Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome Comments by Martin Taylor

Come on Errol, let's see your comeback to that. :)

Of cource EPIC;s expansion is for free, the game sucks? BF1942 is at least funny enough to keep me comming back for more, each and every night - although its been out there for 6 months...

That is purely a matter of opinion, and you know it. The thing is, Epic cares for it's fans. UT2K3's map community is starting to explode with all sorts of maps. EA decide to cash in on BF1942's fans by depriving them of a map editor of any kind and making them wait for an official expansion that adds as little as possible for the highest price tag they could get it through with.

See the differences? Just because you find that UT2K3 sucks does not in any way mean that EA is somehow friendlier to their customers. It's the exact opposite.

Why would it get deleted ?

Ok, I will if u write comment's i Swedish next time.

I'll take you up on that, I will.

Så: Gräv fram din engelskabok från mellanstadiet och börja läs. I am, You are, he/she/it is...

Got any swedish bints going spare ?

You're not a beautiful blonde swedish girl are you ?

*shoots a glance at Errol*

Sorry, I just have a 'thing' about Swedish women ...

Sorry, I just have a 'thing' about Swedish women ...

We all know you don't need the word "Swedish" in there.

And Australian ones ...

Is it really that Much??? Seems worth it if helps keep servers going longer and gets more people to buy the game....Hope this post doesn't get deleted...


1. EA doesn't run the servers, methinks.
2. Addons are meant for the current userbase, although they do have a tendency to sell some original games too.
3. Of course it will get deleted, you know the rules here, no?

Just watched a multiplayer game...

15+ guys sitting there on the airfield on Wake Island, all waiting for planes.

Gee, really great use of a multiplayer game there, arseholes!!!! (great target for the big ship gun though! HEHE!)

Plane campers are just that - plain camp!

Peej

EA doesn't run the servers, methinks.
It's got their name plastered over lots of them so it is a least responsible for them.

Plane campers are just that - plain camp!
What's almost is bad is plane campers who then get a plane and can't actually fly very well.

More servers should have Coral Sea in the rotation, everyone gets a chance to fly if they want, others can protect the carrier either with AA or stoping downed enemy pilots getting on board and commando types can sneak their way to islands near the carriers and snipe.

Actually, worse than Plane / Tank campers are plane campers who take off then ditch the plane on purpose so no one else can use it! Yeah, great move cheesedick!

Any one know how Road to Rome installs? Do you run it as a separate entity to BF1942? Or will there be dedicated road to rome servers?

Peej

What's almost is bad is plane campers who then get a plane and can't actually fly very well.

Yep. A huge pain in the ass. Esepcially as they run you over trying to take off. Or even more annoying, they grab a tank or car at the start just to get to the plane. It means I have to tramp across the base to pick up the transport.

Any one know how Road to Rome installs? Do you run it as a separate entity to BF1942? Or will there be dedicated road to rome servers?

No idea, but I would imagine it'll be exactly the same for multiplayer (no additional *.exe). Patch 1.3 is going to allow non-R2R owners to play with those who have the addon, just not on the new maps. If that's the case I can't see there being a seperate loading up system.

It basically functions as a mod, much like Half-Life mods work in that you can either launch it from a shortcut or you run BF1942 and select it from the "custom games" menu. Servers running the mod specifically have little round symbols next to them.

I thought the patch was the other way around, allowing RtR owners play on non-RtR servers? If so that would point to a new executable, something that would be needed if it's got another CD key, otherwise people could just copy the new map and unit files too easily. I could be wrong though, it does happen! A bit too often for my liking too... ;-)

There isn't a seperate executable.

The next question, I assume the EG shop is not going to stock it, so where is a good place to order and be assured of getting it on the day (I think this Fri is going to be my only "free" night this weekend) other than the stores?

There isn't a seperate executable.

Wahey I'm wrong! :-p

Is there a seperate CD key though? If not what's going to stop thing being pirated a lot?

The CD key will probably come into play when the thing's being installed...ie you shove the CD in and the first thing it'll ask for is a serial number.

Peej

you shove the CD in and the first thing it'll ask for is a serial number

Yep.

I ordered from gameplay. Should get it on release day hopefully.

me too - sometimes a day or so early from them :)

Everyone in my clan and every clan I know will be buying RtR. I've also found most of the free content for bf42 to be extremely amateurish and buggy

Which is exactly why the community needs a real map editor.

For extra credit, here's the conspiracy theory: EA is holding back the map editor until it sells off RtR enough to recoup dev costs. Imagine those dirty bastards wanting to get paid for their work. Bastards.

With all the success that BF1942 has had since release, you'd think EA would find it financially plausible to just release the editor. Lord knows I'd buy an official expansion pack rather than download a mod made by fans, but EA is not even presenting fans with the oppurtunity to create mods. They just want to suck people dry.

"I just want to know if it's a quality product."

Sigh. Read the review again. I SAID that the content included is good, I DID review what is included in the pack. The reason it's rated low is because there isn't enough of it. If you were to go out and pay £20 for a standalone game with the same amount of content, you'd be pissed off, no matter how good that content might be.

EA is holding back the map editor until it sells off RtR enough to recoup dev costs.

I don't know about map editors being available or not but there are 3rd party maps out there for BF1942, I downloaded some yesterday.

A review should cover the software at hand with as little of the reviewer's opinions as possible. Just because you think it should be free doesn't mean jack squat to me, I just want to know if it's a quality product.

You, sir, are a tosser.

If the reviewer of the product says, that IN HIS OPINION, it isn't worth the rather hefty amount asked, then OBVIOUSLY he doesn't feel it to be quality enough.

And a review is always an opinion. In fact, EVERYTHING'S an opinion - nothing can be completely objective. So go ¤"&%"¤% yourself.

Hey, Don't forget the Coral Sea map was free content.

yep.

I agree completely.

"Which is exactly why the community needs a real map editor."

I disagree that the BF1942 community needs a map editor. If a game is really easily editable, you find the whole community gets absolutely flooded with badly put together poorly finished maps. Same goes for mods. I'd rather wait for good official content and I don't really mind paying for it as it will be widely supported, rather than just take my chances with a bunch of substandard maps and mods that a bunch of idiots put together.

Peej

"And if you expect professional programmers to work for free"

When did I say this? Why do people seem to think I did? And, once again, they aren't working for free, they're earning money from BF1942 already, and that money isn't going to spontaneously stop coming in any time soon.

A map editor would lead to a lot of '2 forts' style symetrical maps. Only about 5% of user maps would be anywhere near the standard of the pro maps.

I'll probably be getting this when it comes out - i've played the other maps so much, and I could do with a change! :-)

It does seem that they've just rushed the recent patch out to coincide with this release. In the main its ok, except my housemates computer crashes to desktop if someone joins his LAN game :-/ My main gripe is STILL the complete lack of a Linux server. If EA/Dice want people to buy the game and expand the community they should learn to properly support online gaming. The Windows server has improved slightly, but that doesn't mean anything to the many Linux server ops who have the potential to run online servers. They blamed the delay of 1.2 partially on developing the Linux server, but even after 1.3 and the upcoming release of a mission pack there is nothing to be seen.

As I said, i'll buy the expansion, but I don't expect anything than half-hearted support for the product line. Sigh.

A beta Linux server has been around for quite a while, it's still being worked on though, you can download the latest version from places like 3DGamers.

Dude, he said linux...! Hahahahahahahhahahaha!


Peej

Got my copy of TRTR this am..

Will play test it tonight !!

My review - (see forum for thread)

I managed to install and play this game for about 1/2 and hour at lunchtime. Below are my thoughts.


The installation process was totally painless, and I loaded the game using my original BF1942 shortcut (with TRTR cd in the drive).

I played a few maps (anzio, salerno I think), and I have to say, I am staggered. The quality of the maps is awesome - far more impressive than anything seen in the original game, in my opinion. There seems to be far more detail; in terms of the number of buildings, trees, barricades, canals etc etc. It might just be my imagination, but the graphics also seem clearer.

Now to the vehicles. The new tanks are excellent. The protected machine-gun positions really do make a massive diference. The twin engined bombers are aso very good - being very powerful but yet still fairly manouverable (from my brief experience of them). The fixed anti-tank guns, are a welcome addition. Providing mayhem on a large scale.

The Italian and French forces have excellent sounds (voices), and their weapons (ie the new italian assault rifle) is a masterpiece. I love it (especially the wonderful sound that eminates from its death spitting barrel).

Rather oddly, the installation of the TRTR seems to have cured any sound bugs etc that I had with 1.3 as well ! Also the internet play seems even smoother than before.

In conclusion, I would say this - If you own BF1942 buy The Road to Rome. If you don't own BF1942 (and you have broadband), buy the original game and the expansion; it will provide you with probably the most addictive, complete and compelling onlin play since Counter-strike/Tribes 2 etc.

In response to Mouse's review of this title, I would say this - If this pack cost £30.00, I would buy it. If this pack (with only 6 maps) was a complete game (ie. pretend BF1942 never existed) I would buy it. The quality is that good. It is nothing short of sensational.

It is my opinion, that in the years to come, people will look back on the BF1942 series (for this is what it will surely become) as being a landmark title in the evolution of online multiplayer games.

- Errol 6/2/2003

Official statement from EA/Dice re. the 1.3 patch -

2/6/03

Update: Battlefield 1942 v1.3 Patch

Since releasing the v1.3 patch two days ago we've kept our ears open, our browsers pointed to several key community sites, and clipboards at our side taking notes. We understand there are a few issues with the current patch and we're working hard to resolve them. Naturally this process takes time so we ask that you bear with us while we work on the next update. We are committed to releasing this update in short order. Details to follow soon.

EAComMike and the rest of the Battlefield 1942 team!

well its great haha ill get it for sure!!!!!!!!