Battlefield 1942: Road to Rome was the first expansion pack to the massively successful Battlefield 1942. The original title is the leading World War II shooter, which is really saying something in perhaps the most over-saturated genre in gaming today. However, the question today is not how good the admittedly solid original title was, but what Road to Rome brought to the mix.
The game features six new maps, which are a blessing to the game's thousands of devoted fans. After months of murdering your friends, the maps of the original had become repetitive and fully understood. With the expansion pack, players now have six solidly built and diverse new maps that will allow people of any playing preference to find something fun. While interesting on their own, none of these maps have ever dislodged our games for that long. Bocage, from the original, remains the best Battlefield 1942 map, which is slightly disappointing to those looking for a new field to wage war upon.
This installment also boasts graphic engine improvements. To the average fan, this will not mean much as the original game's graphics were the correct blend of functionality and attractiveness. Many hardcore players turn them down for any edge they can get in battle. Good for screenshots, and people with super machines, but not much for an edge in multi-player play. In this respect, the improvements themselves are not that noticeable.
The expansion also features two new nations for which you can fight. Superficially necessary due to the Italian setting of the game, the French and Italian forces should provide a kick for people from those nations. Furthermore, their advantages and disadvantages add some new tradeoffs to figure out. The downside is that just like in the original, after a few seconds no one even considers their "country" — they only care whether their enemy's tag is red or blue. It would have been a more solid addition had they increased the differentiation between the different nations.
Along with new nations come new weapons. Each new weapon carries on the tradition of the original product with its own look and feel. The bayonets were a nice touch, if rarely used, and the actual guns do handle differently. The difference is not terribly great. But, it is nice to see the arsenal expand. The true fun of the game is more in the action itself than the weapon you are toting. Perhaps a good thing, but Battlefield has never made me care which country I am fighting. The expansion does not change that.
Much more preferable would be the creation of vast, noticeable differences in each nation. With more noticeable advantages and disadvantages, specifically considered in the world and map selection/design, the choice of nation could be a great decision for the player, rather than just whomever they are randomly assigned to. That said, going down that route is problematic unless you are dead on. One side being obviously better choices creates frustration for those who fight the underdog role and that is not good in an online game.
The new vehicles add some new options for players who are bored of the same few tanks and planes. The Mosquito provides a fast and interesting bombing option for the British, and is one of my favorites, while the Germans also get a bomber in the form of the BF 110. In a way, it was good to see them concentrate on the strengths of the game, the ground and air, while largely skipping the more cumbersome and much less fun naval aspects. On the other hand, it may have been interesting to see an expansion dedicated simply to fixing the least entertaining aspect of Battlefield.
The feature list boasts massive online games and a unique single-player mode. The single-player mode is what it is. Good for someone who is so determined to beat their friends that they feel compelled to practice, or a true WWII gaming addict who lacks a net connection. It is fun, but not nearly as fun as multiplayer, which is usually a few clicks away.
The unique online games feature is not really a feature of Road to Rome at all. The online game is no different from the original, save the new weapons, maps, vehicles and nations. This is an odd boast in the expansion pack information, which is presumably bought only by those who know how good the online play is. However, the boast is good in a major respect: this remains the most important aspect of the game, new or not.
Generally, I get the impression that this expansion pack is a completion of the original game's content. With the new nations, they more or less cover all the players and theaters of WWII. Content is a major bottleneck in production, and it is easy to understand how the less influential nations did not make the original box copy. The game's mechanics were polished and bang on, and this game does not tweak this. Instead it adds the rest of the war, and will be primarily interested with those who want the entire theater available to them.
You can come into Road to Rome with one of two mindsets. You can either be happy that it adds new content and does not ruin a finely tuned beast. Or you can be disappointed that it is largely superficial and does not address the few deficiencies that do exist in this best-selling franchise. Me, I'll go with the first.
Lepidus is a proud Canadian and a lover of all things video games. Primarily he plays MMORPGs, shooters, text-simulations and sports games. His favorite games of all time are the EA NHL Series. Other favorites include Battlefield 1942 and Ultima Online. Lepidus has been gaming for as long as he can remember. Other interests include history, hockey and of course, writing.
