New Unlocks and Awards: Northern Strike adds news awards and unlocks to the Battlefield 2142 tech tree. Awards focus around actions in Northern Strike (time playing, hours in a Northern Strike vehicle, etc.) while unlocks are more general purpose and apply across the entire game, not just Northern Strike maps.

Each combat kits gets two new unlocks; there’s also a new ability unlock that reduces falling damage and a new squad leader unlock that reduces your squad’s respawn time. Combat kit unlocks include the decoy generator for the Recon kit, bigger shotgun and rocket clips for the Assault kit, a mine bait generator for the Engineer kit and an early warning system hooked into the team’s NetBat system for the Support kit.

I’ve noticed two things about the new system: first, getting the Northern Strike awards is pretty easy; all you have to do is play the game and you’ll rack up three in no time. Second, getting those awards generates new unlocks for your soldier. Conspiracy theory time: since the unlocks are much easier to get, give the player significant new advantages and work across the entire Battlefield 2142 system, I’m willing to bet EA is trying to get players to upgrade by shifting the odds in the favor of Northern Strike players. If you’re a hardcore Battlefield 2142 player already and you haven’t bought the expansion, this reason may be the best one for you to do so: you’re going to get out competed by better technology if you don’t buy Northern Strike.