I forgot to say, I will probably ask my parents for BF 2142 over Xmas break.
A, you people whining about the "unrealism" and "sci-fi setting", 90% of it will be instantly recognizable from BF2. NTM the "future technologies" are one of a few things. First, basically a fancy name and a bunch of bullcrap which doesn't functionally change from today's tech (such as the guns, they sound fancy, but really are functionally the same as today's weapons). Second, something which is on the drawing board (for instance, we could technically already make the VTOL aircraft the way they're shown, but not very well). Third, an assumption which you just have to take for gameplay (the only two examples I can think of is the hover and the shield, and the shield may just stand for some future spinoff of something like the Russian Arena tank defense system). If you're wondering what the Arena system is, a computer detects an incoming projectile, and fires off a projectile which will explode underneath the incoming projectile, either destroying it or knocking it off-course.
Overall, I think the gameplay in that regard will be similar to BF2, with some additions which are allowable due to the sci-fi setting and don't drastically change things. Some things (like the stationary med/ammo hubs) are in fact more realistic than BF2. Some things from BF2 are abstracted (there is NO way a plane could repair and re-arm in 5 seconds flying 50 feet off the ground) and yet it still seems pretty much like modern warfare. And EA/Dice is trying to keep sci-fi from going overboard, and I think they've succeeded
As for the bugginess, I've been playing 1.3 for maybe 6 hours (I'm not a hardcore BF2 fan), and haven't seen a single major bug or crash. Plus, EA/Dice is quite aware of how people reacted to the bugs, and are probably going through pains to make sure that no major bugs survive to 1.0, and no launch bugs survive to 1.1 (almost every game has a 1.1 patch to iron out bugs discovered post-launch). I'm not sure, but I think that the open beta on File planet is part of that effort (as in they've never had an open beta like this before). I would need confirmation on it though.
I also may need to upgrade my PC, as is it barely runs SP BF2 (I figure a second 512 MB stick wouldn't exactly hurt).