Let's dispense with the pleasantries - Battlefield 2142 isn't going to be to everyone's liking. As the first of the Battlefield games to take such a rapid departure from the series' usual 'torn from the history books' settings and plant itself firmly in the realm of sci-fi, not quite a sequel and with too much content to be considered simply an expansion, it has more in common with Battlefield Vietnam than it does with its parent game Battlefield 2. Despite the change of setting, Battlefield 2142 is a difficult game not to fall in love with.

The backdrop this time is a near future Earth consumed by a new ice age, where resources and population have dwindled, and two emerging superpowers, the European led EU and Pan Asian Coalition, battle for supremacy in order to sustain their exsistance. This is a battlefield fought across futuristic cityscapes surrounded by amassing snow and ice, and with refugee camps built hastily in the last habitable places on Earth, it makes for a sombre but interesting change to the series. The changes are relatively few in relation to what else this version of the game does differently; it still has the main Conquest mode, in which both teams fight for control of a number of flags over each map in an effort to deplete the other team's respawn tickets to zero, there are still vehicles to control and despite some cosmetic changes they still act as you expect them to from playing previous games in the series. But what is new here is the addition of a brand new game mode - a first in Battlefield history.

Titans is similar to Conquest, but in this new mode both teams have a Titan to defend, a huge ship that hovers above the battlefield and acts as the game's aircraft-carrying command craft, complete with its own controllable weapons systems. The objective is still to capture strategic positions around the map, only now these areas contain missile silos that from time to time fire rockets at the enemy's Titan and progressively weaken its shield. Once its shields have failed, a sustained rocket bombardment will eventually destroy the ship, but it's often quicker and easier to mount a boarding party and cripple key systems from within. This strategy is often the most successful - and the most fun. Battles inside the Titan are often the most brutal and hard fought of the entire game, with defensive and offensive bonuses offered to both attackers and defenders for successful kills, giving a great incentive to enter the Titan, leading to some chaotic corridor-based battles. What's more, both Titan's shields often deplete simultaneously, so end game fights become less about simply trying to destroy an enemy's Titan and more about destroying it before he gets the chance to destroy yours.

Vehicles aren't ignored though; they still have their part to play and remain the spearhead of each battle, although it would have been nice if Dice had been a little more creative when thinking up new ways in which to make existing vehicles more, well, futuristic. As it is, jeeps are still jeeps but drive faster and have a slight boost, tanks are still tanks but the PAC version does hover and can strafe a bit and the APC is still the vehicle nobody wants to drive unless it's the only one left in the base, the upside being that these machines do now carry a fair amount of weaponry and act as mobile spawn points, cutting down on long distance journeys from stationary spawn areas.

The newest members to the battlegrounds are the walkers, huge lumbering two-legged robots with massive mounted cannons and missile systems. They're a bit cumbersome to use at first, but their huge stompy feet allow them to walk over small objects and their weapons alone make them more than a formidable match for most of the other heavier vehicles. They replace the aircraft as the most desired unit though, so don't be surprised if you aren't able to get in to one immediately, as when they spawn they tend to get swarmed by people desperate to try them out!

This also highlights perhaps one of the biggest changes to the series beyond its new game mode - air power has been considerably downsized, reducing the mutitude of airplanes and helicopters in Battlefield 2 to just two pilotable aircraft here, a rather boring mix of attack and transport craft. Neither of them are that much fun to use and they no longer have the presence that aircraft have always had in the series, but at least those on the ground can finally breathe a sigh of relief, as those days of being at the mercy of some hot shot pilot are largely over!

Beyond this, the only real new inclusion to the list of futuristic vehicles, if you can call it a vehicle (technically it is), is the addition of drop pods. These pods carry just one player, they can be launched from certain vehicles such as the APC or even the Titans, and once in the air allow you to control their movement as they plummet to the ground. Let me just say that out of all the additions to all of the Battefield games, this is the one I've had the most fun with. It's quite something to blow up a tank with a stationary gun turret, but quite something else when you launch a drop pod from an APC just before it's toasted, then land behind the tank that took it out and fire a few rockets up its backside before its occupant figures out why he hasn't just scored a kill. They can be used to board Titans or to gain access to sniper positions that have no other means of access, but most of the time you'll use them simply because they're stupendously great fun.

Graphically you'll probably know what to expect, given how quickly this game was developed since the release of Battlefield 2 - both games share the same looks and they are beginning to show their age. This hasn't stopped Dice squeezing all they can out of the slowly ailing technology, however - things do look particularly shiny here, even though the explosions and some of the animations are nothing more than upgrades from those used in Battlefield 2, while the maps are packed with an imaginative sense of scale, taking you though cities with giant skyscrapers peering out of the snow and small military bases in the desert, crammed with buildings and potential hiding spots.

Extra credit goes to the design of each of the vehicles and weapons as well. Dice haven't just stuck a new skin on an old weapon; every assault rifle and tank has such a huge amount of detail paid to them that you'll have little trouble believing that these really are the weapons of the future, complemented by some silky smooth reloading animations and futuristic pinging sounds as they fire off their payloads, although with the action being as fierce as it is you'll rarely get time to appreciate these little details.

Now for the part of the game that's likely to cause more of a rift between casual fans and the Battlefield series than its setting - the unlockables. Battlefield 2142 merges the several playable classes of the old games into four - Sniper & Spec. Ops, Assault & Medic, Engineer & Anti Tank and Support & erm, well support doesn't merge with anyone but does benefit from some new abilities of its own. All of these four classes each contain the same basics - a gun, a pistol and maybe even an ability such as the Assault class' medic packs. However, for all the cool stuff available, such as the Support's mounted gun turrets, the Spec. Ops' cloak and the Assault's defibrillator, you need to acquire points in order to unlock them. 2142 takes Battlefield 2's rank system a little further; you still gain new ranks from doing well in the game (badges and medals are also still in abundance), only now there's a real incentive to climb these ranks as fast as possible, as it's not until you get promoted that you get to choose a new unlock.

With such a system in place there's the fear that games could become one-sided; those new to the game who have yet to gather the points required to get their hands on the really good stuff are at a severe disadvantage. However, while this is true in some respects, actually climbing up the first few ranks is pretty easy - the only difficult part is making sure the unlockable item you choose is the one you want, as there's no option to go back and change once you've made your selection. The plus side to all this unlocking malarkey is that its RPG style system allows for each player to tailor classes to their own playing styles. You can mix and match unlocks if you prefer to play all four classes, or just stick with one and unlock its full set. There are even unlockables specifically for squad leaders, getting to play around with toys such as a drop pod spawn beacon that allows fellow squad members to spawn by air in drop pods, or the Sentry Drone, a small flying machine that follows the squad leader and shoots at enemy soldiers.

While this does set a worrying precedent, one in which the desire for bigger weapons and flashy badges soon replaces the urge to play simply for enjoyment, the incentive to get this new equipment does mean that games tend to be sparse of the rampant team killings that have so often blighted previous Battlefield games and although teamwork is still in short supply, occasionally you get into a squad where everyone works well enough together to climb those ranks and unlock those new weapons.

However, this is still a Battlefield game and at the end of the day it wouldn't be a Battlefield game unless it required several patches to weed out the problems that still plague the series even to this day! It's perhaps unfair not to give credit where it's due though, as the loading times have been considerably reduced and while the server browser is still quite a pain, a buddy system allows you to bypass the monotony of waiting for it to refresh and jump straight into the same game as a friend almost immediately. The lag can be killer though; while barely noticeable on smaller conquest games, during Titan mode it becomes so distracting that whatever fun you may have had at the beginning of a game gives way to sheer frustration as you wrestle with severe performance hits. Attempting to board a Titan during huge lag spikes is an extremely irritating experience, not at all helped by some frustrating glitches, such as the way your body will occasionally slide through the floor of a Titan and prevent your medics from resurrecting you.

Given that this is the fourth game in a series renowned for its bugs (Battlefield 2 even had two patches that caused so many problems they quickly had to be pulled and everyone had to roll back the game to an older patch) it's still disappointing that Dice haven't quite figured out how to release a Battlefield game without the problems it has suffered from throughout almost all of the franchise's history. That said, while the bugs do persist and infuriate, they aren't as problematic as in previous games; whether or not that's comforting enough will likely depend on how much you really want to play this game.

Battlefield 2142 is a great games and as much fun as all the Battlefield games manage to be, with its share of memorable moments, like seeing someone crash to the ground because they forgot which button deploys their parachute, the immensely smug satisfaction you get when you destroy an enemy transport aircraft that's fully occupied, or the last minute adrenalin rush as you and your comrades escape the enemy's crumbling Titan, desperately trying to reach safety before it blows. The new setting may not be loved by every long-time Battlefield player, but this is still a Battlefield game at heart - still addictive, still fun, still buggy and a great entry to the series. However, as with Battlefield 2, those still unsure will probably want to wait a little until its glitches have been ironed out before they take the plunge.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).