Battlefield 2: Special Forces Expansion Pack

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• War simulation, online multiplayer action with 64 players on the PC
• Battle as U.S., Chinese, or Middle East Coalition troops
• 30+ land, sea, and air vehicles; choose from a variety of solider classes
• New state-of-the-art weapon systems, including heat seeking missiles
• Increase rank and unlock awards; voice-over IP (VOIP) supported

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000AO9YQM
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 21, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,936 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Special Forces, Special Weapons, Special Vehicles, Special Missions... Become an elite soldier or insurgent in the secret war for control of the modern world's most strategic locations. Fight intense online battles using the latest weaponry on land, in the air, and at sea.

Battlefield 2 Special Forces takes the intensity and quality of Battlefield 2 behind the scenes of news headlines, showcasing the most elite and deadly forces in the modern military world. Using accurate Special Forces weapons, gadgets, and vehicles, these covert armies battle to control key military and strategic locations.

Fight for one of 6 different Special Forces outfits using the latest weaponry

In Battlefield 2 Special Forces, players will choose to fight as one of 6 different Special Forces soldiers -- Navy SEALs, British SAS, Russian Spetznas, MEC Special Forces, Rebel groups and insurgents. Armed with the latest Special Forces weaponry, players can take control of any of the game's 10 new vehicles to engage in major conflicts with up to 64 players. Additionally, persistent character growth allows players to continue to rise through the ranks.

The Battlefield 2 game engine and physics system brings the modern battlefield to life like never before. The material penetration feature measures weapons' ability to fire through barriers based on their composition and players will need to know the difference between concealment and cover in order to survive.

Team play features allow players to enter the action on the front lines as part of a formal squad, or work behind the scenes in Commander Mode to direct the strategic assaults of their teammates.

Key Features

• 6 new forces -- Navy Seals, British SAS, Russian Spetznas, MEC Special Forces, Rebel groups and Insurgents, each with their own unique arsenal and tactics
• 8 new maps -- strategic locations featuring expanded indoor play
• 10 new vehicles, including the Desert Raider, Combat ATV, and Apache Longbow
• Special Forces weapons and gadgets including zip line, grappling hook, tear gas, and flash bang grenades
• Dynamic Lighting and Low Light Vision bring stealth and tactics to the battlefield, allowing players to hide in the dark or spot enemies with night vision goggles
• Generalized Triggering System used to control key elements of the environment
• Online multiplayer action with 64 players on the PC
• Join a squad or select Commander Mode with the new night vision filter to assume the strategic role of a battlefield commander directing his forces.
• Character Persistence and Growth. With in-game success, players can attain additional ranks and unlock new awards
• Full in-game community support
• Voice-over IP supported with USB headset

*Requires Battlefield 2 PC to play

Product Description

Special Forces Special WeaponsSpecial Vehicles Special MissionsProduct Information[Requires Battlefield 2 PC to play]Become an elite soldier or insurgent in the secret war for control of the modernworld’s most strategic locations. Fight intense online battles using thelatest weaponry on land in the air and at sea.Battlefield 2 Special Forces takes the intensity and quality of Battlefield 2behind the scenes of news headlines showcasing the most elite and deadly forcesin the modern military world. Using accurate Special Forces weapons gadgetsand vehicles these covert armies battle to control key military and strategiclocations.In Battlefield 2 Special Forces players will choose to fight as one of 6different Special Forces soldiers – Navy SEALs British SAS Russian SpetznasMEC Special Forces Rebel groups and insurgents. Armed with the latest SpecialForces weaponry players can take control of any of the game’s 10 new vehiclesto engage in major conflicts with up to 64 players. Additionally persistentcharacter growth allows players to continue to rise through the ranks.The Battlefield 2 game engine and physics system brings the modern battlefieldto life like never before. The material penetration feature measures weapons’ability to fire through barriers based on their composition and players willneed to know the difference between concealment and cover in order to survive.Team play features allow players to enter the action on the front lines as partof a formal squad or work behind the scenes in Commander Mode to direct thestrategic assaults of their teammates.Product Features 6 new forces – Navy Seals British SAS Russian Spetznas MEC Special Forces Rebel groups and Insurgents each with their own unique arsenal and tactics 8 new maps –strategic locations featuring expanded indoor play 10 new vehicles including the Desert Raide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average Content - 5 Star Headache, November 25, 2005

By 

Craig Clemens - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Battlefield 2: Special Forces Expansion Pack (CD-ROM)

The content of this release, while not top notch, does add some life to the already popular BF2 game. The sum total of the release adds new soldier classes, maps and vehicles. It does not (as many had hoped) patch a multitude of bugs in the original game. Many of the vehicles while fun at first really turn out to be nothing more than a novelty as they are not as effective as most vehicles included in the original game. Also, a blessing to some and a disappointment for others, there are no airplanes in this game. Still many die hard fans of the game won't be without this (or any other expansion pack), but the casual player can easily do without.

One tactic that EA has employed to try to keep you from doing without is that Special Forces owners are able to play on the original BF2 servers using the new goodies in the expansion pack. Many feel that this gives an unfair advantage as Special Forces players who are able to blind others with flash bangs and use other new tactics. It is a questionable marketing ploy as people who have paid for the original game must now decide if they must purchase the expansion to remain competitive. This has been a point of contention in the BF2 community and has been a constant complaint on many internet forums.

Beyond the marketing of this product, the real problems surround the complete swarm of bug reports and problem installations. Reports of computers that ran the original fine but now only get 15 frames per second are not uncommon. Also after install, a 280 megabyte patch must be downloaded (4 hours from EA with a broadband connection). This patch then decompresses to an unheard of 3 gigabytes. Many people have reported of problems with the install of this patch as the decompression doesn't always work properly leaving the user with even bigger problems than the game not running. All these problems smell of a product that was rushed out the door for the Christmas season. Quite a disappointment as the title really had unlimited potential.

Summary: A bit of new life to an already popular game but not worth the problems that many have had. You may find it worth a look... if you can get it too run.

58 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Buggier than the original, November 29, 2005

By 

Guy in Ohio "Guy in Ohio" (Westerville, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Battlefield 2: Special Forces Expansion Pack (CD-ROM)

Believe it or not, Special Forces is in worse shape than Battlefield 2 was when it was released.

EA and Dice have been slow to address showstopping bugs in the original game, and against my better judgement, I decided to give SF a shot thinking that maybe some problems would have been addressed.

Nope.

Many people are experiencing a lot of difficulty just INSTALLING the game, let alone playing it. If you are able to get the game installed (and I eventually was), you're likely to find yourself up against a host of other problems including severe frame-rate drops and performance issues, even if the original game ran well performanse-wise (which mine did).

It would be nice if companies like EA and Dice were held more accountable for shoddy product they release to their fans, especially considering that the majority of their fanbase consists of financially-strapped college and high-school students.

This is awful.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars singleplayers should look elsewhere! Only Half the game for the full price!, January 15, 2006

By 

PJ "terriergal" (midwest) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Battlefield 2: Special Forces Expansion Pack (CD-ROM)

Same as my review for the original -- a few new tools to use in the default kits. When I rate it a 4 as fun, I'm thinking it *would* be fun if I could actually make use of the entire game... because what you can access is pretty fun.

Also you end up downloading a 250MB (!) patch that you have to reinstall after installing the SF expansion pack. That's just uncalled for. Even with DSL every server I got made it creep along at 25 KPS, and I feel sorry for people who have dialup. If they do have dialup, they aren't going to likely be playing multiplayer either, which means, don't waste your time.

What I said about the original:

I admit it's enjoyable to play, but it's really frustrating knowing you can't access all the features of the game in singleplayer. You get half a game for the full price. I have played online, and i just don't care for it much because of the numerous problems with servers booting you off for who knows what For example, forgetting to stop in the middle of the 'heat of battle' and apologize for teamkills, or missing the little message that tells you how to forgive someone for teamkilling you. I got booted for too many teamkills when I hadn't killed any teammates. There also don't seem to be that many newbie servers where you can go to learn the mp rules and practice.

I just don't have the time for figuring out all the ins and outs of multiplayer at this point in my life. I might consider a LAN party at some point, but for now singleplayer is my main option.

You're also limited to the smaller maps in singleplayer, and smaller numbers of bots. There are tweaks you can do (if you know what you're doing) to increase the number of bots, and possibly the size of the maps, but as I understand it the bots won't know what to do with the expanded maps. In the expanded territory, it doesn't add to the number of control points or special equipment/vehicles etc. in those areas either, it just give you more room to run around alone. Yippee. So far no one has come up with a mod that allows you to access all the features of the game as single player.

You also can't unlock new weapons kits unless you play online on ranked servers and earn them, ANDn the endless hours of play needed to earn them seems a bit ludicrous to me! it seems to be made for people who have no other life, don't go to school or work and never eat or sleep.

I would like to be able to access the whole game as a single player at home, even if none of that stuff works on multiplayer unless I earn it on ranked servers.

This seems to be a common complaint on most of the forums I've researched, and with all the modders out there you'd think they'd have come up with a mod that addresses these things by now, if it wasn't that difficult to do. I'm about ready to start looking into it myself, but as a full time mom with three kids and two dogs and a part time job besides that, it just isn't that feasible.

Another problem is the realism. Why is it that a shot to the head doesn't drop anyone? I can't imagine that putting a 3 round burst of 5.56mm , or a single 7.62mm round into someone's skull from any distance, would allow them to continue on their merry way and turn around and shoot you dead (with the first shot, no less) from 75 yards with an mp5. It's a darn good things those medics can cure any injury with those shock paddles, if only they can get to you.

One thing about the AI that annoys me is that all the bots clump together. I realize pathfinding is the most difficult part of all to program for. But man, clumping together is the best way to get killed. I tend to sneak around and flank, but even if I tell the bots to follow me, they may comply for about two seconds and then go back to what they were doing. I think the Tom Clancy games handled this kind of teamwork AI far better, and without needing the high system specs that BF2 and BF2:SF require. I have enjoyed all of the Clancy games far more, with the exception of Splinter Cell - too simple and easy.