I couldn't tell you exactly why, maybe just rose tinted glasses, but I didn't think they had as good of a commander mode in BF4. At the time, I was blown away with the satellite view and how you could see all the soldiers running around like little ants and give them supply drops or UAV support. You could do it in the PC version but not in the console version. The thing I'll always remember was the commander mode in BF2.
Anyways I use a program called Xpadder, you should download that and then check out tutorials on youtube for how to use it. They were never in the PC version of BF2, and they were called "Deadly Pass" and "Backstab." They were kindof smaller maps, so I don't know if we will ever see their like again. I use an xbox controller to play bf2 on my laptop because its impossible to play with a touchpad mouse. There are these 2 desert maps from BF2:MC that I miss a lot, but DICE doesn't seem interested in remaking them for BF3 or 4. When the 360 came out, I remember BF2: Modern Combat was one of the few backwards compatible games and probably sold me on buying the 360 as soon as I did. Our neighbors would come over almost every night after work and we would pass the sticks around the room with modern combat on the Xbox. We would switch off playing and watching over the other's shoulder, but really it was his game so I was mostly watching! My computer wasn't up to snuff when BF2 came out, but my roommate in college had a nice PC and he picked up BF2 right when it came out for PC.
I actually played more Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox than the PC version. I dabbled in the BF1942 demo but it didn't hook me like a lot of people. I have fond memories of BF2 because it truly got me into the series.