Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII (PC)
More maps, crazy vehicles, even crazier action.
By Sal "Sluggo" Accardo | Sept. 6, 2003


78
Good
The Lowdown: Not as good as Road to Rome, but a solid addition to any Battlefield 1942 collection.
Pros: Lots of fun new vehicles; some outstanding new maps.
Cons: Some of the maps are clunkers; $30 is too much for the limited content here.

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Platform:  Windows
Game Type:  Action / FPS
Developer:  DICE
Publisher:  EA Games
ESRB: Teen

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IT WAS RIGHT AROUND THIS TIME last year that EA and DICE released their multiplayer opus, Battlefield 1942. Despite a few technical glitches (patches were available the day the game was released, and have continued throughout the past 12 months), there was no denying the sheer brilliance of the gameplay. Battlefield 1942 went on to win numerous awards, including our own honors for Best Multiplayer Game of 2002.

While sweeping through the community and inspiring countless imitators, however, a few amateur developers have managed to do something we might originally have thought impossible -- steal Battlefield's thunder with free (and even more frenetic) modifications like the brilliant Desert Combat, which now has more servers to play on than "regular" Battlefield 1942.

Maybe EA and DICE sensed the community wanted something even more fast-paced, because we now have Secret Weapons of WWII, the second expansion pack for Battlefield 1942. While the game's first expansion -- The Road to Rome -- was a collection of six stellar maps and not much more, Secret Weapons is a bit more lighthearted and gimmicky, offering a collection of new vehicles and gadgets that toe the line of believability in addition to eight new maps. The so-called "secret weapons" aren't worth the price of admission alone, and the maps aren't as good as those from The Road to Rome, but the combination of the two makes Secret Weapons an expansion any Battlefield fan should give serious consideration to.

While the basic formula of the game remains unchanged -- two teams battle for ownership of "control points" around each map -- there are three major additions to Secret Weapons of WWII. The first is the aforementioned set of eight new maps, which, while similar in style to many of the existing group, have their own personality and charms. "Hellendoorn" is one of my favorites, which features wide-open play and lots of strategies using the new gadgets (more on that in a second). "Mimoyeques" is also a standout, as the two sides push back and forth along a main road for control of five points, as is "Eagle's Nest," a massive, winding path up the side of a mountain. Not all the maps are keepers, however. Some, like the pitch-black "Kbely Airfield," simply aren't that much fun to play -- they don't feel quite as balanced and well-paced as the rest of the Battlefield maps we've grown accustomed to playing over the past year. Overall, it's nice to have new maps, even if they're not all as good as those from The Road to Rome.

The second addition is the new Objective mode, which could best be likened to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory or Unreal Tournament's Assault, where one team goes on the attack to achieve a series of objectives, and the other team is tasked with defending them. For instance, on Mimoyeques, the Allies need to destroy Hitler's new "V3" gun by dropping explosives down three ventilation shafts at the north end of the map.

Six of the eight new maps support objective-based play, and while it's a nice addition in theory, it doesn't always work out well. Most of the objectives revolve around blowing something up (rockets, turbines, storage tanks), and it's not always clear how much damage you've caused to the target(s), if any at all. The objectives are usually centered on one control point, which is a bit of a waste on the larger maps, and seems to slow gameplay down a bit (although this may change as players get used to the new maps). There aren't many servers running in Objective mode at the moment (most Secret Weapons servers seem to be sticking with the standard Conquest mode), so even trying the new mode out may not be that easy. That's OK, because the Conquest mode is still great -- just don't buy Secret Weapons for the new Objective mode.

The last major addition (and arguably the biggest) are the "secret weapons" themselves. It's a collection of 15 vehicles and gadgets that were supposedly either used briefly during WWII or on someone's drawing board (we're not asking who), from guided rockets to amphibious vehicles to a personal rocket pack. While some might dismiss some of the new vehicles as gimmicky, there's no denying they're a lot of fun to play with. The Wasserfall guided rocket lets you control a high-speed missile with a dizzying view from the rocket's nose. The McDonnell Goblin plane and Natter Rocket plane take it a step further, actually putting you in the cockpit of two experimental vehicles capable of insane speeds, and a few larger planes have also been added, from the C-47 cargo plane to the Horton flying wing. The high speed of the new planes takes some getting used to (especially if you haven't been playing Desert Combat), but they're definitely fun and all the new planes usually have some sort of strategic use on the maps they appear in.


My new Schwimmwagen gets good ocean mileage.

On the ground, the Axis have the new Flakpanzer, essentially a tank with a set of AA guns mounted on top, and both teams have motorcycles with machine gun-mounted sidecars. A few amphibious vehicles have also been added, including an armored transport capable of traveling through land or water, as well as the Schwimmwagen -- a covered jeep capable of sailing across the water like a little boat. Then there's the rocket pack, which isn't quite as cool as it sounds -- you tap the Space key for short bursts into the air, which allows you to make superhuman jumps across rivers and atop buildings, but not enough to let you hover anywhere for more than a few seconds. Like the new airborne vehicles, most of these are off the beaten path, but they do serve some important functions beyond the "fun factor." For example, on Hellendoorn, the rocket pack allows you to jump across a river where a bridge has been destroyed, and the Schwimmwagen provides shortcuts between control points that might not be patrolled by the enemy.

On the technical side, a v1.45 patch was released to coincide with the release of Secret Weapons, which means all the current versions of the game are compatible with each other -- you'll just need to own Secret Weapons if you want to play with the new vehicles or maps. The graphics essentially remain unchanged, although some bugs have been fixed and a few other tweaks have been made to address exploits. Although EA and DICE have released numerous patches for Battlefield 1942 throughout the past year, a segment of the game's fans have been critical, claiming there either hasn't been enough support or that it's been too slow in coming (among other things). It remains to be seen if the latest round of fixes will placate the community ... or anger them more. (EA's own BF1942 message boards currently contain a little of both.)


The new cargo plane is great for delivering troops to the front lines.

My own biggest gripe with Secret Weapons is the price. Although it's quality stuff, it's hardly a new game -- it's 8 maps, a bunch of cool new vehicles, a few new weapons and armies, and a new multiplayer mode. For $20, I'd call it a no-brainer ... except that it's retailing for $30. EA did this last year with their Medal of Honor: Spearhead expansion pack, and apparently are banking on the fact that Battlefield diehards will rush out to pick this one up as well. My recommendation: try out a few more of the new Battlefield mods until Secret Weapons goes on sale.

Price aside, it's clear someone had fun making Secret Weapons of WWII, and the new toys are so much fun to play with you may occasionally forget there's a big battle going on around you -- even the motorcycles have a little horn you can use to signal other players around you. If nothing else, it's nice to have some new maps to play with, and there are already over 100 servers up and running Secret Weapons, so there's no shortage of games at the moment. If you've played Battlefield 1942, The Road to Rome and Desert Combat to death, need something new and don't mind the $30 price point (or can find it on sale somewhere), it's a great addition to the Battlefield universe.

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Essential Links Reviewer System Specifications
Pentium 4 2.5 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Windows XP, DirectX 8.1, GeForce 4 Ti4600, Creative Labs Audigy, 20x CD-ROM drive, Logitech® MX™ 300 / 700 Optical Mouse, Microsoft Internet Pro USB Keyboard.

System Requirements
Pentium III 500 MHz, 128 MB RAM, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, DirectX 8.1, 32 MB DirectX-compliant video card, DirectX-compliant sound card, 4x CD-ROM drive and 400 MB hard-disk space


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