Battlefield 2142 is back with a new "Booster Pack" from EA. Featuring three new maps, a full new tier of unlocks, two brand new vehicle types and of course new awards.
While on paper that may sound like a lot of new content, it's hardly enough to warrant the costs of proper retail release - so instead EA is opting to take the route of digital distribution, offering Northern Strike for a reasonable $10.
The game, like it's bigger brothers, is still the fun, fast paced, action packed, system hog it always was - and while it's not the prettiest game or the freest of advertising, there is some security in knowing that EA is not likely to change the winning formula. Like its older brother, it takes even more pages from past successful game and movie franchises like Star Wars and Unreal Tournament 2004 in some aspects.
One of the new vehicle types, the Landspeeder, this delightful little hovering go-cart of doom may remind you of curiously effeminate robots and tall shaggy man-dogs, but this gun mounted death wagon is no joke. Though hard to pilot at first, due to it's controls being the same as the aircraft, once mastered you'll be bulls eyeing swamp ra... I mean enemy soldiers in no time.
The new unlocks range from great to being as utterly useless as the knife from the original Resident Evil. One standout addition is the new types of grenades. Assault have been given radar grenades which briefly give out nearby enemy positions while the Engineers have the rather interesting "Bait Grenades" that lure mines like a robotic Pied Piper to where they can self-detonate either at a safe distance, or to flush out enemy infantry.
Most unlocks, however, are just upgrades of previous unlocks and feel like little more then tacked on space filler making this add-on seem like a better value. One such useless unlock is that of the support class, a sticky grenade launcher that detonates shortly after hitting any non-human target. The damage is low, the blast radius is small and the accuracy is poor. You'd be hard pressed to take down even a wounded enemy or damaged light vehicle with it.
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