Battlefield: Vietnam

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Team-based first person shooter set in the Vietnam war
• Command powerful Vietnam-era vehicle -- F-4 Phantoms, transport helicopters, and more
• Master the weapons of jungle warfare including pongee sticks and booby traps
• Wage war online from dark jungles to villages on the Ho Chi Minh Trail
• For 1 or more players over LAN or Internet

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001AO01Y
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: March 15, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (249 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,470 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #87 in Video Games > PC Games > Action > Shooter

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Battlefield franchise enters a new era equipped with more firepower, modernized weaponry and vehicles, and a deeper infantry experience from the jungles to the beaches of Vietnam. From villages on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the city streets of Hue wage modern warfare as the United States or North Vietnamese Army (NVA).

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Select from a variety of characters within the different soldier classes as you command powerful new vehicles including attack and transport helicopters, the M551 Sheridan tank, and the F-4 Phantom fighter jet on the U.S. side and the Russian-made T-54 tank, the MIG-21, and Mi-8 multipurpose helicopter on the NVA side.

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Go to war in new dramatic battle scenarios including leading a squadron of helicopters in an all-out attack on an enemy compound, executing an ambush of enemy soldiers from dense foliage, captaining a PT boat through a dangerous jungle river passage, and more. Grab your M-16, ready the Napalm, and prepare to enter some of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War.

Product Description

Battlefield: Vietnam takes the incredible realism of modern wargaming, into one of the deadliest struggles in American history. Wage modern warfare as a member of the U.S. Army or as part of the North Vietnamese Army(NVA). Understand the danger and drama of jungle combat. Whether you're calling in air strikes from the ground, or leading a squad of Huey in helicopter combat, you'll know war firsthand. Speaking of radios, all US vehicles have radio stations that equipped, so players can hear classic rock songs from the late 60s and early 70s Multiplayer game maps lets you play the best in online shooter action

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nowhere to run to baby...., April 21, 2004

By 

Christian Hunter "Christian Hunter" (Austin, Texas Santa Barbara, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battlefield: Vietnam (CD-ROM)

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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just the facts-, May 25, 2004

By 

Ryan Kane "kizzane" (Wichita, Ks United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battlefield: Vietnam (CD-ROM)

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!

38 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but not as elegant as BF1942, March 28, 2004

By 

Philip Lochner (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battlefield: Vietnam (CD-ROM)

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.