The first version of First Strike has been released tonight (878 mb) and I am very, very excited. For those of you who have been keeping up with the mod's progress for the past year and a half you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. However, for those of you who have no idea what this mod is, then shame on you!

The mod was originally started as a BF2 mod, however when 2142 was released they decided to port over what they had done so far and continue on the updated engine. This allowed for them to be able to do much more innovative things such as space battles and hover vehicles with a lot more ease.

The mod will basically play like Star Wars Battlefront 1/2, and is roughly based off of a previous mod for the Battlefield 1942 engine known as Galactic Conquest. However, don't let either of those statements displease you, because from what has been shown so far this mod looks like it packs a huge amount of potential.

Now let these pictures speak for me.




And if you go here: Click Me There is a very nice trailer for the mod if you're interested.

Well, maybe I should buy BF2142, then..

.

This mod was pretty much the only reason I bought 2142. Sure, vanilla is alright, but personally I prefer playing Battlefield 2. My download is almost finished and I'm so freaking excited!

My new rig is showing up next week and I own 2142. Very nice.

Well, at least the non-Halo fanboys have something new to play with.

bf2142 pretty much sucks. Oh god don't buy it just for this mod.

Just go buy battlefront 2 for god's sake.

bf2 is so much better.

Horrible AI, and lack of people to play with makes this a horrible investment. It's fun to play on LAN if you have a few buddies to play with, but other than that it isn't all that great IMO. While I agree with you that 2142 itself isn't amazing, it isn't *horrible*, and this mod alone looks so incredibly fun. I don't really expect many people would buy the game solely for the mod, however I know that a good amount of people who have stopped playing 2142 are going to reinstall their game and give the mod a try.

I'm going to play this hunk of cyber goodness later.

I don't have BF2124 so I can't play this, boy dang, does it look pretty impressive. The model showcase is pretty extensive; they've done/are doing everything from the rail detonator to the glop grenade. For the Imperials they've even got the Conc rifle. I seriously doubt that I would pick up BF2124 just for this, but I am curious as to how well they've pulled all this off.

I guess that is neat (well, it looks neat) but does this mod have some silly copyright issues as Battlefront 1's SW mod had? Like, no actual SW soundeffects etc.

Damnit.
Orange Box VS Battlefront on crack...

I don't believe that it has the same issues that Galactic Conquest and several other mods have had with copyright issues in the past. The First Strike team actually had a meeting with LEC in the past year and got to ask questions about how Star Wars games are made, and different key features they should have, ect..

I believe there were certain iconic elements of the Star Wars universe that were not allowed to be included in the mod, of which were the main characters in the movies. I think they posted a partial transcript or something of their discussion with LEC a while back, but I'm unable to find it as of right now.

After watching trailers, viewing screenshots, and hearing audio clips and stuff from the mod I'd say it's pretty cannon. There is very little in the mod that doesn't have that Star Wars feel to it. However, I have yet to play it since I wanted to get a really good test of it and by the time I got it last night it was already pretty late and I had classes the next day. So I'll have a full review of what I think of it later today.

I think the whole thing is very cool, and the key highlight of this post is the fact that LEC seems to be embracing the idea of a modding community now rather than putting heavy restrictions on what could be created in the name of "Star Wars" that wasn't official. I think this indicates that companies are starting to realize the potential of creating games that can be modifed, and how it not only builds popularity for a specific engine, but whatever the mod or TC is focusing it's ideas around as well. In this case the popularity rising for both the 2142 engine and Star Wars itself.

LEC? Embracing modding? When Tatooine freezes over!

shame on me. thanks!

Okay so time to post my review. The mod is freaking excellent. Sure it has a few bugs here and there but overall it is just astounding. (Keep in mind this is their first release). The graphics are superb, and the gameplay is spot on. The space battles are just freaking pure awesome, and you can obviously expect that the land battles are just as good or better.

The maps that come with the first release are: The Forest Moon of Endor (complete with Ewok Tree Village!), Mos Espa (Mos Eisley type city), Mos Entha (Night-time Tatooine), Escape from Hoth (Space map), and Battle of Taloraan (Space map). By far the most impressive looking level is Mos Entha, with Endor coming in a close second. However, here are a few screenshots of what the mod looks like jacked up to the maximum settings. Let the drooling begin:
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z261/The_Preacher1983/59bfac33.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z261/The_Preacher1983/04ae5bd5.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z261/The_Preacher1983/79a2efea.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z261/The_Preacher1983/ad7727df.jpg

As for how it plays, like I said before it plays like a *MUCH* better Battlefront 2. The mod has incorporated something that the developers call 'Withering Fire' which basically forces your team to work together in order to be successful. (I.E. if a lone trooper runs off on his own, he'll be no match against a squad of rebels working together to capture a position). However, the same goes for the lone AT-ST pilot who thinks that he'll stand a chance against an entire squad of rebels all by his own. The mod basically makes it so every single class is necessary for victory, and no one class can be a hero.

Also, in the space battle 'Escape from Hoth' the Medical Frigates are supposed to make it to the Rebel hyperspace buoy at the other end of the map, and in order to do so require the escorting of X-Wings and Y-Wings to help defend against Ties, an Imperial Lancer Frigate, and of course a dreaded Star Destroyer.

The only bugs or gripes I currently have is that I wish you could target the enemy fighters in space so you know which one you're going after if you lose sight of him. It does show you little boxes around the enemies like you would see in XvT or any of the other Star Wars space sims, however you cannot 'lock on' to that target if you know what I mean. Also, sometimes it's hard to tell what ship you're about to spawn yourself in to, which can get a little annoying if you're trying to spawn into a capital ship and you find yourself in an X-wing cockpit. However these are just minor things that can be fixed and I'm confident that this mod is going to go places.

In short, the mod is awesome. If you even remotely like Star Wars and you have 2142 you must try this. Hell, even if you don't like Star Wars (why are you here?) still you should give it a try, as it's the most fun I've had with a PC game in a very long time. I give it two thumbs up, and I can't wait for future releases with more content.

Even if you don't read this whole post, I recommend clicking the screenshot links, as it may sway your vote one way or another.

[Edit] And in case you're worried about nobody playing it, then have no fear, because there are tons of servers up and plenty of people to play with.

Dark__Knight's Final Rating: 8.5/10 - And I'm expecting this number to go up as the patches and updates come along.

This mod is poop on a stick.

Is the space combat more involved than in BF2? Are ship interiors more than just a central lobby with doors to rooms of critical systems? That was really my only major gripe about it.

Currently the only ship interior is the hangar of the ISD. They took out ship interiors to reduce lag. I'm not sure if you've played Titan mode or not on 2142, but when people start moving the Titan it begins lagging the server pretty bad, with some many objects moving onboard, and all the people and such. These massive ships are too large to walk around in, thus there is no walking in them except for the ISD Hangar, and the ISD is stationary because it's so large that moving it without going off the map in about 30 seconds would be impossible.

Seriously though, do NOT let this discourage you. At first I thought it would kind of be lame to not be able to move around inside the capital ships, however it is way better than you would think. The point of space maps in this mod is for space fighting only, and save the fighting with infantry for ground maps.

It's awesome because it's like a combination between X-Wing Alliance and Dark Forces in a single game. However, it really does play better than Battlefront, and yes I've played both Battlefront I and II. This is *much* less arcadeish, and everything just feels smoother.

Aye, I was hoping to have seen gunners running along corridors pilots scrambling down to the CORRECTLY PLACED hangers. A captain up on the bridge coordinating the gunners. Etc.