Battlefield 2142

Did You Know?

• The Final Stand expansion for Battlefield 4 reveals that the Pan Asian Coalition was formed as early as 2020, with early prototypes of Titans and other vehicles already in development.
• Battlefield 2142 received a Silver sales award from ELSPA for at least 100,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.
• The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Battlefield 2142 for Computer Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay.

Development

Rumors of Battlefield 2142 began after a 30-second internal test video leaked in January 2006, depicting vehicles storming a futuristic city. A screenshot of a walker from that video was later used in marketing. In February 2006, EA senior producer Dan Blackstone hinted at the game with the clue '3213/3*2' and 'S.R. 4588164', both equaling 2142. The game was confirmed on March 21, 2006, in a community update from EA and DICE, following a PC Gamer cover story and trailer. Early concept art was released but most was lost during a hacking attack. Initially, the game was set on a different planet, hinted by three moons in concept art, and originally pitted the United States against the Pan-Asian Coalition instead of the European Union; texture files still label the EU folder as 'US'. In the Battlefield 2 Armored Fury booster pack, a drivable muscle car bore license plate 2142, a billboard showed a watch displaying 21:42, and a mushroom cloud caption read 'Watch For The Future.' A magazine on a semi-truck seat read 'Ice Age Approaches.' Battlefield 2142 was officially announced and playable at E3 2006.

Release

EA released an online-only standalone demo featuring the Sidi Power Plant map with Conquest or Titan modes, limited to demo-only servers initially run by EA but later supplanted by player-run servers. Ranked points and unlocks could not be earned in the demo, though some servers ran their own ranking systems. The demo was not updated alongside the full game, leaving exploitable glitches that were mostly patched by the modding community and server admins.

A modding community thrived in the demo due to its static environment and server administrators' desire for fresh features. EA discontinued demo support on August 11, 2011, making it impossible to create new player characters or log in, rendering the demo non-functional. A Collector's Edition came in a numbered metal box with a chain, handphone strap, and a free rank. Best Buy pre-orders included a 64MB dog tag flash drive and a downloadable assault weapon—the Bofors Defense Machine Gun—which replaced the standard EU assault rifle.

GameStop pre-orders offered a free in-game rank stackable with the Battlefield 2 Veteran's Program, allowing players to start halfway through the second rank at retail release.

Northern Strike

On March 8, 2007, Electronic Arts released the Northern Strike booster pack for Battlefield 2142, made available to all players with the game's final patch in 2011. Set in 2145, the pack moves the battle to northern and central Europe, where the PAC holds abandoned urban areas and the EU launches an offensive resembling the 1944 invasion of Normandy. Northern Strike contains ten new unlocks, three new maps—Bridge at Remagen, Liberation of Leipzig, and Port Bavaria—two new vehicles, and a new game mode called Assault Lines.

It was initially available through EA Link for $9.95 US; since January 2008, the Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition includes Northern Strike, and it is now available from retailers outside the U.S. The pack adds eleven new awards: four ribbons, two badges with three ranks each, and a pin. Each award is worth one equipment unlock credit, except the pin which gives 10 career points. These credits can unlock Northern Strike items or core game items. Northern Strike unlocks cannot be permanently acquired without purchasing the expansion, but can be used as Field Upgrades if preceding unlocks are obtained, or by picking up equipment from a fallen soldier.

The new maps are the only ones for Assault Lines (except Highway Tampa from patch 1.40) and feature many Battlewalkers but no tanks and little air support outside Titan Mode, which is available on Port Bavaria and Bridge at Remagen. A new Horizontal Pod Launcher structure functions like Titan pod launchers but with reduced range and automatic launch after a set time.