Battlefield Vietnam preview

Battlefield Vietnam (BFV) has been the subject of a whole bunch of news and even an interview recently here at Boomtown. We’ve finally had the opportunity to actually try out the game though and we’ve compiled our thoughts in this nifty preview.

In the version we tested, single player as well as multiplayer modes were both available. Single player in the original Battlefield 1942 (BF1942) was mainly for training purposes before you go to war on servers all over the world (preferably on Boomtown’s of course). In BFV, single player basically serves the same purpose. But this should still provide us with a clear image of how the game plays when it hits stores this spring.

Multiplayer-wise we’ve been limited to only a few hours of play time since the number of preview editions out there is pretty low. The hours spent, though they were few, were action-packed nonetheless, as we played other testers as well as some people from the staff of publisher EA.

What is it good for?

I'll be needing one of these and Ride of the Valkyries playing on the radio, then I'm set to go.

Let’s start out a little unconventionally by talking about the music in BFV. EA have spent some considerable amount of money on sixteen familiar protest songs from the 60s and the 70s. The time of silence while maps are loading is no more as EA thought it would be better to spend this time listening to some classics and did they ever think right!

You’ll now have the pleasure of listening to tunes such as Edwin Starr’s War (What is it Good For), Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son and Jefferson Airplane’s Somebody to Love. You will almost be let down a little when the music stops and the game is about to begin.

Luckily you’ll lighten right up again once you find out that you can turn the music back on every time you enter one of the game’s many vehicles. For instance you can get in a helicopter, fire up Ride of the Valkyries and then soar above the treetops Apocalypse Now-style. How cool is that? And you’re not the only one who can hear the music – soldiers on the ground will also be able to hear you as you close in.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning…

Mortal Kombaaaa... No wait, that's not Raiden.

As always before starting a battle, you’ll be prompted to select which class to play. In our version, four different classes were available. A new option is the addition of sub-classes, where you as an infantry man, for instance, can choose between having an M16 or a Mossberg 500 as your primary weapon.

If you want your friends or foes to be more visually recognisable, the game also has the option to pick a custom body and face for them. In this version only two of each were available, however EA have promised that there will be tons of these in the final version. It’s not a big feature but it’s a nice option to have.

Enough talk, to battle we go forth!

Streamlined and efficient.

Playing the game it’s obvious that we’ve now moved twenty years ahead from the events in BF1942. All the weaponry is much more modern and the maps in which the action takes place are quite different from the ones in BF1942. Lush vegetation covers a lot of the areas and even though this is static imagery, the tactical possibilities these surroundings allow are quite substantial. It can be very difficult to spot a soldier hidden in the tall grass.

Among the new vehicles the helicopter plays a vital part in the game, which is quite understandable. To be successful in several of the more than fifteen maps we played, it’s completely necessary that you fly tanks and jeeps into enemy territory. Taking the same trip on ground would eat up most of the round time. Maps are very big and many of them consist of islands that aren’t connected by bridges.

Some will perhaps fear that the helicopters are mind-bogglingly hard to manoeuvre, as is the case in Desert Combat for instance. Don’t worry; they aren’t, although you still need a good deal of practice to master the controls of the helicopter. The controls are somewhat similar to Desert Combat but the physics are more “user friendly”, balancing the game just right.

That flag is mine!

Because small men need big guns.

The notoriously popular conquest mode from BF1942 returns in BFV and a welcome addition is the new indicator that shows the remaining time before a flag changes side. It’s now also possible to change the amount of time it takes for a flag to change side. The default setting is six seconds.

Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch will be replaced by game modes called Evolution and Custom Combat. These were not available in this version of the game but we look forward to playing them in the final version.

This means war

Gotcha!

Visually BFV is an improvement over its predecessor, but the graphical leap is by no means revolutionary. The landscapes are more detailed, including the hidden cottages of the Vietcong and the aforementioned vegetation. It’s still not possible to destroy buildings or other things in the environment though. Even the smallest trees can’t be run over with a tank no matter how big it is. You have to go around them.

Explosions are a joy to behold though, especially the napalm bombs of the Americans. It looks absolutely stunning when the burning liquid hits the ground and spreads out across the surroundings.

Combat action looks a lot like what we are used to, but a noticeable difference is the increased focus on mobile spawn points. On maps consisting of several islands you’ll often find one or two boats that initially are located at your main base. These boats can be sailed into enemy territory and used as spawn points. The strategic importance of this feature can’t be stressed enough.

Second opinion – By Jacob H. Nielsen

Even though the AI wasn’t exactly Einstein-level in this preview version of the game, we had a good opportunity to try out all the new features. No doubt, beneath the surface, this game is Battlefield as we know it, but the overall impression of BFV is much better than the original game. Clearly a lot more attention to detail went into this game and the increased amount of classes to choose from alone improves the gameplay significantly.

As soon as you are online with the game the adrenaline starts pumping. With thirty-one players on one map, and the maps being so strategically deep, you are sure to be entertained. The Vietnamese side possesses a good deal of devious weapons such as trip-mines, spiked-pole traps and heat seeking ground-to-air missiles, while the American side has napalm, jeeps equipped with rocket launchers and heavily armed soldiers.

Even though the innovations in BFV aren’t major overhauls, I’m personally looking forward to stomping through rice fields with bullets flying around my head while Ride of the Valkyries resounds from the American helicopters in the air.

With these comments I’ll give the word to my esteemed colleague Ventura – aka Jakob Paulsen.

Third opinion – By Jakob Paulsen

BFV is cool, actually it’s beyond cool. You’ll quickly notice that the developers have learned a lot since BF1942. As Rene points out, the music is phenomenal and a good source for laughs. Hopefully we’re going to see a lot of music based mods after the game is released.

Unfortunately, the tanks and their cannons are a big let down. We’ll take the American tank - the M4A83 Patton as an example. In real life it has a 90mm cannon, powerful enough to completely destroy another vehicle at a distance of up to two kilometres. In the game the same cannon can hardly shoot further than 100 metres unless you aim high, exploiting the arced flight path of the shell. This is after all a tank that fires armour-piercing shells and that kind of ammo is shot in a straight path in real life. If you’ve ever played the BF1942 mod Forgotten Hope, you’ll appreciate a little realism in this area.

There are some other minor drawbacks concerning the weapons, like the mortars for instance. But the overall impression is this: no revolution lies around the corner but countless hours of fun and action packed online game play do.

Sure to be a hit

That was too close for comfort...

BFV looks like it’ll live up to the expectations and beat the standards set by its predecessor. Combat action is at times a bit more hectic and chaotic than in BF1942, which is partly due to the fact that a lot of maps contain urban settings as opposed to the open terrain that was common in the previous game. Tanks were a major force in BF1942 but now grunts have better odds, given that they can hide in wrecked buildings more often and anti-tank soldiers have finally gotten some decent machine guns.

And of course there’s the superb soundtrack, offering you one classic hit after another. This is substance and style all in one package.


Source: Boomtown DK
English version by: Julian Henlov (Progrock)