Reader Reviews

Desert Combat 0.38 for BF1942 (PC)

by Peej

Let's face it, dress it up how you like, put it in politically-correct clothes if you will, but Desert Combat (for Battlefield 1942) is an all-out slugfest between the Iraqis and the Americans (subtly called Coalition and Opposition for the mod).

Desert Combat is a pretty hefty download, which changes BF1942 significantly and updates it to a more contemporary theatre of war. Gone are the creaky old planes, tanks and weapons, and in their place are some very welcome and brilliantly rendered modern additions. This mod is what EA could come up with if they had a genuine love of gaming and gamers, something which becomes painfully obvious when you compare this "free" download to the EA add-on, BF1942: The Road to Rome.

With the latest update (version 0.38) we're starting to see some proper home-grown maps put together by Trauma Studios, including the quite frankly excellent Dockside and Lost Village maps which seriously suit the mod a lot better than some of the tinier standard BF ones.

Vehicles are the core of BF1942 and in Desert Combat you have a whole slew of modern war-toting hardware to play with, from the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank to Apache Longbow choppers, and a great mix of jet fighters and bombers including my personal favourite, the Harrier. The "opposition" are also well catered for with a nice selection of MiGs as well as one of the cooler vehicles in the game, a BMP2 Amphibious Tank (very handy for hiding out at sea and bombarding land troops).

And how does it play? Well anyone instantly familiar with BF1942 will be at home here. My one gripe is that for beginners, the choppers and jets take a pretty steep learning curve to get used to but with a bit of practice you'll be laying down some serious suppressing firepower with the Longbow or Hind before long.