Battlefield 1942

Battlefield 1942 (commonly abbreviated BF1942) is the first installment in the Battlefield Series and was developed by DICE. It was released for PC in 2002 and was later made the AIAS and IGN Game of the Year. To celebrate the game's ten year anniversary, it was made available for free on Origin in November 2012.

Overview
Battlefield 1942 is set during World War II in the Pacific, European and Northern African theaters. Its gameplay has a more cooperative focus than previous games in the first person shooter genre, as it is not only important to kill the opposition but to also hold certain "control points" around the map while playing a multitude of classes each equipped for special roles.

Capturing control points allow the team to reinforce themselves by enabling players and vehicles to spawn in the vicinity of the control point. Consequently, capturing and controlling these points also will reduce enemy reinforcements. Battlefield 1942 was one of the first mainstream games to represent a dramatic shift in FPS gameplay mentality by not only favoring individualism, but simultaneously encouraging teamwork and coordination.

Classes
Battlefield 1942 features a class-based system, with a total of five classes. Each class has their respective role on the battlefield.


 * Scout
 * Assault
 * Anti-Tank
 * Medic
 * Engineer

Factions
Different Allies and Axis forces are always pitted against each other, with specific factions facing each other based on the location of the map. On Wake Island, for instance, US forces always engage with Japanese forces as it takes place in the Pacific Theater.

Maps and Gamemodes
All maps are based on the actual battles from the war. The base game originally featured a total of seventeen maps but this was later expanded to twenty-two through later patches. The game features a total of five gametypes, all of which promote the use of teamwork to complete objectives.

Weapons and Vehicles
A variety of weapons and vehicles are featured in the game with each being specific to each era as well as faction.

The Road To Rome
Battlefield 1942: The Road To Rome was released in February 2003. It added the Italian Front to the game, featuring the respective factions as well as weapons on maps based on the real battles themselves.

Secret Weapons of WWII
Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII was released in September 2003. It added many new weapons and vehicles that were both prototypes and experimental during the war. The purpose of the expansions was to add a large amount of content without overhauling the series. It was also featured with numerous patches that added more maps.

Deluxe Edition

 * Battlefield 1942
 * The Road To Rome

World War II Analogy

 * Battlefield 1942
 * The Road To Rome
 * Secret Weapons of World War II

Complete Collection

 * Battlefield 1942
 * The Road To War
 * Secret Weapons of WWII
 * Battlefield Vietnam
 * WWII Mod

Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Battlefield 1942 was composed by Joel Eriksson. There are 4 tracks in-game; the main theme (Slaughter IV), the loading theme (Vehicle IV), the losing theme (Menu), and the winning theme (Vehicle III). These can be founded in Battlefield 1942 directory (usually located at \Origin Games\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Music). However, 18 more tracks are available at Joel Eriksson's website.

Development
Battlefield 1942 was built around concepts introduced in Codename Eagle which was developed by Refractor Games which DICE had acquired in 2000. 1942 utilizes the Refractor Engine with its successor, the Refractor 2 Engine, used in the development of Battlefield 2. EA had announced a console version of the game for the original Xbox but these plans were later scrapped in 2004 to focus on the development of future games and expansion for the newfound series.

Reception
Battlefield 1942 has received unanimous praise from critics in the game industry. The game currently has a score of 89 in Metacritic based on 27 reviews and 88.67% in GameRankings based on 44 reviews.

GameSpot gave the game an 8.8 out of 10, saying that "For now, as long as you can find skilled teammates and aren't getting pestered by the game's technical problems, Battlefield 1942 can be, quite appropriately, a real blast."

IGN gave the game a 9.3 out of 10, saying that "The game is a perfect bet for fans of online action. It's even likely that this game will find converts in the RPG or strategy crowd."

GameSpy gave the game 4.5 out of 5 stars, saying that "While it takes a beefy system to run and requires a good game server to really appreciate, Battlefield is one of the most rewarding shooters we've played in a long time. It's a tank game, a dogfighting game, a naval warfare game, a driving game, and a first-person shooter all rolled into one."