Battlefield Vietnam

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006)

Battlefield Vietnam
Developer(s)	Digital Illusions
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Armando "AJ" Marini
Series	Battlefield series
Engine	Refractor 2
Version	1.21
Platform(s)	PC
Release date(s)	NA March 14, 2004 PAL March 19, 2004
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) PEGI: 16+
Media	CD-ROM (3), Redux edition CD-ROM (4) Bonus Disc
System requirements	933 MHz CPU, DirectX 9.0b, 3D accelerated AGP Nvidia GeForce 3 or ATI Radeon 8500 64 MB or equivalent DirectX 9 compatible video card, DirectX 9 compatible sound card, 256 MB RAM, 2.0 GB free hard drive space
Input methods	mouse, keyboard, joystick

Battlefield Vietnam is the second computer game in Electronic Arts' Battlefield franchise after Battlefield 1942. The game was developed by the Swedish company Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts on March 15, 2004 in North America and days later in other parts of the world. Battlefield Vietnam takes place during the Vietnam War. The game features a large variety of maps based on historical settings, such as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Battle of Hue, Ia Drang Valley, Operation Flaming Dart, The Battle of Khe Sanh and Fall of Saigon. Many parts of the game have been influenced by popular Vietnam War movies. Examples are the player's ability to play Ride of the Valkyries on the radio and the tiger striped M79 from Apocalypse Now.

On March 15, 2005, EA re-released the game as Battlefield Vietnam: Redux, which includes the 1.01, 1.02, 1.1, and 1.2 patches, new vehicles, maps, and an EA-produced World War II mod, based on the previous Battlefield 1942.

Gameplay

Battlefield Vietnam has the same point by point objectives of Battlefield 1942; there are two teams on either end of a map, each team has a set of "tickets" that they start out with. The teams can deplete the enemy tickets by killing opposing players and/or capturing flags ("control points") on the battlefield. If a player is killed, he can re-spawn on one of the flags that his team owns. Between respawns, players are able to change their character class, effectively switching equipment kits. The player may also destroy an enemy control tower at an airfield or helicopter base which disables vehicles to be spawned at that location, thus making the airfield or base useless.

Factions

Battlefield Vietnam features the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet-Cong.

Features

Built on a modified Battlefield 1942 engine, Battlefield Vietnam had many new and improved features from its predecessor. The game gives the player a variety of weapons based on the war. Many weapons fill this game from CAR-15s and AK47s to punji sticks (antipersonnel booby traps) and land mines that can disable a tank. It also has several additions to it, such as air-lifting vehicles and, while in a vehicle, playing the vehicle's radio, which featured 1960s music. Players can also replace the vehicle soundtrack with their own music tracks by pasting .mp3 files in a "My Music" folder inside the game's main folder, reverting back to default music when deleting those files. Another notable enhancement is the ability to fire from the passenger sides of vehicles, rather than having to sit without using weapons. Another new and very useful feature, the 3D map, can be activated by the player, allowing him to see icons on screen that represent the position of control points or friendly units, giving the player an increased situational awareness that Battlefield 1942 did without.

The game features a variety of famous military vehicles from the war, that are drivable by players. These include vehicles such as the M551 Sheridan, M48 Patton, the AH-1 Cobra, F-4 Phantom II and the Huey chopper. However, North Vietnamese and NLF (Vietcong) players also get access to a wide range of vehicles, such as the MiG-17 & MiG-21 jet fighter, ZSU-57-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, PT-76, T-54 tank and even a Vespa scooter.

Maps

BF:V also features default maps as well as some user-made downloadable maps. While the maps retain the basic 2 factions, some maps could have the US Marine Corps while others could have the US Special Forces etc. and thus, the weapons on one map would sometimes be different from another one.

Modifications

There are numerous modifications (called mods) to Battlefield Vietnam available for download. One of these modifications was produced by DICE, and is called Battlefield: Vietnam World War II modification. This modification consists of the Pacific maps of Battlefield:1942 remade with BFV graphics. New weapons such as a flamethrower and a mortar launcher were added to this version.

Music Soundtrack

The track list for Battlefield Vietnam included throughout the game play is as follows

1. Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Fortunate Son" (opening theme)-As a reference to Platoon (film) and Forrest Gump.
2. Edwin Starr - "War"
3. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - "Nowhere to Run"-As a reference to Good Morning, Vietnam.
4. The Troggs - "Wild Thing"
5. Rare Earth - "Get Ready"
6. Canned Heat - "On the Road Again"-As a reference to Tour of Duty (TV series).
7. The Guess Who - "Shakin' All Over"
8. Count Five - "Psychotic Reaction"
9. Deep Purple - "Hush"
10. The Kinks - "All Day And All Of The Night"
11. The Kinks - "You Really Got Me"
12. The Box Tops - "The Letter"
13. Jefferson Airplane - "Somebody to Love"
14. Bobby Fuller Four - "I Fought the Law"
15. Budapest Symphony Orchestra - "The Ride of the Valkyries"-As a reference to Apocalypse Now.
16. The Trashmen - "Surfin' Bird"-As a reference to Full Metal Jacket.
17. Jefferson Airplane - "White Rabbit" (Menu theme, instrumental remix)-As a reference to Platoon (film).

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	84%[1]
Metacritic	84%[2]
Review scores
Publication	Score
GamePro
GameSpot	8.5/10[3]
IGN	8.2/10[4]
X-Play	[5]

Battlefield Vietnam received generally positive reviews. Critics praised the graphical improvement, vast selection of maps, vehicles, and weapons, and online multiplayer. Critics criticized the single-player enemy AI for being very unintelligent. The AI will not fire upon you instantly if they see you. They may wait 5-10 seconds before releasing several rounds. This unintellegence makes it very easy for the player to kill enemy AI.

References

External links

• Battlefield Vietnam at the Internet Movie Database
• Battlefield Vietnam at MobyGames