A great game for the online player, but lacking for anyone else
On the surface, Battlefield 2 is very attractive; given you have a computer that can run it. The character models look great, though you never have time to really examine them. The vehicles and weapons are beautiful, too, but the sound really blows you away, including your eardrums if you care to turn it all the way up (which you will probably do, at least once). The crackle of gunfire, the roar of a vehicle approaching, the blast of a cannon thundering into the hull of a tank or helicopter, all make the battlefield seem real. Battlefield 2 lacks, however, the small little details that bring the world to life; almost nothing is interactive. It seems the map you play on is simply a background to the action; there are very few objects to knock around, and if you fire a rocket at a lamp post or tree, nothing happens. You can’t drive a truck through a mesh fence, or even push open a gate. Obviously, the developers sacrificed the minor details to allow for a better frame rate, which is understandable.
The gameplay itself was unique in Battlefield 1942, but has since been copied by Star Wars: Battlefront. You start each map by choosing the kit you want to play, such as medic, engineer, or anti-tank. Each kit is specialized with unique weapons and/or accessories, so each player is necessary to the squad they are assigned. The chain of command is intuitive; at the top is the commander, a single player who calls in artillery strikes, supply drops, and sends out orders to each squad leader. The squad leaders process these orders and in turn relay the command to the members of the squad. Squad leaders also function as a moving spawn point, where squad members may spawn unless the squad leader is incapacitated. The squad members can ask for an artillery strike, from which the squad leader can deny it or accept it, and the commander will then call the strike in or veto it.
Battlefield 2 offers no single-player game; it is purely multi-player. You may play offline with lethally stupid bots; they are so awful you will find yourself being sniped from the other side of the map; gunned down when you are completely hidden. Online, there are plenty of thrills to find, though you may encounter difficulties if you have used single-player mods.
In the end, if you are trying to decide between Battlefield 2 and some other game, BF2 is just not worth $50. Plus, if you only have that much, then your computer probably can’t handle the game’s insane system requirements. So, in conclusion, your money is just better spent on game with more stuff, which isn’t hard to find.