Even Battlefield 2142 is now out in stores, FiringSquad wanted to get more info on the Digital Illusions-Electronic Arts multiplayer shooter. We got the game's senior producer Marcus Nilsson to answer some questions (the interview questions were submitted before the game went gold):

FiringSquad: First, how do you feel the beta test went? Was it productive in finding out what worked and what didn't work in the game?

Marcus Nilsson: It was very helpful experience that added a welcome dimension to the final stages of the game. Having thousands of people banging away at the beta was invaluable, and ultimately helped us address many issues. We are very grateful to all who contributed to the process, both our QA team and to all of the BF community members who took time to play and report bugs to our forums. It was most certainly a productive drill in the last stages of bringing BF 2142 to market.

FiringSquad: What would you say was the most surprising thing that was discovered in the beta testing for the game?

Marcus Nilsson: In our closed beta’s our teams can identify many of the glitches and tweaks that need to be made regarding the gameplay. There’s a huge advantage to having a large scale stress test such as the one we just had. One of the things we discovered during the Beta was that the enemy under certain circumstances could penetrate the shields of the opposing team’s Titan and get to the core while the shields were still up. This exploit was of course changed for the final game.

FiringSquad: Obviously the Battlefield fan base is a vocal bunch. How hard is it to please them, especially with this game that takes the game series to a completely different setting?

Marcus Nilsson: Many of the suggestions and thoughts from the community regarding Battlefield 2 have been implemented in one way or another for Battlefield 2142. We are very much aware that we have the community to thank for the success of previous Battlefield games, and we take the feedback seriously.

As for taking players to a new setting, the future theme was actually one that was the most highly requested by the community. Early reactions following the Beta and the demo showed us that players were positive regarding the new weapons, Titan mode and the other features that make up the future world.

The bottom line here is that the future setting is just part of the story. Seasoned veterans will appreciated the re-designed server browser, balanced air assets, persistence, customized kits, as well as a game mode that celebrates exemplary squad work (Titan mode). There’s plenty of ‘meat’ here that should intrigue almost any BF2 fan.

FiringSquad: The persistent leveling up of your player character in Battlefield 2142 is a huge step up from the same feature in Battlefield 2. How hard will it be for new players to the game to fight against players with lots of promotions?

Marcus Nilsson: You can choose to take your character on different routes down the unlocks tree. Someone may choose to be a jack of all trades, whereas someone might want to be the world’s ultimate sniper or infantry person. So players’ strengths are determined by the path they choose, but that’s always grounded by the rock/paper/scissors methodology. There’s always someone, or something that can exploit those weaknesses.

Also, we are introducing a new feature to help more inexperienced players get into the game, and that is matching them against other players with not too high ranks. A new server option will allow admins to limit access to the server for soldier who are under rank 10. We will have a relatively large percentage of the servers set up like this in the early days after release. We want to make sure the beginners get their fair shake as newcomers to the series by not having to contend with the expertise of the more experienced players.

FiringSquad: There's also the issue of cheating in the game as there have been in previous Battlefield games. Is EA taking extra steps to make sure the servers will be free of hackers and cheaters?

Marcus Nilsson: We have worked very hard to create an immersive experience for any FPS fan. One thing that very much jeopardizes the sandbox experience we worked so hard to create are those few individuals that take unfair advantage of exploits. The community is creative and find new ways of playing the game that might be considered cheating, but we are confident that we will be able to prevent much of the unfair play from thorough testing, the use of Punkbuster and through DICE’s Live team’s perusal and ever-seeing eye on the servers.

FiringSquad: Are there any plans for Battlefield 2142 booster packs after the game is released?

Marcus Nilsson: I can’t say right now. At the moment we are focusing completely on delivering Battlefield 2142. Any talk of expansions or boosters will be made as we get more settled with this release.

FiringSquad: Finally we know about Battlefield: Bad Company coming out in 2007. Will that be the next Battlefield game for the PC or are there other plans for future Battlefield games in the works?

Marcus Nilsson: At the moment, I think we are all excited about what’s coming on consoles and the PC for the Battlefield franchise. Beyond that, you’ll have to wait and see.

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