Sounds a lot like Battlefield, right? That's because in many ways it was. While Codename Eagle was neither a critical nor commercial success, there was great potential in the game's multiplayer component, which Swedish developers (and Battlefield creators) DICE saw and liked enough to buy the company not long after Eagle's release.

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This brought not only the designers behind Codename Eagle's multiplayer onboard, but also the game's engine, the Refractor Engine. While the original iteration was only used for Codename Eagle, the Refractor Engine 2 is what Battlefield 1942 was built on, and saw service through Battlefield 2 and right through to 2006's Battlefield 2142.

It even lives on today, powering the franchise's browser-based titles like Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield Play4Free.

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With Battlefield 3 on everyone's minds this week, if you're curious to see where in many ways it all began, Codename Eagle still has an online following where you can get a game going. If it's a little too old for your tastes, fans built Codename Eagle mods for both Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2, which you can check out here.

Total Recall is a look back at the history of video games through their characters, franchises, developers and trends.

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You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.