country, and Midnight Sun forces you to defend an Alaskan port against an invading force.

The focus on vehicular combat is immediately apparent. Between the flags you must capture and hold to win, there are wide-open fields. However, chokepoints abound, making it possible for infantry grunts to defend flags, while the heavy armor pushes forward on offense. These maps are well balanced and fun, and have earned spots alongside Sharqi Peninsula and Strike at Karkand as our favorites.

It’s not all about the ground-pounders, though. The new scout choppers pack an infantry-killing punch, but are better used for their additional tricks. With seats for two passengers and the pilot—as well as a radar scan similar to the UAV drone—the small choppers let you move your men anywhere on the map in a hurry. The ground-attack planes, including the classic A-10 Warthog, are capable of shattering an armored column, but are vulnerable to the anti-air stations spread liberally throughout all three environments. On average, there’s one AA placement per flag to give foot soldiers a better chance against air assets.

For anyone still playing Battlefield 2, these three maps are well worth your $10.

Month Reviewed: September 2006

Verdict: 9
kickass=yes

URL: www.battlefield2.com

ESRB Rating: T