Battlefield Vietnam Gold

[Mephex]

EA is pleased to announce that Battlefield Vietnam has officially gone gold for the PC. The game is set to ship nationwide to retailers under the EA GAMES brand on Monday, March 15.

The Battlefield franchise is entering a new era with more firepower and beautiful yet ferocious new combat settings. Offering an arsenal of weapons and vehicles authentic to the Vietnam conflict, players will battle in first-person perspective. Staying true to the over-the-top, action-packed multiplayer style that gave Battlefield 1942 its critical and commercial success, Battlefield Vietnam will drop players into some of the Vietnam War’s fiercest battles. Fighting in theatres from jungles surrounding the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the city streets of Hue, players will choose from two well-equipped forces, the United States or the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Vietcong. All of this action will be accompanied by the sounds of an authentic Vietnam era soundtrack to immerse the player into an experience similar to that of a Hollywood film.

Battlefield Vietnam was developed by Swedish based Digital Illusions' Canadian office and is rated “T” (Teen) by the ESRB. The game’s official website is www.battlefield.ea.com

Looks like this one's going to have to replace my aging CoD server

Seriously though, I'm excited about the new helicopters, new models, new maps, new ways to frag babay!

[tritium]

I'm with ya on the choppers ... that and a rumored port of DC

[Destrox]

Are there any graphical upgrades? or just the same ol' engine with limited view distance.

I'm buying it either way, just curious if i'm buying a mod or a actual new game.

[Mephex]

Originally posted by Destrox
Are there any graphical upgrades? or just the same ol' engine with limited view distance.

Yup, they upgraded the engine, all new higher-detail player models, as well as more lush terrain. It's supposed to look really nice.

There is a brief mention of the new look in this preview : http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=21226

[Silvy]

Oh boy, just when I realised I'm flat-out broke...

So many good games coming out these months, it's hard to keep up!
Will they release a demo?

[bltzkriegmcanon]

This was taken from an interview with AJ Marini, Lead Designer for Battlefield Vietnam.
From EA Games

Q: Are there plans for a multiplayer demo? If so, when can we expect to download it?
A: We would have liked to do a demo for the release of the game, but there just was not time. We may do a demo in the future, stay tuned.

So, I guess this means that there *might* be a demo in the future. Most likely there will be, though. It just won't happen before the release.

[Destrox]

A good demo, is a demo made after or upon release. Anything else is not what the final product will be, so I wouldnt call it a product demo, but a beta/test.

[Lasereth]

The *only* thing that is making me dubious towards BF Vietnam is the fact that the helicopters aren't gonna control like in Desert Combat. Oh well, I guess we'll get used to it, but I figured they'd copy Trauma Team's (DC creators) control scheme for the helicopters since it's so popular.

-Lasereth

[Mephex]

Originally posted by Lasereth
The *only* thing that is making me dubious towards BF Vietnam is the fact that the helicopters aren't gonna control like in Desert Combat. Oh well, I guess we'll get used to it, but I figured they'd copy Trauma Team's (DC creators) control scheme for the helicopters since it's so popular.

-Lasereth

It's a good call, since Trauma is invovled now, but the general consensus is that EOD's 'copter control is much better then DC.

It should be cool either way, as long as it's still tough, need to give us pilots an edge ya'know

[JohnnyRoyale]

Hell, any improvement on the choppers will be appreciated...of course, the best parts going to be watching DC chopper pro's trying to use those skills on the BF choppers, which'll probably have completely different physics.

[Lasereth]

They've already announced that the copters will control differently than EoD and DC, so I think we're all fucked until we master the BF: Vietnam copter controls.

-Lasereth

[opackfan]

im drooling over the two trailers on the website...mmmmmmm ccr

[GakFace]

Sorry thats all I gotta say.... I can't wait!!

[bltzkriegmcanon]

Roger that.

[Redjake]

Originally posted by opackfan
im drooling over the two trailers on the website...mmmmmmm ccr

Brings back a good story.

Back when Desert Combat first launched, I was trying to find an awesome "I'm flying in a helicopter to beat ass" nostalgic song. The first thing that came to mind was "CCR - Fortunate Son." I put it in Winamp, and started DC, and got in the UH-60 helicopter and lifted off the ground with my teamates, and oh was it a joyous site. The song fit PERFECTLY. There's just something about Fortunate Son that kicks ass and takes names. Perfect song for flying helicopters over the horizon. I played the song during Desert Combat for months. Then the Vietnam trailer comes out, and guess what, Fortunate Son

[bltzkriegmcanon]

CCR - Fortunate Son and Ride Of The Valkeryes (sp?) are easily 2 of the best fit songs for beating ass with helicopters, especially with the UH-60.

[JohnnyRoyale]

Ok, just loaded & played a version...at 640X480, 16 color, single player, low resolution, with my standard BF setup (running nothing else), and the lag was so bad I quit after 2 minutes. Now, my version was a loaner, so I didn't re-optimize or anything, bus still, Damn, that was some screwey stuff.

[tritium]

Originally posted by Redjake
Brings back a good story.

Back when Desert Combat first launched, I was trying to find an awesome "I'm flying in a helicopter to beat ass" nostalgic song. The first thing that came to mind was "CCR - Fortunate Son." I put it in Winamp, and started DC, and got in the UH-60 helicopter and lifted off the ground with my teamates, and oh was it a joyous site. The song fit PERFECTLY. There's just something about Fortunate Son that kicks ass and takes names. Perfect song for flying helicopters over the horizon. I played the song during Desert Combat for months. Then the Vietnam trailer comes out, and guess what, Fortunate Son

Guess it has something to do with the fact that its been used in just about every Jungle-warfare, Vietnam-era movie in existence... its a paradigm you expect to hear now.

[nanofever]

Not to promote anything warez-y but a little green man told me that BF:V retail is allready being distributed...

Which should mean those bad, evil pirates will be good at the game on day one.

[JohnnyRoyale]

Originally posted by nanofever
Not to promote anything warez-y but a little green man told me that BF:V retail is allready being distributed...

Which should mean those bad, evil pirates will be good at the game on day one.

UUmm, Yea, that's the ticket... Us evil pirates. I mean THOSE evil pirates.... Really, I'll buy the thing, If I can figure out why it's so crappy on my system.

[John Falcon]

I can't wait until Monday!

[hu-man]

I hear rumours that you can stream mp3's from your computer when you fly in the chopper... I wanna do that... play Tom Waits' Singapore... that oughta scare the shit outta the VC!

[bltzkriegmcanon]

Those rumors are quite true. I think there's a limit on how many songs you can put in there, though. I'm trying to find it on eagames, but to no avail. Perhaps later.

[TerraFORM]

Looking forward to this one.

Although I hope the new helo physics aren't too different or, more correctly, are not unintuitive.

I've become quite the HIND pilot but I'm sort of ambivalent about the new physics.

[Ooja Nikaboloko]

They wont be the same as DC ( the choppers that is). So all you DC'ers will need to re-learn

Oh , and I heard the transport choppers have auto-hover.

[Mephex]

Originally posted by TerraFORM
I've become quite the HIND pilot but I'm sort of ambivalent about the new physics.

Wow, the HIND is really hard to be consistent with ! And it's true, the game is to feature all new controls for the helos. I'm grabbing my copy today, I'll post back with my impressions

[Silvy]

Originally posted by Mephex
I'll post back with my impressions

PLEASE do!

I'm really curious (and I'll have to wait for my check at the end of the month )

[Redjake]

I just went all around town and no one has it. The game store in the local mall has it, but they got 12 copies, and 12 people reserved them. So I'm screwed for a little while.

[Redjake]

Originally posted by tritium
Guess it has something to do with the fact that its been used in just about every Jungle-warfare, Vietnam-era movie in existence... its a paradigm you expect to hear now.

Yeah but it was great because I didn't watch any movies recently or Google it or anything to find the song. I just thought of one that would be cool and that's the first that came to mind. Then we played it a bunch, over and over, and then it comes in the Vietnam trailer A nice surprise.

[Redjake]

ok guys, I won't mention how I played it, because TFP doesn't support that kind of stuff, but here's my review so far

Helicopter controls: Perfectly fine. VERY similar to Desert Combat. The only difference is that it's easier for newbs to control it, and you can stay at a position in the air without touching anything. Let go of keyboard and mouse and you hover. It played "Bird is the Word" by the Trashmen when I got in the helicopter

Infantry: OH MY GOD. The weapons are SPECTACULAR. The reloading animations are INCREDIBLE. The best part is the sound, also. My God. I love it. Huge explosion sounds and huge assault rifle sounds. Very loud and crisp. The pistol fires VERY fast now, as fast as you can click. I can unload the entire clip in about 2 seconds.

Menus: PERFECT. Very "vietnam-ish." It does what Vice City's menus did for with the 80s. Plays CCR's "Fortunate Son" (did I call it or what) during the main menu.

Intro CG: Awesome as hell. Also plays Fortunate Son.

Graphics: Good. Reminds me of Far Cry. Flora EVERYWHERE. At your home base, a radio blares news about the Vietnam war.

Loading times: No longer than regular Battlefield (at least on my computer).


My impressions so far: A MUST-HAVE. Will buy it as soon as the stores get it here. The best parts overall so far: The weapons and level design.

[Silvy]

Sounds good... now I'm just waiting for the cash

[bltzkriegmcanon]

Yeah, I concur with what RedJake said, having played it myself, it's a must-buy. Just waiting for the retailers in Boone to get their shit together.

[Ooja Nikaboloko]

What spec is ya system Jake? Id like to know how mine is gonna handle it.

[Redjake]

Originally posted by Ooja Nikaboloko
What spec is ya system Jake? Id like to know how mine is gonna handle it.

People exaggerate how much we need to upgrade

I'm running a GeForce 4 Ti4200 128 MB, Abit NF7-S, Barton 2500+, and 768 MB PC2100 RAM. I ran it on HIGH DETAIL and HIGH SOUND! And it was playable! I could stand to clock it down a bit, but it was just too awesome with the graphics all the way up.

[Lasereth]

I just got done with my first play-test. Holy shit! Fans of the first Battlefield need to play this ASAP. Oh, and DC Copter fans: don't worry, the copter controls are nearly the same as Desert Combat. There are a few minor changes, but you'll get used to them in no-time.

The graphics are amazing! It runs damn good on my PC too. I'm running an Athlon XP 1900+, 512 MB of PC2100, and a GeForce 4 TI4200.

I'm gonna go play it some more.

-Lasereth

[theburner]

Damn. I need to hurry up and finish my pc so I can pick this up. Sounds AWESOME!!!!

[Redjake]

one of the interesting (and fun) aspects of the game is already apparent: the flora makes sniping and ambushing very easy out of the 30 or so times I've died so far, I saw who killed me around 7 times. the rest of the time I was shot from a bush or something it's awesome....

you can prone inside a plant or bush too, and nuke everything with the Animal Mother machine gun.

The rocket launcher is AWESOME

[bltzkriegmcanon]

Same thing for me, I get killed and almost never see any of the people who pwn me. It's pretty cool though. I think the first patch that EA releases is either gonna mega-nerf the rocket launcher or remove it entirely from the Animal Mother class, because that combo is uber-powerful, there's literally no better class in the entire game so far.

[Mephex]

Originally posted by Redjake
you can prone inside a plant or bush too, and nuke everything with the Animal Mother machine gun.

What was your name ingame ?

I'm still undecided, it needs patches.

I'll post more when I've slept on it.

[Johnny Rotten]

Reviews of the game are up now--

1UP.com:
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrank...eviewid=337122
score: 7.0 out of 10 (70%)

Gamespy: http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/march04/bfvietnampc/
score: 4 out of 5 stars (80%)

IGN:
http://pc.ign.com/articles/499/499490p1.html
8.2 out of 10 (82%)