Battlefield: The Complete Collection is what I would call bang for the buck. For the price of a mediocre meal at a third-rate restaurant, you get four different versions of the game voted "Best of 2002." Of course, one could argue that 2002 was a long time ago, and that graphics, sound, AI and so forth have come an enormously long way since then, one would also be missing the point. Some games are very playable and stand the test of time; some don't. Battlefield may not be an all-time classic by any means, but it remains a cheap, and mostly good, time.
This set includes the original game (Battlefield 1942), plus two add-ons (The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WWII) and a completely different game called Battlefield: Vietnam. To get right to the point:
1942: This game features a number of more or less historical battle scenarios covering the years 1942 - 1945, and featuring such combatants as the USA, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Great Britain, Free France, Russia and Japan. In each game you pick a side (Axis or Allied), and once the battle's commenced, choose which type of soldier you want to be: infantryman, engineer, medic, bazookaman or sniper. Each has different weapons and different advantages, and disadvantages, to the player. In addition, there are loads of playable vehicles, from motorcycle sidecars to landing craft to tanks, and in some scenarios, playable aircraft as well. The objective of every scenario is to "capture the flags" by seizing various control points on the map, and by defending them once they are captured. As you will most likely be shot dead or blown up a number of times each scenario, you can appear on the battlefield in many different guises (sniper, medic, whatever) during one battle; you can also pick up the weapons and equipment of the dead if you wanna change, say, from a Browning Automatic Rifle to a Schemisser. The very best scenario on here is "Omaha Beach", which is action-packed, requires good tactical thinking, and is equally fun played on either side; but many of the others are cool as well, including the airborne scenario "Arnhem Bridge", the desert battle "Battleaxe" and the brutal massacre that is "Stalingrad."
Road to Rome: This is the same game, but adds a number of battles specific to the Italian campaign of 1943 - 1945. It would be worth owning just for the superb "Monte Casino" scenario alone, an all-out brawl between the Germans and the French commandos for control of a monastary atop a huge hill.
Secret Weapons: Again, the same game, but with a number of scenarios featuring "wonder-weapons" such as jet aircraft, guided missles, super-heavy tanks, and yes, even a jet pack. This has some outrageously fun stuff on it, including airborne assaults and commando raids like "Kelby Airfield", "Mimoquoyes", "Essen" and "Telemark Research Base."
Vietnam: This game came after the others and is better graphically and in terms of playability and sound-effects. It covers the Vietnam war from the POV of the USA, plus North and South Vietnam. The weapons are fantastic, especially the M-60 machine gun. It also addresses some of the smaller problems of the previous games, such as providing a counter to show you how long it will take before you "own" a control point. It even has great rock music by the Clash, Jefferson Airplane, and CCR. On the downside, it has many boring scenarios. The best seem to be "Cambodian Incursion" and the various Hue battles.
What works for Battlefield as a rule is that is reproduces combat in a fairly realistic way without being too realistic to be fun. There is a great attention to detail on such things as uniforms, weapons, and equipment, and the variety of weapons and vehicles is pretty impressive. Some of the battles, such as Omaha Beach, Monte Cassino, Cambodian Incursion, Essen, Telemark, etc., etc. are almost criminally addictive, and it's just a trip to drive a Tiger tank, get behind a 50-cal machine gun or squint into the scope of a sniper rifle and try to pick off bad guys from 300 yards out. It's also cool to play a scenario from one side and then tackle it from the other; you see the challenges of both attack and defense from the tactical point of view. Though the game is an FPS with plenty of grenade-hurling, machine-gun firing action, it also requires some thought. Simply charging up the middle with guns blazing works occasionally, but like as not it leads to a little message in the corner that says that Hans-Jürgen Klossmeyer just killed you with his trusty K-98.
Now we get to the flaws. The first, and most annoying problem is the design of the boards. Many are too large versus the number of troops involved, which means a lot of tedious running-around. Next beef: the aircraft. A lot of the scenarios have aircraft you can fly into battle, and a few ("Battle of Britain" for ex.) revolve entirely around flying. Given the beautiful graphics on the planes, that would be great...except that between using the mouse and the keyboard as controls, it's nearly impossible to do more than take off, fly in a straight line, and then crash. Another huge issue, in my mind, is the fact that no matter how many friendlies you have nearby, every enemy soldier seems to shoot exclusively at you. Topping this is the fact that the enemy's accuracy is often astonishing (nothing like getting killed by a pistol shot taken at a quarter mile's distance), and sometimes his tanks and so forth seem to be indestructible, while yours often seem to be made of tin. Finally, the number of "dud" scenarios is painfully high.
I'd like to wind up by saying that despite all the flaws, this remains a good time and a great bargain. Between the total number of scenarios and the fact you can play each from either side, there's a lot of game here, and the gaming is often good. To misquote General Patton, "All real Americans love the sting of battle, especially when conducted from your chair with beers in easy reach."
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Received but not all the CDs were in the box. Only 6-8.
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Disappointed
Game wouldn't launch
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 14, 2022Platform For Display: PCEdition: Complete CollectionVerified Purchase
Alexander Ogle
Very good service!
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 5, 2021Platform For Display: PCEdition: Complete CollectionVerified Purchase
Dave Heinermann
great
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 21, 2018Platform For Display: PCEdition: Complete CollectionVerified Purchase
Dillon Straker
Missing a disc
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 8, 2019Platform For Display: PCEdition: Complete CollectionVerified Purchase
Sten Brosbol
The program will not run and the online servers are not working anymore.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 24, 2020Platform For Display: PCEdition: Complete CollectionVerified Purchase
