I'll be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of Battlefield Bad Company 2 when it came out in March of last year. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike the game but it seemed to dislike me, or rather my gaming rig... My rig is certainly near the end of it's life, notably the CPU and Mobo need an upgrade. In a full 32 man server, I manage around 40 FPS but I am sure it dips into the 30's and even high 20's at times. I wasn't a huge fan of the avatar movement and still am not. The hit registration was way off at release and although improved through patching, still isn't where I feel it needs to be. However, there was a lot I liked about the game.The epic scale of some of the maps, the sound, the vehicle combat (notably the heli's), the non-linearity of the multiplayer, and a sense of teamwork that I hadn't seen in any other game. I played BFBC2 off and on until about mid-August, then stopped. I wasn't overly exited about Vietnam when it was announced and held out on buying it. I figured that I'd wait until it went on sale before picking it up. However, I was lucky enough to have Jim aka. @THErealRUDEDOG on Twitter and site director over at FPSadmin.com offer me a copy. At that point, I had heard good things about the game, so I decided to give it a shot.
Let's start off with the notable differences between this expansion and the stock game. Obviously, this game is set in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It is multiplayer only and contains five new maps, six new vehicles, and fifteen new weapons. The damage statistics of all the weapons have changed dramatically from the stock game. All of the weapons are much more powerful than their counterparts from the stock game and the entire Vietnam experience feels much more 'hardcore-ish' on non-hardcore servers. This isn't a dealbreaker and isn't too much to get used to but to new adopters of the game, this will be one of the first things you notice. The game runs on the same version of DICE's Frostbite Engine as the stock game does so the mechanics and technical aspects of Vietnam are identical to the stock experience. The avatar movement is still clunky, the hit reg is still questionable, and everything seems to have a split-second delay to it like in the stock game.
The map design is on-par with the stock game, although DICE did experiment a bit more with verticality in a couple of the maps, one in particular takes place entirely on a hill where teams switch off fighting for control of the easier to defend higher elevations. Each map has it's own distinctive feel and nuances to it which players will gradually pick up on and use to their advantage. Overall, the maps are smaller and more linear than those found in the stock game which is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that the battles feel more directed and players will not usually have to deal with enemy fire from multiple directions. However, a couple of the maps are so linear that one team can somewhat easily control the choke points out of the other team's spawn. This coupled with the increased damage of all the weapons has devastating consequences and usually, many RAGE quits.
The vehicles are all new but handle similarly to their stock counterparts but without any of the modern tech seen in the stock game. DICE did a great job of making all of the vehicles feel authentic to the time period. Contributing to the authenticity, many of the vehicles have a radio that loops over two hours (according to DICE) of Vietnam-era music. To all you pilots out there, the Huey helicopters in the game are an absolute blast to fly. There's nothing better than flying into battle over the jungles of Vietnam in a highly maneuverable heli with a dirty windshield and "Fortunate Son" blaring in the background. Overall, Vietnam has the most polished vehicle combat I have seen from any game in a long time. They absolutely nailed it.
The sound in the game is just as impressive as ever, easily outdoing any game I can think of. The sound designers at DICE certainly know their stuff. If you have played the stock game, be prepared for the ear-gasms to continue.
The overall atmosphere of the entire game feels exactly as it should for a Vietnam game. Admittedly, I have never been to Vietnam, but the jungles and rice paddies look just like I would think they should. The grittiness of everything in the game, the dirty vehicles, the explosions, gunfire and shouts of VC and American forces fighting, the atmospheric sounds in the maps... Everything feels very authentic and true to the time period and setting.
Overall, although Battlefield Bad Company Vietnam isn't prefect, it is a very good game indeed. It is more polished, has more variety in its combat, sounds better, is more immersive, and more true to it's time period than similar games said to be set during the same time period. Personally, I have found more enjoyment in this game than any other of the AAA titles that I have bought over the past year. At $15, the price to content ratio seems just right and arguably, tipped more towards the side of content than price. EA and DICE have not pulled any punches with this release and if you're looking for a fresh take on the core gameplay of Bad Company 2, then look no further. After playing Bad Company Vietnam, I cannot wait to see what DICE does next, be it BF3 or something sooner.
Scores:
Gameplay - 4/5
Graphics - 4/5
Sound - 5/5
Value - 5/5
Overall - 4.5/5
-H4WKE
