I played a fair amount of the original Battlefield: 1942, and it still ranks as one of my favorite WW2 action games.  The basic game dynamics of the multi-role players & vehicles, objective capturing, and the WW2 setting made for a pretty exciting blend.  Unfortunately, the standard of gameplay on all the public servers was so abysmal that I never was able to play the game like I really wanted to (rampant teamkilling, no coordination at all, etc.).  There were some clans that did a good job at that sort of stuff but I generally can only fit in the most casual of clans due to my work & family commitments and that I rarely play one game exclusively. 

So, I kind of gave a pass on Battlefield: Vietnam.  But the recent release of Battlefield 2 has totally pulled me back in.  The core gameplay isn't really all that different, but they've added enough of a critical mass of teamwork-oriented features (squads, commanders, integrated voice, etc.) that it enables a kind of team-oriented gameplay that is a joy to behold.

Of course, you almost never see that kind of gameplay, even with the new tools BF2 offers, on the public servers.  Their scoring system just invites people to exploit it and weighs heavily in favor of individual achievements instead of teamwork.

Fortunately, someone at QT3 turned me on to the Tactical Gamer website.  They aren't a clan, but instead just a philosophy -- people gather there who are interested in teamwork and coordination and not just random uncoordinated chaos.

The difference is astounding.  Night and day.  Playing on the TG server there are squad leaders who really, well, lead squads.  Having a team of players moving in overwatch and coordinating on defense completely transforms the game into something far more interesting than it ever is on the public servers. 

TG has exactly the right vibe for me -- there is a wide range of people who are serious about the game vs. amateurs like myself.  The vast majority of folks I've interacted with are friendly and quite competent when it comes to playing the game with teamwork in mind.  There are some people who form "mini clans" on the server, and in fact I always play online there as "[QT3]Xemu" along with a handful of other folks from QT3. 

If you want to check it out, just filter for "tacticalgamer" in the BF2 server list.  There's a public server that's always up though it is very frequently full.  If you like teamwork and coordinated play the way I do, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.  Please note that this style of gameplay is NOT for everyone ... if you don't like being told to hold a position, or following orders, or sticking together with a squad then you will not have a good time there.  Just join the server, join a squad (which is mandatory) and check out the best large-scale team oriented gameplay I've ever seen.

All of which is not to say BF2 is not without its flaws.  It is amazing to me how such great gameplay and visuals can come in such a horribly flawed piece of software engineering.  CTDs and random hangs are frequent.  Their server browser is, frankly, abysmal and creates a huge barrier to entry for the game.  It requires a quite beefy machine.  However, even with all those flaws I find BF2 stealing many hours of my time when I'm on the TacticalGamer server.


Still working my way through San Andreas on the PC.  I've caught up to where I had stopped before on the PS2 and completely loving it.  It's a little easy compared to the PS2 version (whether due to interface improvements, tweaks, or my experience with it is unclear).  But that doesn't bug me, since what I love most is just being a part of that world. 

I'm still finding a little time to play Destroy All Humans (despite fierce competition).  Well worth checking out, though, IMO, it does not quite live up to the amazing potential that the concept has.  Nevertheless, another decent product from Pandemic.