Battlefield 2 had many flaws, but it had a great battlefield feeling. Battlefield 2142, though it failed in scenario, still had that feeling. Everything after that did not. And BFBC2 is the farthest away from the actual "Battlefield" feeling as possible (ok, BFH is worse ). No large-scale battlefields, no large-scale tank battles, no air war, no naval war(!), only infantry combat with a small prise of tank combat. Air? Only call-in (talk about stealing CoD ideas ). Navy? None. Sorry, that clearly is NOT Battlefield, that is Arcade-MP-Shooter Number 54326, trying to steal CoD ideas.I will only say that, unlike any other game released in the battlefield series AFTER bf42, this battlefield-style-game has got that "battlefield feeling" again.
And yes, the very classic argument I heard from dozens of BFBC2 fans: "Only snipers go prone." . What bullshit. Take BF42 (or any other shooter game, for that matter): If I sprint towards a sandbag wall, I go prone to take cover behind it if enemies fire on me. In BFBC2 I see an awesome cover behind some sandbags, sprint for it, only to notice that my soldier is apparently unable to crouch behind a 70cm obstacle in order to take cover and thus am eliminated.
A good sniper on the other hand gives a crap about if he is lying around somewhere or if he is crouching around somewhere. As long as you don't move, you are near invisible and can take out over long ranges. The fact that I, as assault soldier, am no longer able to "hit the dirt" when I come under unexpected fire while advancing is a huge atmosphere killer for me. Yes, going prone is completely unnatural and usual players feel no desire to take cover any more and want an online shoot'em'up where you run around and kill gazillions of enemies. Yeah, right.
And I don't see where the modding community was "shackled" in BF2? To the contrary: BF2 is lightyears ahead of the mod support that was given for BF42 and BFV. The BF2Editor is brilliant and extremly helpful, the code itself still is fitted in mostly regular .con files and very clear, but expanded greatly in its adaptibility in comparsion to the old BF42 engine. It is only that these vast possibilities require time and dedication of the modders, the quick'n'dirty work that was sufficient for BF42 won't cut it for BF2. Just take a look at FH2 and PR, it is absolutely incredible what those mods pulled off.
I too am only stating my opinion. I didn't pay a cent for BFBC2 (by god, no!) and only played the beta and the SP part at a friend. If it had any kind of mod support, I might give it a chance, as it surely has great potential, but in the current state it's useless. I always hoped that BF43 would finally be a worthy successor to BF42 and BF'Nam, a game worthy of the title "Battlefield", but seeing as it uses the same engine as BFBC2 I fear mod support will be nonexistant as well. And no Battlefield game (except BF42 and 'Nam) were any good without mods. And even those two got boring after a while.