FPS: Battlefield 2142

This is the latest potential rallying point in the ceaseless quest to reunite the Tard Nation under the banner of a single FPS shooter.

One of the problems with maintaining the existence of a 'clan' over any substantial period of time is that its members came together under the umbrella of a certain game (Counterstrike, in our case). Surviving the inevitable fall from grace of the alpha game is a challenge, because nothing else the group tries will possess that same magnetic universal appeal.
Of course that's a whole other post, one I'll save for a future rainy day.

On with BF 2142.

It's the latest incarnation of a series I've never particularly enjoyed comprised of Battlefield 1942 (WWII puts me in a coma) and Battlefield 2 (fundamentally more of the same, only with automatic weapons). 2142 is set in the future, and as Ivan will tell you the future is simply better than everything else.

I don't generally cotton to vehicles in games, neither am I a huge fan of the sheer scale of the battlefields (I cut my teeth on 20 player CS servers, playing maps you could run across in 90 seconds), but once I overcame my antipathy to hover tanks, VTOL jets and mechs the size of the maps and the sheer number of players (generally 48 or 64) made sense.

My mistake had been approaching it as an infantryman. If you're on foot, the distances are ridiculous and your combat effectiveness is practically nil. You have to embrace the vehicles before the game makes sense...and once I did that, everything else fell into place.

The 'big picture' is overwhelming, but it's easy to shrink the game down to scale. Make a squad with some friends, pick one of the objectives (a variation on CTF- the flags are in fixed locations, you make them change hands by standing next to them for a certain amount of time) hop in one of the vehicles on offer and head out to stake your claim. The aggregation of these individual firefights determines which side is "winning" the battle.

So, here's a game I like (almost in spite of itself), a direct extension of a series that's attracted substantial Tard interest over the years, a game that promises to bring together a sizable fraction of the scattered tribe....and yet, I remain uneasy.

EA is a notoriously crummy, money-grubbing game publisher (their marketing motto it's in the game is often appended ...you bought last year by cynical players) and there's a rumor floating around that 2142 will ship with spyware that sniffs around your computer and generates targeted in-game ads.

However much I'm enjoying the gameplay and regardless of the games potential to gather up the scattered tribes I'll never pay a dime for spyware....let alone 'targeted ads'.

Because let's face it, nothing says grim future of perilous military adventure like billboard ads for Pimp Juice and Family Guy box sets (or, in the case of targeted ads, Rogaine & Depends).

Here's hoping this kerfuffle is just typical Internet overreaction and EA clarifies their position soon-ish, or provides some sort of 'opt out' loophole for those of us who prefer our games ala carte, without the side order of Big Brother.