With a console as powerful and impressive as the Xbox 360, it probably seems a bit strange that a couple of the bigger releases on the system over the past few months have been half-year old games from the last generation. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat has managed to see new life after being ported to the 360, and in the process, has gotten some additional content. The game looks beautiful in HD, and the newly added maps are also a welcome addition. However, if you've played Modern Combat on the original Xbox or Playstation 2, is it worth experiencing again on the Xbox 360? Depending on who you are, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat may just be worth another look on the Xbox 360.

For those who didn't go through Modern Combat on the last generation of systems, the game essentially takes the Battlefield franchise made famous on the PC and gives it life on consoles. Unlike the PC version of Battlefield 2, though, Modern Combat tries to work in a single player campaign in addition to online multiplayer. That was how the Xbox and Playstation versions worked, and the Xbox 360 version shows a near identical formula. In fact, there are few differences between the two; those differences being three new maps in multiplayer (including new vehicles and character models), much improved graphics, and enhanced support for the new Xbox Live. That's about it, but you might want to look twice before dismissing, depending on who you are.

Modern Combat's story revolves around a crisis in the country of Kazakhstan in the distant future fought between the People's Republic of China and the United States, backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While the single player campaign only allows you to take control of two sides, multiplayer mode also adds the Middle Eastern Coalition (MEC) and the European Union into the fray. You progress through the campaign by cycling through the two armies, playing a few missions as the U.S. forces and then switching to Chinese forces and then back again.

The single player mode of Modern Combat is pretty run-of-the-mill. Possibly one of the only real stand out traits about single player is the ability to hot-swap to any other character on a map, which is kind of neat and allows you to not only traverse across maps in an instant but also play many different weapon layouts without having to re-spawn. However, after that, things fall a little flat. The campaign is fairly challenging, but sort of in the sense that you may have to lose several times in order to learn the given path to take. It doesn't really help that the enemy AI just spawns in pre-determined locations and once you've played through a couple of times, you'll anticipate where they're supposed to show up. Your teammate's AI isn't exactly the best either, and more often than not, you may lose a mission solely because they used up all of the other bodies you could have hot-swapped to, or you may be the sole survivor of a mission (they literally run straight into the open for all enemy weapons to see).

Of course, any Battlefield veteran can tell you that single player is far from what the series is about. Just like every other game in the series, the multiplayer is the center of attention here, and works just like it did in Battlefield 2 for the PC. The basic goal in multiplayer is for two teams to fight against each other in either conquest mode or CTF mode, although I think it's a given that conquest mode (which consists of capturing a series of flags to use as spawn points) is usually the real attraction of the Battlefield series. Each player gets to choose from a weapon kit, consisting of assault weapons, special operations gear, engineer kits, and more. To add to the mayhem, vehicles like tanks and helicopters are available, but sorry PC veterans: no jets.

Probably the reason that there are no jets in Modern Combat is because the maps are generally much smaller than what was seen in Battlefield 2. If you're used to the big, open and spacious maps seen in Modern Combat's PC cousin, then these multiplayer maps will probably disappoint somewhat, although they are perfectly sized for the player limits of Xbox Live (up to 24 players). Most maps are designed fairly well, although some tend to lean the balance more towards one side. "Missile Crisis," for example, is a great concept of one team trying to break through a giant gate in a canyon, but it highly favors the Chinese side who starts with almost every spawn point behind the gate and can safely pick away at the EU forces as they try to break through the gate. Even with some issues, though, many of the maps in multiplayer still provide for some good fun.

As far as the updates for the Xbox 360 version go, they pretty much end at the improved graphics, added maps and improved Xbox Live functions. That isn't to say these features should be passed up, as after playing Modern Combat on HDTV, the game looks amazing compared to the last generation versions, and even on standard televisions, Modern Combat look great. The Xbox Live improvements consist of a good number of (hard) achievements, as well as some improved clan options, which I'm sure those of you who coordinate huge clan battles will love to hear. There are only three new maps, but they keep with the standards of the existing maps and add new vehicles (snowmobiles!) into the mix. All in all, depending on who you are, Modern Combat for the 360 either has all the new tweaks you need or is just the same game you may have played on the Xbox.

So to put things in retrospect, Modern Combat is a great game for the 360 that is perfect for those who may have neglected to play it on the Xbox or PS2. If you already played the previous versions, then you may want to pass up another go unless you are big on clan battles, desperate for new maps to play or want to experience warfare in all its HD glory. It also doesn't help that, despite being a port of a game from the last generation of consoles, the game still costs $59.99 USD. Even so, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat remains a solid multiplayer game on the Xbox 360 and a huge recommendation for those who missed the previous versions of the game.

Aug 10, 2006 | 1 comments
Chris Massey