Battlefield Vietnam : A Review
for PC by EA GamesRating: GET IT NOW!
Battlefield Vietnam is the second game from the Battlefield series, following the wildly popular Battlefield 1942. EA Games has fine tuned the PC game with some tweaks to the gameplay and graphics, once again raising the standard for multiplayer gaming.
Battlefield Vietnam plays very much the same as BF1942, but the game is significantly different; this isn't another expansion pack.
The first thing you'll notice when you join a game is that you now have more control over your soldier. You have a choice of two equipment kits for each of four classes. Each kit contains a primary weapon, a sidearm, and some assortment of grenades or mines. I like the anti-armor class with the second kit: a LAW rocket launcher for hard targets, and an M60 machinegun for infantry. You can also choose from two body and head types for each class, allowing for more variety on the battlefield.
This game definitely emphasizes infantry combat, vehicles are less of a focus though there is no shortage of them. The jungle terrains of Vietnam give the game a different feel than Battlefield 1942, enabling you to hide successfully in grass and bushed to escape or stalk an enemy. The addition of thick foliage and grass gives the game a dimension of stealth that BF1942 never had. It's tough to see soldiers hidden in the brush, you could be within a few feet of another soldier and still not see him. Unlike the original Battlefield, where spawn points were unmovable, Battlefield Vietnam has mobile spawn points on some maps. A US helicopter can drop a large crate anywhere on the map which can act as a spawn point until destroyed, and the NVA engineers can dig a tunnel in a selected area that allows soldiers to spawn.
The graphics have improved, though not incredibly. Textures are better and polygon counts are higher, and they have improved the reflective water surfaces. Overall it could be easily confused with Battlefield 1942. The maps don't seem to be any bigger, though they are more detailed: destroyed buildings with smashed walls, rooms full of furniture, lush jungle valleys. An interesting addition to some of the maps is an NVA trap: a stack of logs held at the top of a hill on a wooden scaffold which you can shoot to send the logs rolling down the hill to smash enemy tanks and soldiers.
A huge assortment of tanks, boats, transports, planes and helicopters can be found scattered around the maps. The vehicles handle well; veterans of BF1942 will feel at home. Fans of the Desert Combat mod for BF1942 will find the helicopter in Battlefield Vietnam a lot easier to fly, though they don't feel as realistic as their DC counterparts. Some maps give you helicopters that can airlift vehicles and mobile spawn points by attaching a cord swinging from the aircraft. It's a little tricky to get them attached to the cord, though.
Overall, though it isn't a huge advance over the first Battlefield, fans of the original should definitely run to the store and buy this game. The multiplayer gaming is definitely more intense and fast paced than Battlefield 1942, and combat is more personal. If Doom 3 and Half Life 2 weren't (hopefully) just around the corner, I'd bet on this game as the best of 2004. We'll see.
