Howdy. I love both BF2 and 2142, and I've spent a great deal of time with each. I stopped playing 2142 around the time Halo 3 was released, mainly since three buddies are Halo fanatics. As a result, I don't have much time spent with the latest patch changes in 2142. With that said, here's a couple comments on how 2142 stacks up against BF2 -
- 2142 has a more polished feel to the menu's and stat tracking. Everything is laid out more intuitively and the browser isn't as buggy (but still buggy) as BF2's.
- 2142's weapons are all quasi-modern. They shoot bullets and not plasma rounds...etc. They are all effective and each sidearm can dominate in the right circumstances. Great weapon balance overall. Same goes for vehicles, nothing is unstoppable like the jets in BF2. If you're looking to score as many points as possible, you're usually better of staying on foot and working together with a 6 man squad. Speaking of which...
- Squad play is greatly enhanced in 2142. There are now tangible benefits for being in a squad over going lone wolf, and it's not just the extra points or having teammates to revive you. As a result, it's easy to find squads on public servers that are working together and using VOIP.
- 2142's Titan mode is a decent alternative. Certainly tons of hours of enjoyment to be had. There are drawbacks, however. Server's tend to lag once the opposing Titan's get near each other, which is a real shame since gameplay can be a ton of fun with two Titan's parked near one another. There's still Conquest mode of course which can be played on every map, so no worries.
2142 isn't all peaches and cream. It is fantastic, in my opinion... but then I'm a huge Battlefield fan and I also had buddies that I played with on a regular basis on 2142. That factor can't be forgotten when considering how much enjoyment I got from the game. BF2 is still great fun as well, although that ship has sailed for me. 2142 does run more slowly than BF2 and you might have to drop some settings, although if you're playing at 800x600 you should be able to max out most settings I would think... Loading times are less than half that of BF2. Instead of 40 seconds it's about 15 most of the time on my rig. Your mileage may vary.
As for Northern Strike, it's fun but I don't know how many servers still run those maps. It's a pretty awesome value for $10 considering I paid $10 just to get 3 dinky maps in Halo 3, wheras NS is a full on expansion pack compared to Halo 3's extra content. I thought Northern Strike was awesome plus it allows you to permanently unlock the NS weapons/equipment so it's probably worth it.
Good luck!
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