The Good, Bad, and Ugly

[[AK]Squidly]

More to tide over those folks who don't have it yet (like me).
Battlefield Vietnam: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

At first I questioned writing this because I am sure there are going to be a hundred of these impression type things over the next few days. However, the more I sit back and think about the fact the EA is avoiding a release a demo, the more I feel the need to say something. Anyways, after playing it for almost a full night at my friend’s house, these are my impressions:

The Good:

Performance: Even with new graphical features, I believe there is a genuine performance increase here. The game just feels smoother than 1942 in general. Map loading times are also “reasonable”.

Airlifting vehicles & supplies: The only real game play innovation (with the exception of maybe the VC movable spawn point) as far as I’m concerned; however, the mechanics of airlifting anything is often tricky and sometimes frustrating. In first person mode, there is really no indicator as to where you are over the vehicle or how far you are off the ground you are, so it’s really a guessing game to get lined up. In third person, I find it’s just too easy to loose control of the heli making fine adjustments. In addition, if you’re not in a perfect hover you will sometimes latch onto the vehicle then let it go right away. The good news is that the DICE crew used the same sound for latching and unlatching so you know exactly what’s happening at all times <sarcasm>.

Firing from passenger positions: No brainer here, this is an obvious improvement over 1942 and almost all the vehicles in Nam have these positions. DC Inspired.

Helicopter Control: Overall, the helicopter control seems fairly solid (using a mouse). It’s easy to move around and make a controlled landing; although hovering can be a little tricky, but it’s nothing one can’t master. An irritating bug for the VC helis is they seem to maintain a “drift” when landing at speed, where as the US helis stop instantly. This pretty much prevents the VC from making a quick “land, claim, and dash ” maneuver that the US can do with ease.

Weapons: The new weapon kits are pretty good and it’s nice to see a little more variety in this area. To be honest though I didn’t really stray away from the M-60 – Law combo while playing the US, because it was just that good. The M-60 carries 3 clips of a 100 rounds and it pretty accurate at a distance. Combine that with 5 LAW rockets and you have an infantry mowing, tank killing, soon to be unbalanced bad ass. While the new booby-trap weapons are cool, it’s hard to see the payoff unless you are strictly defending an area; once you die, they go away – same as mines in 42’. Although DICE stated they didn’t want the game to be littered with booby traps, it would be nice if they were “timed” to give them a little more value. More DC inspired stuff in here including hand-held ground to air missiles, mortars, and C4.

The Bad:

Vehicles: Almost all the vehicles in Nam are fairly straight forward or right out of DC. There is absolutely no innovation or surprises at all in this area, simply building on formula. All the helicopters in the game are virtually the same, with very minor differences. The US Attack Huey fires up to two rockets in quick succession without reloading, with a maximum of maybe 20. The secondary position fires a crappy dual chain gun, and a little “grenade” launcher. The US Cobra fires the exact same rockets as the Huey, with a secondary position that fires a slightly less useless chain gun and some heat seekers. The VC Attack heli fires, you guessed it, the exact same rockets but this time you fire them in 2 banks of 2. The jeeps are a pretty standard fare, 3 seater, rocket or machine gun configurations (a la DC). The US APC reminds me a lot of the APC in Secret Weapons, with a machine gun in the second position; while the VC APC looks, and works, surprisingly like the Iraq one in some other mod I won’t mention (DC). With the exception of the Napalm, the planes are virtually the same as DC (chain gun / rockets). Starting to sound familiar? It should, because that is how this game feels when you play it. At least the DC folks rotate vehicle configurations between maps, no such luck here.

Getting passed the uninspired formula type approach of the vehicles though, the biggest problems that take away from the fun factor is their firing arcs (less than 90 degrees in most cases) and the fact that it’s pretty hard to drive around in certain maps because of the terrain; it is not uncommon to have a jeep almost on fire simply by driving it from one spawn point to another.

The Map: I don’t know if they messed with the zoom levels or it’s because the map sizes are bigger but the mini-map just doesn’t seem to zoom out as far as it did in 42’. In addition, sometimes the “you haven’t selected a spawn point” banner covers the freaking spawn point you have to select, making it hard to see in some cases. Small irritations but worth noting; after all this time with the franchise they should know better.

While on the topic of the Map, BFVN adds a feature called “3d Map” which highlights your team members and flags with little triangles and the distance to the targets. While this is a helpful feature because of foliage, especially in the air, it can provide just as much hindrance if you have a tight group of players in one area as the text readouts can literally cover the screen.

Sound: Relating to what the Gone Gold guy said in his impression, the bug where you can not hear gun fire does exist. Although I believe that this is related to the “hearing distance” issue in general (that affects the music from the helis etc.). It would seem that you can’t here anything outside this special hearing radius, which provides situations where you can hear the ricochet but not the firing. This can be extremely frustrating when some guy is firing at you from behind a bush.

The Ugly:

The AI: STILL. While not a big deal for us MP types, EA does market the BF franchise as a SP game. There is no excuse for this, either remove the bots entirely or fix the problem. DICE and EA are stealing money from legitimate Single Player customers. DICE’s AI programmer should be fired, EA’ s testing department should have higher standards, and the marketers should stop lying to the customers.

The Tournament Features: 42’ was a surprise multi-player hit, and in that respect, it was ok for DICE to miss-out on the much needed tournament features. Now they have no excuse. There’s no voice chat, demo recording, map voting, etc. etc. etc. They have even taken a step back from 42’ as timm pointed out by not including the 1.6 GUI features.

Conclusion:

Battlefield Vietnam adds 2, count them, 2, innovative game play features to the franchise; airlifting and the VC “dig-able” spawn point (even this is questionable as DC offered movable spawn points along time ago). In my opinion DICE simply didn’t try. They knew that they had a popular franchise on their hands and they cranked out a polished looking mod for a cheap cash in attempt. That is not to say that there isn’t some fun to be had here but there is nothing in this product that justifies a full price tag. It is pretty clear why EA doesn’t want to release a demo, they know it ’s a mod, and they don’t really want that fact to get out before the hard-core fans pick it up. While I did have some fun moments, once the novelty of the new game wore off I found it to be less overall fun than 1942.

Side note: there is a full selection of features in BFNam that the DC team genuinely deserve credit for, remember to thank them when you’re playing this game.

[[AK]Bribo]

"That is not to say that there isn’t some fun to be had here but there is nothing in this product that justifies a full price tag."

Interesting. $50 for a polished-mod?

[[AK]Squidly]

$39 for BF 1942
$29 for Secret Weapons
$39 for BF: Vietnam

I'd say the BF franchise has given me $110 worth of enjoyment (even before playing BF Vietnam.)

The guy writing the review is obviously a warez llama so take the "value" commentary for what it's worth.

[[AK]Bribo]

All I have to say is this.

[[AK]StitchJones]

This isn't keeping my warm and fuzzy to go out and buy it. In fact I'm having second thoughts now.

[[AK]Faxman]

But everyone else is buying it! (see also Athena Sword thread)

[[AK]Hylander]

I think it is well worth $39.00. Is it earth shattering? No, it's not. But I think it is a very nicely designed game that is worth the money. The graphics are better and the foliage in the environment is very well done which makes hiding (especially in the jungle) very effective and highly challenging.

I didn't expect it to be something so dynamic and new in
comparison to BF1942. Half-Life 2 and the new Doom, yes - I'm expecting ALOT from those titles and anything less will be a huge let down.

I think AK is going to have alot of fun playing BFV though.

Everyone be thankful for one thing... when you play your own MP3 files, others don't here them. They can only here the default ones that came with the game. Why is that a blessing? Think Stitch.

[[AK]StitchJones]

Okay, I'll go and buy it just so I can put my SLAYER mp3's in the music roation!

Ride of the Valkeries, Slayer style anyone??? (head-banging fun)

[[AK]Clay]

What Stitch said.

I can afford the $40 - but I have issues paying full price for a mod that I may abandon for DC after a couple days.

-Clay

[[AK]Hylander]

Originally posted by [AK]StitchJones
This isn't keeping my warm and fuzzy to go out and buy it. In fact I'm having second thoughts now.

Go out and buy it before I come up there and kick your @ss all over the hut!!!

Scott Ian would buy it!

[[AK]Gunny Highway]

I'd say the BF franchise has given me $110 worth of enjoyment (even before playing BF Vietnam.)

Don't forget Road to Rome.

[[AK]StitchJones]

Originally posted by [AK]Gunny Highway
Don't forget Road to Rome.

He didn't Gunny, he just doesn't think much of the I-Tal-Ian community.

[[AK]Squidly]

Oops! I did forget that. Oh well, it's well worth the $140 I will have spent.

Frankly I'm getting sick of DC. It's fun and all, but the lack of new content is causing the game to wear on me. 73 Easting *again*!?! meh....

I am SO looking forward to BF:V. It sounds like it's right up our alley. More of the same - but different - is just what the doctor ordered, IMO.

[[AK]Hylander]

I think you are right Squidly, particularly in terms of DC. I think most people will enjoy BFV and it is a nice modest change.

I also plan to pick up the Athena Sword soon for another change of pace.

[[AK]StitchJones]

My NEW issue is getting a store to now tell me that they will have it on the shelf. All I have gotten this morning is, 'did you pre-order it?' Then they say that people will have to wait till tomorrow to get it, if you didn't pre-order. I'm starting to get PO'ed.

Gunny, Bribo, Rocks,,, u guys gonna make a x-gates run?