If that wasn't in the game, it would still have been fine. Decker freely volunteers that in BF1942, the concept was an unintelligible mess that was hardly ever used. If you're in a Humvee, you can use your hand weapon to shoot out through the windows.' Tooled UpДЄrtillery is also getting an overhaul for the sequel. If you're in the back of an LAV troop carrier, you can shoot through the firing ports. No more sitting in the back of an APC waiting to die because the guy driving it ran into a tank somewhere. For Battlefield 2, the improved' part of the recipe takes this into account.Д®very position in a vehicle will be usable, assures Decker. Of course, BF1942 pioneered vehicle use (well, Codename: Eagle actually pioneered it, but no-one remembers). That said, the Battlefield trends are certainly picked up on - witness how every game that arrives nowadays features sprawling levels and vehicles with multiple player mounts. But even with all of that, we really aren't seeing a lot of games coming in our direction.' It's something that a lot of other designers always get asked -are they going to go in our direction with their games. It's interesting that whenever we pick up a magazine, we find dozens of references to Battlefield, but in articles about other games. It's a little bit overwhelming, definitely,' admits Decker. The phenomenal success of the original game had a lasting effect on the world of online gaming in a way not seen You can't throw a stick onto the Internet these days without hitting a Battlefield server. We have to try and balance all these factors.' After Effects You don't expect to pay your 50 euros for something that's just the same experience rehashed. But also, when you open up the box you expect something new. But there are still things that people wish they could've had in BF1942, so that's the improved' part for us.

When someone opens up Battlefield, they expect a certain experience.

There are those things you really want to keep that are fun and make the game what it is. We have a pretty good rule, or recipe, that we follow which is: one third old, one third new and one third improved ,' says Battlefield 2 producer Sean Decker from his cool and pleasant Swedish office. I Having seen the jaw-dropping screens and shaky-cam movies of Battlefield 2 that slipped out of E3 and onto pom site browsers the world over, you may well have been jaded enough to mink: 'Sure, looks nice but it'll probably just be the same old game with modem tanks and that.' Luckily for all of us, DICE Studios is only too aware of what's required to challenge those widely-held preconceptions. No matter how much you shake things up with visual finery, how many designs and redesigns you go through, unless the meat of your metaphorically-mixed stew is well cooked and tasty, all you're going to be left with is good-looking dishwater. There's a truism in the world of marketing, oft ignored it must be said, that goes: you can't polish a turd.

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