A new Ice Age began in 2106. Huge swaths of the Earth literally went into a deep freeze, killing animals and crops and driving the survivors toward habitable land. As the ice and snow encroached on nations, economies fell into chaos and simple survival became everyone’s most important goal. Skirmishes over hospitable places and key resources turned into larger conflicts.

Two main coalitions emerged: the European Union (EU) and the Pan-Asian Coalition (PAC), which included Russia. Both sides poured their resources into developing high-tech weaponry and vehicles, as well as recruiting soldiers for the global conflict everyone knew was coming. Battlefield 2142’s ten maps highlight the most important battles in a war that erupted in 2139, when the EU focused its defenses in Africa, only to see the PAC attack its northern European command center in Minsk and easily win control.

The battle in Minsk was also significant because it introduced the military use of the floating warship known as Titan. The game’s other European theater map, Verdun, can also be played in Titan mode, as can three of the African theater maps: Suez Canal, Shuhia Taiba, and Sidi Power Plant. All of the game’s maps can be played in conquest mode.

EU on the Defensive

The EU’s woes continued in February, 2140, when its 9th Armored Corps found itself trapped in Belgrade, Serbia, an ice wall preventing retreat from overwhelming PAC forces. T-39 Bogatyr Battlewalkers led the PAC’s final assault, which ended in the EU’s surrender after a valiant defense. Later that year, PAC gunships took control of the airspace over eastern Germany, clearing the way for a two-month assault on Berlin. This time, EU forces were able to flee, and they found themselves in France.

The French city of Verdun was the site of a major World War I battle, and it again found itself at the center of a key conflict as the PAC drove to push the EU out of Europe. Despite the presence of many PAC Titans, the EU struck an important blow to its opponent when its commanders figured out how to infiltrate and destroy several of the warships. The PAC, however, learned how to do the same to the EU’s Titans, and once again the coalition gained the upper hand.

Early in 2142, the EU made its last European stand at Cerbere, a coastal city that was a chief French port. PAC commandos snuck into the harbor and sabotaged its defenses, allowing troops to land and fight the EU’s elite Hell Brigade. The battle was costly for both sides, but it resulted in the PAC’s victory in Europe.

More Even Footing

The war soon moved to Africa, where PAC troops attacked the Camp Gibraltar refugee camp in April 2142. EU forces used snipers to hold their opponents at bay. Later that year, the PAC attempted to take the Suez Canal, with both sides employing their Titan ships to deliver key aircraft, vehicles, and soldiers. The fighting in the sky proved to be just as fierce as the combat on the ground.

At Tunis Harbor, in Tunisia, the PAC attempted to disrupt the flow of EU reinforcements headed for the Suez Canal. The EU’s L-5 Reisig Battlewalkers proved key to the defense, with the union finally beginning to slow the PAC’s progress in the war. By the end of the year, climate change had done so much damage to PAC territories that the coalition found itself on the defensive, desperate to find habitable land, along with enough food, water, and energy supplies for its people.

In November 2142, the PAC targeted the EU’s Shuhia Tabia agricultural project in northern Egypt. PAC Titans delivered six divisions of troops that fought the EU’s 2nd Army for over a year. The following January, the PAC initiated another conflict at the Sidi Power Plant in Egypt, where basic ground fighting became more complicated by the spring, when armored and airborne divisions arrived. The battle for Sidi became one of the most important of the war.

How will the war end? Stay tuned.

Big Boom. This fixed-place gun is a good option against a Battlewalker, unless it turns its weapons on you first.

Flying Shotgun. You can take control of an airship’s powerful guns any time.

• When you reload, you lose the entire current clip, regardless of the number of bullets left. You start the action with only a few clips, so don’t reload constantly.
• Assault rifles are best used with short bursts of fire. Hold down the trigger and you’ll run out of ammo quickly.
• You can “surf” an airship’s escape pods toward the ground, even killing opponents below in the process, but that tactic is frowned on at some online servers, so beware.
• If you kill another player with your knife, you get their dog tag as a souvenir. You can view your acquired dog tags any time by checking the leader boards. Be warned: Some opponents believe that if they pull their knife, you should do the same, or risk being considered a dishonorable player.
• You can destroy a Titan’s external weapons, making it easier to assault the ship when its shields go down.
• The presence of flying sentry drones is a good sign that a squad leader who has reached at least level three is in the area.
• Squad leaders can obtain a spawn beacon that allows members of their squad to respawn wherever they place it, allowing for stealth infiltration of enemy bases if used correctly.
• When another soldier dies, you can pick up their kit, which allows you to try out their weapons and unlocked items.

• Healing and resupplying your teammates, as well as repairing your side’s vehicles, also earn you points toward a higher rank. It’s not all about the shooting.
• Most vehicles feature Active Defense, which projects a protective bubble when enabled. It only lasts a few seconds and takes a while to recharge, so use it sparingly.
• Recon soldiers can unlock the IT-33 Active Camouflage System, which renders them nearly invisible. You can tell if you’re near someone using it because you’ll see distortion in the air. An EMP grenade is useful for revealing them.
• Smoke grenades are particularly useful onboard a Titan, where the close quarters let you obscure the environment and charge past the enemy.
• An indicator tells you which direction the shots are coming from when you get hit.
• One unlock allows you to sprint for a longer distance and the other gives you a faster recovery time. I could have used the former when running from those PAC troops.
• Each class features two unlock paths that lead to slightly different conclusions. You can be a generalist and dabble in both or set a goal and choose one. Through the unlock paths, you can slightly tweak your character; for example, an assault soldier can focus more on the medic side. There are over 1,000 possible soldier combinations in the game.