First of all, we fought in the Second World War (Battlefield 1942). Then we skirmished in Vietnam (Battlefield, er, Vietnam). Then we sampled modern warfare (Battlefield 2). Then we fought with a cat in the back garden (Battlefield two weeks ago, as the furry little git was trying to take a dump on our prize begonia). And now, EA has drafted us to fight in the future.

So what's changed in 2142? Well, flares are back in, as are thick parka coats, seeing as it's a bit nippy due to the ice age which began in 2106. Inevitably, world relations are frostier than ever, with EU forces facing off against the PAC (Pan Asian Coalition) army in a huge and apocalyptic war.

On a basic level, this latest version is very much the same as Battlefield 2. Yes, the interface has been tuned and the soldier class system has been streamlined, but the underlying formula remains identical; large multiplayer battles (up to 64 players) involving squads of infantry, tanks, jeeps, aircraft and artillery.

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Of course, this being the future and all, the technology has been jazzed up considerably. There are new vehicles like hover-tanks and, best of all, bloody great stomping mechs. These giant robots are a bit like transformers, in that they can transform a squad of enemy infantry into a thick blood and bone soup via the power of miniguns.

The new equipment for the troops include a personal cloaking system, EMP grenades which can immobilise machines and a flying sentry drone with a mounted cannon.

Another change is in the "unlockables". In Battlefield 2 there were some rewards for higher ranking players, but now there's a full progression of unlockable equipment and guns which gives more of an advantage to the veteran with many kills under his belt.

It could be argued that this is unfair on newcomers, but it doesn't take too much play before you can unlock some decent goodies. Also, if you join a squad of players (and most people do) the game provides temporary bonus unlockables as a balancing mechanic.

The major new addition for Battlefield 2142, however, is a new game mode to go alongside the standard conquest war (for the uninitiated, in conquest each team tries to capture and hold control points to win the map). The titan mode is considerably more involved, with both sides owning a huge - nay titanic - mothership. The idea is to blow the opposition's up.

This is achieved by taking control of missile silos across the map, which automatically launch at the enemy's titan at set intervals. Once their titan's shields are down, you can continue to struggle to hold the silos and wait for its hull to be blasted away, or you can take a landing party up in a craft, board it and destroy its reactor core for a swifter conclusion.

All this brings an added tactical dimension to the game. Taking too many troops onto the enemy titan might mean they secure all the silos and pound your hull to smithereens, while holding you off in their ship's corridors. That's the other consideration; if the enemy is coming to sabotage your reactor, you'd best make sure you have a squad in your titan defending it.

Predictably enough, the battlefield has become prettier as well as tactically enriched. We're talking sumptuous visuals, from the scarred landscapes to the gun-bristled death robots, and especially the explosions which include impressively fiery rocket blasts and the EMP grenade's snaking tendrils of electricity. The sound matches that quality, with the noises of war accurately rendered, from the roar of aircraft overhead to the incredibly realistic chatter of gunfire.

The only casualty here is the poor graphics card, which, unless you have a higher end system, will require the visual details to be turned down considerably. Even on sensible settings, bad lag spikes can still occur, particularly in the 42-64 player sized games, but the real problem comes when you're on board a titan ship.

When the ship's stationary everything's generally okay, but when it moves you get massive lag which can make for a practically unplayable experience. We're guessing that this is because the game has to work so hard to keep on top of all the physics, with the ship moving around the landscape and squads moving around and fighting inside it simultaneously. That's a lot of balls, or indeed bullets, to juggle. But whatever the reason, it's a definite problem and the sole blot on the new game mode's landscape.

We've one final itch to scratch before we're done with 2142, and that's adverts. Yes, there are in-game billboards which are currently adorned with placeholder ads, but they'll have genuine paid-for commercials pasted up on them in the near future.

There aren't that many of these, to be fair, but this is a dangerous avenue to be travelling down. We shudder to think of the day when the latest MMORPG has a tavern with big flashing beer ads behind the bar. And the orc barkeep greets you with a "Wassssssssup!"

The futuristic version of Battlefield 2 is, well, just that really; very similar but with lots of high-tech goodies, flasher graphics and various tweaks to the formula. The big difference is the new titan game mode, which is an excellent addition, even though it contributes most to the lag problems which are Battlefield 2142's main downside.