First impressions are not great, but it gets better!
I purchased via the EA games web site as I didn't want to wait until I got into a store.
Don't do this!
Rather go to the store and buy it. EA makes you download a download manager from them inorder to get the item. When a file is over a Gig in size let people use a real download manager such as GetRight or the like. This is extremely annoying and I won't be buying through them again.
Once I had the game installed I jumped right in, excited to try the new levels and weapons, but that was nto to be. Every server I tried to connect to told me that I had to a modified version of Battlefield 2 and that I needed to revert to my original version. Considering I was running the orginal version I was some what confused by this to say the least. Finally thanks to an online forum NOT run by EA I found the answer. The patch I installed a couple of days before had to be reinstalled. Ugh, EA couldn't have rolled this in with the release version of BF2 Special Forces?
Now finally I could get into a server.
My final gripe is that the game is a completely stand alone application instead of being rolled into BF2. Thsi means that every time you want to play a BF2 SF map it closes out of Battlefield2 and launches Battlefield 2: Special forces. By the time the map opens the servers are full. Really annoying considering it takes 2 minutes to open it up.
Once into the game it is the same action packed Battlefield I have enjoyed over the past few years. Nice features like night vision, flash bang grenades, new weapons are great additions. A win for the infantryman is the complete lack of jets! No more F15 blowing you into the sky every time you even think of getting in a vehicle.
The close quarters fighting is good fun and keeps you on edge the whole time. This game wins some points back based on the game play and new stuff but loses a lot of ground because poor implementation and clunky integration with BF2