Cheat Index - Battlefield 2: Special Forces Computer Review

It didn't take long for EA and DICE to turn out Battlefield 2: Special Forces, the expansion to this year's smash online action game. And judging from the teething problems that the expansion is having, it looks like EA and DICE Canada (the developer of Special Forces) didn't take long enough. That's because Special Forces is an excellent expansion that delivers more of the intense online combat that fans of Battlefield 2 adore, but it's also crippled by some potentially showstopping bugs. If you can get it running, though, you're in for a great time.

There's some really great new content in Special Forces that builds on the strengths of Battlefield 2. Special Forces adds a total of eight new maps, including a spaceport complete with a launching pad and rocket, gutted-out cities, an airfield, and an island. All these maps have an infantry-heavy focus, even on their larger, 64-player variants, and that's good news to Battlefield 2 fans, since the most popular levels in the core game are the urban ones, such as Strike at Karkand. The other good news is that the expansion features a number of urban levels similar to Karand and Sharqi Peninsula. In fact, they may be a bit too familiar, as there are some buildings and objects recycled from the core game. Still, there's enough new content in the levels to differentiate them from their predecessors and to provide more urban playgrounds to romp around in. For example, there's a palace level in which one side has to battle through a city to the palace's gates and then into the palace itself, which provides a large mix of indoor and outdoor combat. Yet perhaps the best new map is a reverse amphibious assault, in which the Middle Eastern Coalition forces must board and take over a US aircraft carrier defended by Navy SEALs; the action takes place on the carrier's deck, in its vast hangar bays, and in its corridors and rooms below.

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