Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat shares with the PC Battlefield 2 only the name and the modern military theme – it isn't a port but a standalone game developed by the Canadian studio DICE Canada directly for consoles, with different maps, a different pace, and a different overall presentation. Unlike the multiplayer-focused PC title, it also offers a full single-player campaign in which the player, as a member of a special unit, goes through a series of missions set in an unspecified present-day conflict in the Middle East, complemented by an extensive online multiplayer designed from the ground up for a gamepad, including simplified versions of the big Battlefield modes such as Conquest.

The game builds on large open vehicle maps where you can hop between infantry, tanks, helicopters, and artillery just like in the PC series, only with controls adapted for consoles – auto-aim, simplified weapon selection, and a streamlined menu replace the keyboard and mouse the original Battlefield 2 was built around. Environmental destruction, voice commands to the squad via simple radio orders, and team play over a headset were console novelties in 2005, through which the game tried to bring the atmosphere of the big battles from the PC series closer to players who came to the franchise for the first time through a console and had never sat at the computer version.

Why play it: An interesting choice for fans of vehicle-based action shooters who want to experience Battlefield-style chaos with tanks and helicopters on a gamepad and don't mind that it's a different game from PC Battlefield 2. The single-player campaign also offers content the PC version never had at all, so it will please those who otherwise look mainly for a story in the series rather than pure multiplayer, and it can entertain even players with no experience whatsoever with the original PC series.