Not my favourite in the Battlefield series and there's still a few bugs with the engine, but still an entertaining game.
Having being a fan of the Battlefield series since the demo for Battlefield 1942, and after putting in several thousand hours of game-time combined into the series, I've had a lot of experience with the game and how they play. Battlefield 1942 was an instant classic, it's style of gameplay revolutionary to the FPS genre at the time, and it's little brother, Battlefield Vietnam, breathed some new life into the series with it's revamped Battlfield 1942 engine.
Now with the release of Battlefield 2142 a lot of players have complained about EA trying to milk the series for all it can, and in some ways I do have to agree with that. However, as Battlefield Vietnam did for Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 2142 breathed new life into the series just as interest in Battlefield 2 was failing, particularily due to the extended delay of fixing issues with the 1.3 patch.
Although the graphics in 2142 didn't get any revolutionary upgrades, there's still a little bit more eye candy. The new upgrade system has it's good and bad points. I'm definately not a fan of having to unlock grenades and the defribulators, as this means a BIG difference in gameplay in any ladder that decides to run without unlocks. However some of the new toys are definately quiet handy, the new squad beacon and deployable ammo and medic kits in particular. Of course the unlockable weapons causes the same issues as previously, with some players having 'superior' weapons to others. However I feel that player's ability to customise their loadout on-the-fly means kits are now far more specialised, which makes for far less of a "one kit kills all" scenario, a problem often complained about with the AT kit and it's DAO-12 unlock in Battlefield 2.
There are still particular things I have problems with. The support player's ability to fire from the hip with a machine gun that's almost as accurate as a sniper rifle rather annoying, specifically when all that needs to be done to stop that issue is to make the standard deviation of the machine guns, in any position other then prone, so high that it's pointless to fire them unless prone.
But enough of my rambling =). The graphics are great. The gameplay somehow feels more congested then Battlefield 2, but it's still fun. The sound effects on certain weapons are very dissapointing, but others sound great. The balance of the kits and vehicles is fairly good, and seems better then it was in Battlefield 2. Overall a good game, but still has it's problems.
I recommend the game to people who enjoyed Battlefield 2, but I suggest trying the demo first to be sure, before forking out your hard earned cash for the game.