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Battlefield: 1942
Work In Progress This article is still under construction. It may contain factual errors. See Talk:Battlefield: 1942 for current discussions. Content is subject to change. |
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The first game in the hugely successful Battlefield series, Battlefield: 1942 was released in 2002 for the PC, with two expansion packs (The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WWII) following later.
The base game follows the main theaters of World War II, focusing primarily on the Americans, British, and Soviet forces (patches later added a mission for Canada as well) facing off against the Axis powers, Germany and Japan. The first DLC, Road to Rome focuses heavily on the Italian campaign and introduces the forces of the Free French and Fascist Italy. Secret Weapons of World War II was the final expansion, and is a more fictionalized take on the war, with the British and Americans facing off against Nazi Germany, with both sides using increasingly more outlandish weapons. The game and both DLCs, alongside the Battlefield Vietnam: Redux were later made available in a box set, titled Battlefield Anthology.
The following weapons can be seen in Battlefield: 1942 and its two expansions:
Overview
Weapons in Battlefield: 1942 are class-locked and faction-locked. The equipment for a class is known as a kit, and there is no way to change individual weapons in the kit . A kit is dropped upon death, and other players can pick up their kit. There are five classes in total:
- Assault: Uses LMGs and automatic rifles.
- Engineer: Uses battle rifles (mostly bolt-action, some semi automatic rifles).
- Anti-Tank: Uses an anti-tank launcher.
- Medic: Uses submachine guns.
- Scout: Uses sniper rifles (all bolt action, and all come with scopes).
Between the factions, many of the weapons are also statistically identical.
Handguns
Unlike many modern first person shooters, Battlefield treats handguns as a part of a player's "kit" and therefore switching to another faction's kit (i.e., playing as the Red Army, killing a German sniper, and stealing his rifle) will result in changing handguns. This is, in reality, purely cosmetic, as both sidearms are functionally the same.
Walther P38
The Walther P38 is the standard pistol of the German and Italian forces. It has black grips and a silver finish. It is also the standard handgun of the Imperial Japanese Army, despite Japan never issuing it to their forces. Statistically, it is identical to the Colt in all respects.
M1911
The M1911 (just referred as "Colt") is the standard sidearm for all Allied forces. It is highly inaccurately portrayed, shown as a double-action handgun, and firing from an eight round magazine. While this would be possible when reloading with a round in the chamber, the player pulls back the slide whenever a reload is initiated. This is because it is just a reskin of the game's other handgun, inflicting the same damage, having the same capacity and rate of fire, and being just as accurate.
The pistol is the standard handgun of all American military forces, but is also seen in the hands of Commonwealth, Soviet, and Free French soldiers as well. While it's possible in the case of the Canadians and French, the British should be using a Webley revolver or Browning Hi Power (when playing as the SAS) and the Soviets instead fielded a completely different pistol.
Submachine Guns
Submachine guns, rather than being issued to officers or scouts (the former because they don't exist; the later because they use sniper rifles instead) are the mainstay of Battlefield's Medic Class. SMGs have roughly equivalent stopping power (which is realistically depicted as identical to the handguns), so the only real difference between them is their capacity. Some of the expansion maps feature suppressed SMGs, for variety's sake.
MP40
The MP40 is the standard weapon for the German and Italian Medic classes.
Sten MK.II Submachine Gun
The Sten Mk.II Submachine Gun serves as an alternative for the British and as the standard for the Free French Forces Medic class in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome. A suppressed version, the Sten Mk.IIS is also available in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII for the SAS Medic class.
M1A1 Thompson Submachine Gun
The M1A1 Thompson Submachine Gun is the standard weapon for the American, British, and Canadian Medic classes.
Shotguns
Browning Automatic 5
Introduced in the expansion pack Secret Weapons of WWII, the Browning Automatic 5 is issued to the SAS Engineer class and is simply called "shotgun." It is the first shotgun in the series, and is extremely lethal in close quarters. Due to the game not having the ability to keep tracking individual shells (as the only other internally fed weapons are bolt action snipers with stripper clips), the A-5 has an extremely odd reload, wherein the player awkwardly tilts the weapon, apparently inserts a few shells, then pulls the charging lever; ammo is represented in full magazines, as it is for all other guns, and reloading from a non-empty magazine will result in lost shells.
The A5 is the most powerful close quarters weapon in the game, and is surprisingly deadly at range as well, often lethal from the chest up even at medium range.
Rifles
There are several kinds of rifles in Battlefield 1942. Bolt-action rifles are only available to two classes: the Scout (who function as snipers) and the Engineer. The main difference between the two is that Scout rifles are issued a scope and less ammo, while Engineer rifles have more ammo. Some other rifles are exclusive to one or the other. Some factions' Assault uses automatic rifles instead of light machine guns.
Fallschirmjägergewehr 42
The Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 (using its long form name) serves as an alternative to the Waffen SS Assault class in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII.
Gewehr 43 w/scope
The Gewehr 43 w/ ZF4 scope is the standard weapon for Waffen SS Sniper class in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII.
Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.I
The Lee Enfield No.4 MK I is the standard weapon for American Army, British and Russian Engineer classes. A bayonet version is available in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome for the Allied Engineer classes.
Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.I(T)
The Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.I(T) is the standard weapon for all Allied Scouts. This is highly incorrect, as it should only be available to British and Commonwealth soldiers; it also has a capacity of five rounds, half that of the real rifle.
Light Machine Guns
Most "Assault Class" kits feature some form of easily man-portable LMG. Unlike the rifles and handguns, these weapons for the most part of have variable stats, although this mostly just pertains to magazine capacity.
Breda Modello 30
The Breda Modello 30 is the standard weapon for the Italian Assault class in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome. It is incorrectly shown with a detachable magazine.
Bren Mk.2 Light Machine Gun
The Bren Mk.2 Light Machine Gun is the standard weapon for the SAS Assault class in the expansion pack Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII.
M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle
The M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle is the standard weapon for American, British, and Free French Assault classes.
Anti-Tank Launchers
Panzerschreck
The Panzerschreck is the standard weapon for all Axis Anti-Tank classes. While it's moderately logical for the Germans and Italians to use these weapons in the numbers they do (a better choice would be the Panzerfaust), things take a turn for the surreal when Japanese soldiers wield them during the Battle of Wake Island.
M1 Bazooka
The M1 Bazooka is the standard weapon for all Allied Anti-Tank classes. The bazooka is surprisingly accurate at range and is lethal anywhere, making it an oddly effective sniper rifle.