Battlefield Vietnam

"Vehicles and napalm collide to create a great ONLINE experience."

I have never played Battlefield 1942 but have thought about it continuously. I have seen many great reviews for it and even heard others talk about it as a masterpiece. I thought to myself about getting it because others seemed to have enjoyed so much and I wanted to be just like them. However the days kept rolling by and Battlefield 1942 just seemed obsolete to me anymore. It was then through my random searches on the internet on video game sites (That’s right, I said video game sites and not what your thinking) I saw an add for an upcoming new game. That game was Battlefield Vietnam. It seemed now that nothing else mattered and that this game would be THE game.

I quickly went and preordered and also got a free soundtrack to come with it. Now Vietnam is not thing people like to talk about much (My dad was in Vietnam) but my dad let me get it and waited anxiously ever since. I soon got in the mail but it was three days before my birthday so I waited a little bit. Finally the time rolled around and I opened my box and to my astonishment I found THREE discs. So I then installed and went online to play. However my game would not work online that well but luckily I was able to update my computer quickly and get it to work. Here is what I came across in my gaming time.

STORY 9/10

It is obviously a war game and is obviously about the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is a delicate subject but sadly I must that this game IS fun. Now there really isn’t any story at all but the game does contain real battles from and places from the Vietnam War. When playing the game it almost feels like you are in the Vietnam War.

GRAPHICS 10/10

I must say that the graphics are really impressive in this game. The backgrounds look great and all of the vehicles are amazing to. Weapons actually look like what there supposed to and although you cannot look that much different from your teammates each character looks decent. I must say that every level has a great layout and great background to improve it. Trees and bushes are beautiful and even the sky is pretty looking. Also I must say textures are sharp and what screenshots I have seen of Battlefield 1942 I would say that Battlefield Vietnam is a nice improvement. Compared to other games it does not have the best graphics ever but they fit the game with tons of waterways, forests, and thick foliage. All the scenery really adds to beauty of the game.

SOUND 9/10

The game really shines in its audio as it takes many songs from the Vietnam era and puts them all into the game. When in a land, air, or sea going vehicle you can easily turn on your radio and listen to great songs like “I Fought the Law”, “War”, “Surfing Bird Song”, “Psychotic Reaction”, “Somebody to Love”, “Get Ready”, and many others. I cannot tell describe to you how fun it is to get into a tank and start up the tunes while wrecking havoc. Everyone in the game also has the privilege of listening to what you’re listening to as you drive by with your radio blaring. For those that have there own favorite songs you have the option of putting your own song list into the game and it will play just for you. Now for other sounds like the guns and vehicles they to are great and are done nicely. Also there are many speakers in certain levels that will have people talking over them. The most noticeable is the extremely annoying GI lady who just will not stop talking about her nonsense. Another touch I like is the voice commands you can give and the occasional voices of Americans and Vietnamese screaming few things.

GAMEPLAY 10/10

This is where the game REALLY shines. As not having the privilege to play the original Battlefield 1942 I must say that game play in Vietnam is very addicting and fun. The overall point of each level is like capture the flag almost. There are various spawn points thrown around and you must protect your own and try to get others. In the few game modes each team has a set number of points and first one to zero loses. Your team loses points when someone dies or when a team is holding the major control points. It sounds simple but is very fun.

First I will start out with the infantry. There are many weapons for both sides and weapon kits. Before playing you can choose your class and your weapon set to give you the best weapon you want. When choosing your kit you can either take a machine gun of some form like the AK47 and M16 with grenades. There are also classes that come with big weapons like the L.A.W. and various RPG’s. You can also choose to be a sniper with a selection of 2 sniper rifles for the US and Vietnamese. Lastly there is the engineering class. For both sides repair weapons and vehicles and remove or plant mines. For the US engineers you detonate claymores and use the blowtorch to destroy vehicles. The Vietnamese on the other hand can use punji sticks, booby trap vehicles, and can dig up tunnel entrances to move spawn points. Also the infantry can find ammo boxes and first aid stations to help them out.

The best part of this game is the assortment of vehicles you can get. The vehicles add strategy and most importantly FUN to the game. As I have stated previously every vehicle can have its own radio going with its own song playing. I’ll start of with land vehicles. These consist of many tanks, jeeps, and the occasional vespa. Every vehicle holds a certain amount of people and most have different weapons. Tanks carry giant guns and jeeps have machine guns or rocket launchers. Vehicles play a role of protection and transportation to get from one spot to another. Next are the sea vehicles. Boats play important role in getting across water that you would normally have to swim through. There are also some amphibious mobiles that go on land and in the water. Finally we have the best part of the game which is the multitude of planes and helicopters you can get. Planes have one seat but you can have a lot of fun in them dropping napalm and having fierce dogfights. Helicopters are nice to when trying to fly them as when you have a professional flyer you can hover over spawn points and spin around to take out enemies. Helicopters can carry anywhere from one to six people from attack copters and transport copters. One final note is that now helicopters can tow other vehicles like tanks and transport them along. If done right it is very cool. The vehicles alone are a good reason to get this game.

The game controls are very simple to learn in this game and use the ever popular WASD controls to move. After awhile you will learn such techniques as crawling and crouching. Flying planes and helicopters however will take awhile to learn as they use both the WASD and arrow keys to move and go and down. However it is all worth it once you learn how to fly properly. Most importantly this game is fun, addicting, and just what you need to play.

MULTIPLAYER 8.5/10

I would love to give Multi Player 10 out of 10 but there is just a little to much lag online and errors for many people. To play this game properly you are going to need a top of the line computer. However a patch should come out soon and solve all of these issues hopefully. Now for the actual game it is very fun with real people and really fun with a lot of people. It is hard but you can get up to 64 people in one game. When online you can both be American and Vietnamese and pick your weapons. To win the game you must work cooperatively with others using vehicles and making advances. There are many commands and you can also type to your team or everyone. One other nice thing to know is that you can get flags faster with more then one person in the zone. Do watch out for team killing as on many servers it runs rampant. Besides that, though the Multi Player is fantastic. It could be better though if there was just less lag.

SINGLEPLAYER 5/10

This just is not that fun to play by your self. There is no campaign mode and this is just multi player with bots instead of real people. Easy and medium difficulties are to easy and hard will have you dead instantly. If you buy this game I suggest you stay away from single player and stick with real people online where it is actually fun. The single player will keep satisfied for about one day and that is all.

OVERALL 8/10 (NOT AN AVERAGE OF SCORES)

Overall this game is a MUST BUY if you have a good computer, will play online, never played Battlefield 1942, or if you loved Battlefield 1942 to pieces.

I would have given this game a nine or a ten but the lousy single player and amount of lag just stops. Now the lag is not terrible and is bearable but sometimes it does get bad. I only suffer from lag every now and then but if you do not have a strong computer or anything lag will haunt you in your sleep. I still strongly advise those few that will not play online to not buy this game. It is not worth it. If you will play online though then please get this game. It is very cheap right now and very worth it. Believe me when I say that the music is enjoyable, the vehicles amazing, and the game pure fun.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/09/04