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Should have been a $20 expansion, not a $40 standalone

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 66 / 87
Date: March 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game's ok. It's basically a tweaked version of the battlefield 1942 engine - you can see longer distances, you can shoot out of moving vehicles, and there's a few other graphical upgrades as well. The overall performance of this game, however, is dismal - I'm running a Pentium 4 3.4 Ghz Extreme Edition with 2 Gigs of RAM and an ATI Radeon 9800XT video card, and I'm experiencing odd slowdowns and overall stinky performance. The actual gameplay is worse, in my opinion, than the original battlefield 1942 - everything feels "mushy". The characters, vehicles, weapons - everything - is unresponsive and overall unimpressive. Sound is weak, like it was in BF1942. The *free* Desert Combat mod for BF1942 is 300% better than this game, for which I paid $40.

In short, download the demo first and decide whether or not it's worth $40 to get a bunch more maps.

Nowhere to run to baby....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 39 / 44
Date: April 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

So, a few things...

First off, this is a fantastic production and a follow-on that the folks at Digital Illusions can be real proud of. They had some very high expectations after their previous groundbreaking release "Battlefield 1942". Battlefield Vietnam is an extremely fun game to play from the first minute (in fact, before you even start you'll be moved by the level of detail and attention that went into the pre-game screens; the UI is insanely intuitive, the music is some kind of 70's funk-electro mix with dubs of Lyndon Johnson in it...RAD). Getting in a game is a snap, their are tons of servers, and plenty of room in multiplayer mode.

In game, you'll be very impressed with the graphics. Next to Far Cry (which has undoubtedly the best graphics by far in any game today) the graphics are breathtaking. Lush jungle, totally reanimated water (from BF1942), cool particle effects, refraction...you name it, this isn't a mod, they substantially improved the engine.

The play speed is slightly faster paced than 1942, but not noticably. Those who liked the physics of 1942, the vehicle speed, combat speed, damage-take speed...well, you'll be right at home.

As for specs, if you can run 1942, you should have no trouble. In fact, a friend of mine (who has a somewhat dated system) contends that Vietnam runs better on his machine (I haven't independently verified).

But lets talk about the coolest thing in the game:

Music!

Not just music, but mega $ super hits from the 70's. EA spent the big bucks and enabled the game with a bunch of really cool tracks. Now I understand that many games have music, but what's so special about this game is that OTHERS HEAR the music you're playing! Get in a vehicle, choose a song from the playlist and it blasts from your vehicle (louder the closer in proximity you are to others). Add helicopters, you get a monster load of gaming goodness! I was in an Apache last weekend chasing a convoy (including two of my buddies) through the jungle bumping "Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide...." from my Heli. I could practically hear them screaming "oh S@#$" from their PC's. RAD!

A few very minor grievances: First off, you'll notice this game is like 5 disks to download (yikes). But that's minor. Another issue that is really just my opinion (because I think helicopters are so cool)...I take issue with just how vulnerable they are in the game...Jet Fighters eat them for lunch, but from the ground the Surface to Air Missiles ARE GUIDED! Needless to say, even the most experienced pilots will be having some pretty short trips on allot of maps. Also, and this is just my experience with a very popular mod for 1942 (Desert Combat), I actually found the helicopters easy to fly. But again, for those of you who remember the first few versions of DC, they were released when 1942 didn't have any real flight guidance software for developers. Helicopter flying was INSANELY HARD. I literally spent over 50 hours flying before I could reliably land and pick people up. You get a private helicopter license with only 40 hours in the "Real World"...!

Anyway, this game is a blast and worth every dollar. You'll be wowed by the game and laughing hysterically on your first map. EA did it again.

I hope this was helpful.

Decent, but not as elegant as BF1942

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 31 / 39
Date: March 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm a fairly expert BF1942 player and was highly anticipating BFV. After putting in 15+ hours in multiplayer (the only real way to play this game - single player is still a joke) I have found myself disappointed and discouraged.

First, the Goods. Graphics and character animations are excellent, the sound is amazing, and the atmosphere is spot on. Weapon modeling and vehicle physics are great, right on par with the fine line between realism and arcade-ish aspects of this genre. It's easy to find a game to play and online anti-cheating capabilities are built in. Vehicles are fun to drive, teamwork is rewarded by capping flags faster, and the quick F-key interaction is simplified and elegant.

Now, the Bads. Weapons and vehicles are VERY overpowered in this game compared to BF1942, and you'll find yourself dying and waiting for a spawn far more than in BF1942. It's very easy to camp your own base with heavy machinegunners and just tear anyone who comes close to shreds. On many maps you'll frequently spawn and die within seconds, often from an enemy you hardly even had a chance to see.

At least in BF1942 your weapons had a much more visual "range", and spraying gunfire randomly wouldn't do much. This isn't the case in BFV. Heavy machine gunners dominate the playing field.

Adept helicopter pilots find themselves with 60+ kills in an average game. Because they're so lethal on their own these pilots rarely wait for pickups, especially considering how difficult it is to spawn anti-air troops because of the high death rate.

Soldier kits vary from map to map, which can be frustrating. One map you're playing a M16 medic, and another map there's no medic kit available. The game in general is far more arcade and less strategic than BF1942. Your soldier can only take a handful of hits from the weapons, and the lessened recoils make it easy to score head shots. BF1942 games average 15 kills and 15 deaths per person - BFV games seem to average 40 kills and 40 deaths per person.

Because of the terrain enhancements, snipers have hundreds and hundres of places to hide and can dominate most maps. Their rifles have less recoil, fire faster without needing target lead, and they carry more ammo. I have yet to have significant effect on a map by playing a traditional Assault class. It's far too tempting to go sniper and score kill after kill, or just get visual range on an enemy base, spawn as a M60 gunner, and spray away whenever anything moves.

You'll find yourself killed quickly and without any idea of where the fire is coming from. Realistic perhaps, but frustrating, considering you then have to wait 10+ seconds to respawn. By the time you hear the bullets land near you, it's already too late, and no amount of running or going prone is going to make a difference.

This effects many of the neat aspects of the new soldier classes. Mortars can be setup, but they're difficult to aim and it only takes a handful of rounds sprayed at the mortar shooter - from a far distance - to bring him out of commission. Same thing with booby traps and C4. By the time someone comes near them you're usually dead because it takes far less time for them to spot and drop a couple of rounds in you.

This game requires far more teamwork than BF1942, and the nature of public serves do not encourage any way to coordinate teamwork, so you're often just using your heaviest weapon to start blasting away at random people deathmatch style.

Vehicles are fun to drive but ultimately either ineffective or overpowering. Helicopters either dominate a map or fall from the sky constantly, and tanks either shell from a distance or die instantly from overpowered anti-tank soldiers - which now also carry machineguns.

Although one might consider these upgraded from BF1942 vehicle-vs-infantry matches "balanced", it ends up being frustrating. Copters can hover over a spawn point, blasting everything that spawns or moves while waiting for friendly forces to take it over, or tanks can slowly treck through massive jungles just to be taken out by a single soldier from long range who doesn't have to skillfully arc his RPG to hit it.

Hopefully some of these balance issues will be addressed in upcoming patches. For now, I'll play BFV as an alternative to traditional deathmatch games like UT2004, but I'll be going back to BF1942 when I want some balanced team play.

Finally Available for Pre-Ordering

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 38 / 52
Date: January 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Thanks to Amazon.com, I can now rest asure that I reserved a copy of BF:Vietnam all for myself. The question is, will it be a good game? Well here's the answer, BF:Vietnam is bound to be the best seller of 2004 along with CS:Condition Zero due to the following reasons: 1. It is a pick-and-play game; hence you dont need to know any characters or any such storyline, all you need to do is pick either the good guys or the bad guys, kill your opponents, pick your weapons and skin, costumize your class (assualt, special ops etc) and battle it out. Ofcourse, the thing condition zero lacks is Battlefield's series of cars, planes and tanks making it more resourceful and entertaining. The game has two armies, U.S and North Vietnamese army. Each army has different classes (Sniper, Assault, Heavy Assault, Special Ops) note: there is no medic since each class has its own medical patch! Ok, apart from classes you have another option, pick your uniform and character (skin). 2. There are a huge variety of different weapons and vehichles to pick from, each class will give you an option to pick one from two different weapons gears! 3. Many new maps including jungles, capital city, river banks, sea shores etc. 4. Grass images more realistic; this time you can hide under intense grass in order to be prevented from being seen. 5. Vehichles have music in them which you can activate by pressing a button (U.S vehichles have American 60's music, Vietcong has different propaganda messages etc.) note: dont activate near any opponents base, since theyll hear you coming! 6. You can set traps if you pick sniper class. 7. If you come near a flag and want to capture it, a timer is set in order to know how long you should stay for, and if theres an enemy in the area, youll get a warning signal/blimp on the map! note: bring more people to the flag you need to capture and your capture timer speeds up!
Well, thats about that, all you need to know about the game, for more information visit their website at:
www.battlefieldvietnam.ea.com

Just the facts-

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: May 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Many of the reviews that you will see here are biased due to the fact that their hardware doesn't perform the way they want it to. Furthermore, they will proceed to review a game based on such merits vs the games actual advantages and disadvantages.

I don't like to compare this game to BF1942 because I think there are enough differences to seperate the 2. Naturally people don't want to pay for something if they don't have to .... thus justifying statements like "should have been a $20 mod." I paid $40 and its worth every cent. (and now you can get it from amazon for under $30!) Anyway, I have no alligence to EA but I honestly feel they did a good thing with this one. Heres some pros:

The vehicles are balanced - air / land supremecy is not a factor here with intermediate or better players. I felt as if the land vehicles dominated in 1942, and the air vehicles dominated in Desert Combat. Why that may have been the intent it leaves for very unbalanced battles and personally I enjoy a close fight.

new innovative features - I LOVE the fact that they integrated an old school sound track! I actually had a blast when 2 of my buddies jumped in the huey with me and I turned on the radio to "fortunate son" (everyone can hear it playing) and we ride into battle guns blazing! All vehicles have this ability. You can also use a "tunneling" feature as the VC - and set traps on vehicles. Theres nothing like trapping a tank and watching a bunch of crazies pile in .... believe me they will have a blast! ;) You can a pick vehicles up with helicopters and move them into battle, and in my opinion the air vehicles are easier to manuever than in 1942 .. but not TOO easy such as DC.

Perfoms well (keep in mind this is subjective)- Been on many servers with no major lag problems that I can actually blame on the game / server itself. Game looks good on my TI4600 even at lower performance. I have seen it played on multiple systems of varying hardware with no problems. I have seen forum after forum of people complaining about bugs. The typical cause? The infamous "no-cd" patches. Just buy the damn game ... its worth it.

Disadvantages: The AI in this is pretty good when cranked up but still not great. A bit predictable, but somewhat crafty at times. If you like single player it will probably be fun for a while but multiplayer is much better.

Overall this game is a keeper and goes into my collection. If you buy 5 games in 2004 this definitely ranks as one of them.

Gl and enjoy!

Don't waste your time or money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 60 / 115
Date: March 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is full of bugs. I paid for this product with the understanding that it would be the final product. I can not understand people who would give this game 5 stars when it was so obviously rushed to the market place for profit. Just becuase this is software and not, say for example a car should not mean we should except a poor quality product. Imagine buying a car and then writing a review, "It is a great car and I give it 5 stars out of five. I can't wait until they put out the rcall to make the brakes work and to stop it from stalling out when I reach 60 miles an hour." It is a double standard that software companies are used to getting away with. The game is choppy and the buggy. I have a top of the line system and it is still laggy with bad graphics. The AI is terrible. I would not buy this game again and I will think twice before buying another Electronics Arts product. This review is my opinion and is not based on what I have expirenced. Take it for what it is worth.

Very Good ... But Not Perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: April 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Cons:
- Single player is basic. No 'campaigns' or anything. You just pick a map and play. You'll want to stick with internet multiplayer. If you want good single player, try Call of Duty, or Medal of Honor.
- Most games have pros/cons to each weapon you choose. I've found this game heavily leans towards the big guns. If you like hiding with a sniper rifle, try a different game - Because the guy with the M60 or RPG will be getting you before you get them.
- People who are very skilled at helicopter flying will rule the game. This can be very annoying, to the point of basically ruining a game. For example, you spawn, and 1 second later you get hit (again) by a "Huey Gunship".
- You need some PC horsepower for this game. Don't get this game if your computer isn't fairly up-to-date.

Pros:
- Fun multiplayer.
- Lots of vehicles to pilot.
- Helicopters are challenging, but fun.
- Cool music. You can even play the songs (and your own MP3 files) in the vehicles when you're driving.
- Little information snippets about Vietnam that show while the map loads are semi-interesting. At least the first time you read them. One is poorly written, but is funny to read. Something along the lines of: "this particular tank was not a devastating weapon, but ...[extra words here]... makes it a devastating weapon."

Suggestions:
- A good joystick is very helpful. The Microsoft Force Feedback 2, for example, works very well with this for piloting planes and helicopters.
- Pay heed to the system requirements. I would recommend a 128 MB video card (I believe a Radeon 8500 is the minimum recommended) and 512 MB system RAM. Something along the lines of 2 GHz Pentium 4 or more would be appropriate.

This game is amazing.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: March 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First of all, you should not listen to negative reviews for this game. The people who complain about it obviously DID NOT READ the minimum requirements on the box!!! This game does have higher requirements than almost any other game I have seen (specifically, Geforce 3, Radeon 8500 or higher graphics cards).

With requirements like that, you should not even think of buying the game if your computer does not have at least a 64 meg graphics card and a cable modem.

Get the game if:
1) You have Nvidia or Radeon graphics cards greater than or equal to 64 megs.
2) You have a cable modem

DO NOT get the game if:
1) You have a 56K connection.
2) Your computer is old.

Now, onto the game itself:

I was blown away. The game is incredible. I run it with Medium video settings, and the game runs flawlessly. EA has added many nice touches. Here are a few:

1) You can no longer keep running when zoomed in (this is much more realistic)
2) All new weapons with all new, much more realistic sounds.
3) The sounds they have added are amazing. Next to the water you can actually here the water coming in and out, there are birds in the woods, and the sky is incredible. Not like the boring blue haze of the original Battlefield 1942.
4) The maps are much more immersive. The jungle maps especially. In some the foliage is so dense you sometimes pass an enemy within 10 feet without noticing them! That adds a lot to the stealth part of the game.
5) Timers letting you know how long until a base is taken, and alarms if a base is under attack.
6) A sniper is much more effective now with more accurate weapons. (Not to worry, the game hasn't turned into a sniper fest. Snipers aren't effective in all the maps because of the dense jungles in some).

Those are a few of the reasons I enjoy the game so much more than its predecessors.
If you have a good system and like FPS this is a MUST BUY.

P.S. Flight of the Valkyries is the best piece to play from your vehicle radio when in game :).

Simply Amazing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Hello,

I got this game for my birthday several months ago. Ever since, I have been having a great time. It is an AMAZING environment to play in. Imagine, walking around with an AKMS on the Ho-Chi-Minh Trail, with dozens of US Special Forces troops walking through the lush jungle (and when I say lush, I mean LUSH... you can barely see ten feet through the trees), trying to secure control points and keep them from taking your bases.

I think it is the most fun game I have ever played (up there with Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat Mod and Splinter Cell 2). The aircraft are just as fun. Hueys, Cobras, Mi-8s, F4s, MiG 17s, MiG 24s, Corsairs.... The fun just never ends. With 8 different gun loadouts to choose from and dozens of land and air vehicles, I think it's wonderful.

The best part about it, in my mind, is the various things you can do. I can instantly become a sniper, combat engineer, sabateur (with help from C4 and blowtorch), standard-issue GI, Heli pilot (attack), Heli pilot (transportation), armored cavalry (tanks), artillery, or anti-aircraft. With so much to choose from it greatly extends the amount of time you want to play. As long as there's something new and unexplored it's still fun.

Also, they really take care to make you feel like you're in the 60s. Not only do they put in the vehicles, weapons, and skins of the era but also they allow you to play popular music of the time and even include fact information on the war and what the Americans felt at home during loading screens. They also balance the game very well. The NVA forces have much less air power, only two types of helicopters (vs. 3) and much less fighter protection (usually only one to two planes vs. three to four in some cases). So instead of conjuring up some dopey excuse, they balance it by giving the NVA significantly more ANTI-air. They have guided rockets (SA7), heavy machine guns (RPD), and a ZSU Anti Aircraft battery. This way, you feel variation between the teams. Not all vehicles are alike, some are air-transportable, some are amphibious, some have heavy guns, others are fast. The guns are similar. The US gets the very powerful CAR-15 with medkit, and a M14 rifle, which is not too good. For the NVA, they get a balance of the very good AKMS, and the moderate HMK, which is a submachine gun.

I used a Dell Dimension 8200 with:

2.8 GHZ Pentium 4
1 GB RAM
128 MB Graphics Card (ATI Radeon 9700)
CD ROM
DVD ROM
Cable Modem (Optimum Online)

I'm 15 years old and I have played many games, but this one really stands out.

Do you have the guts? If you don't, buyer beware...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: March 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am a HUGE fan of the BF1942 Franchise. Not surprisingly, I was excited to get my hands on Battlefield Vietnam. Now, I know my computer is antiquated compared to the systems coming out today (DELL, Windows ME, 1.5GHz, 128MB Nvidia GeForce 4600 video card, 512 PC800 RAM, 80GB HD), but BF1942 generally ran well at 1200x1600x32 with high texture detail and high sound detail. I just loaded up BFV, and even at the lowest settings (or as low as I'm willing to play) 800x600 with low detail texture and sound, the frame rate is deplorable (and yes, I made sure that there was nothing running in the background). My computer is above the "minimum" system requirements (933MHz), but, even at the lowest video settings, the game is unplayable. I'm not just talking the occasional hiccup, I mean the entire screen image would stop for several seconds. I assumed that since BF1942 ran well and was fun to play on my system, that BFV would also work the same...nope. Clearly, the new graphics engine and AI requires significantly more system power than suggested by EA's published system requirements. I'm sure BFV would be great fun with a cutting-edge system, but if you have anything less than a 2.5 GHz CPU and the latest video and sound cards, I would not suggest buying this game. I guess it's time cough up another $3500.00 and buy a new system...yikes!

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