battlefield 2141: early review

Played a few hours over the past couple of days, enough to get a solid first impression.

So far I'm a big fan of the game itself, independent of EA's amoral corporate behavior.
The objective-based gameplay is well polished, the maps I've played so far are balanced and provide for heated action, a bit more infantry-centric than the demo (which is a good thing- my main gripe with the demo was feeling about as dangerous as a newborn kitten if you got caught outside of your heavily armored ride). Which I guess is to be expected, since 2141 is the fourth iteration of the basic Battlefield formula.

I mostly played lone wolf, for some reason I couldn't connect to Macattack's Vent server and teaming with strangers is an iffy proposition.
Fortunately, the game works fine playing as a One Man Army Corps.
You can do all the stuff you would anyway, help your side win the battle, and build up points for 'unlocks' to improve your effectiveness.

Of course, all that stuff is much easier as a member of a squad. The option to run wild n' free is always there, but working as part of a team is incentivized by awarding point bonuses for achieving goals set by the squad leader and for helping out your squadmates, on top of whatever Rambo points you rack up on your own.

Forced teaming is the reason I gave up on WoW...once I hit 30th level I couldn't wipe my own ass without first putting together a team, killing the world's supply of Gritjaw Basilisks until one finally dropped the desired Thick Scale Toilet Paper...then praying nobody else in the party had a dirty bottom.

I find the system of encouraged teaming in 2141 more to my liking.

There's a Fun Night scheduled this evening, so I should have some more squad-centric impressions tomorrow.