BFV is a solid fun FPS. Pros: numerous mods and maps available to expand it. Cons: Gameplay is somewhat repetitive.

User Rating: 8 | Battlefield Vietnam PC

Bought this game a while ago as I've always been interested in the Vietnam conflict mainly because I was a youngster when it happened and have since absorbed all the popular culture about it (that is Hollywood's various takes on the Vietnam War).

I had read various reviews of it and its sister games in the Battlefield (BF) series and was somewhat ambivalent prefering story/mission driven FPS games. Anyway I played it for a while and became a bit jaded with the gameplay and I guess lack of variety, despite the various "historical" engagements depicted. I then played the excellent story driven Men of Valor (Sierra) and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt a return to the wet green and orange skies was in order. However I got into playing several other FPS and tactical shooter games and put BFV on the backburner.

Recently my son set aside his RTS games and wanted to try an FPS, I suggested he give BFV a go. He loves it ... especially after I downloaded and installed some of the great MODs and MAPs that are available at the various fan or gaming websites (more on this below). So now between bouts of GRAW and SOF2 I have found myself again indulging in the odd BFV mission and am finally prepared to conclude my review.

Basically the gameplay in BFV revolves around selecting your weapon load-out kit and selecting a "spawn point" which is usually one of a number of friendly bases. Your mission is essentially to capture the enemies bases and defending your own and captured ones. So during an average game there is a lot of capturing, losing and recapturing of bases. Most games seem to follow this pattern and consequently can become somewhat repetitive. Points (or tickets) are gained/lost for eliminating enemy units and capturing bases (or flags). If you die you pick a new spawn point which, depending on your progress, may be your original base or a captured one. A summary screen shows how many enemy you have dispatched and how many times you have been resurrected.

I'm probably in a minority here but I prefer the Delta Force Xtreme (DFX) and Joint Operations (JO) gameplay in that you have much of the freedom of BFV (or BF2) but with task-oriented missions rather than just attack and/or defend bases. Graphics-wise I understand BFV is a great improvement over BF1942 but DFX/JO is still superior in that regard.

What for me sets BFV and its sister games apart (I own BF2 but not BF1942) is that you can also operate different land, sea and airbased vehicles. So you can indulge in being a battle tank commander, helicopter or fighter pilot (I'm yet to master this) or sail a vessel. This is part of the fun factor. You can ofcourse operate land and naval vessels in DFX/JO but there is a greater variety of them albeit the DF/JO vehicles are easier to operate.

Each time you (re)spawn you can select one of two weapons load-out options for each of the four roles you can take on, namely gunner (generally bolt action or assault rifle or SMG), engineer (mines or explosives), heavy assault (LMG or grenade/AT launcher) and sniper (a choice of usually single versus semi-automatic sniper rifles). Each of these comes with various additional or secondary armaments (eg pistols, grenades, engineering repair tools, punji sticks, etc).

Having exhausted the games that come with "vanilla" BFV including the WW2 MOD I set about tracking down some of the mods that were developed for BFV and there are LOTS of them, many though not all are available here at Gamespot. Here are some of the best MODs, in my opinion, together with the (latest?) version I have installed on my system:

o WW2 (Ver 1.0 which comes with the Redux edition of BFV)

o Arsenal (Ver 0.5 ... a must have MOD, adds Aussies, French and Vietminh among others to BFV)

o Eve of Destruction (Ver 0.15 ... a must have grittier more realistic Vietnam game ... also available in more up to date format for BF2 which by the way is THE best way to fight Vietnam battles using the BF engine)

o Point of Existence (Ver 0.44 ... a great MOD covering hypothetical combat between US and Russia in Sudan, also available in more up to date format for BF2)

o WW2 Extended (Ver 0.9 ... a good MOD that covers the maps in BF1942)

o Bush War (Ver 0.35 ... a good MOD covering the anti-insurgency battles in southern Africa hence a logical MOD to BFV)

There are numerous other MODs and literally hundreds of extra maps for vanilla BFV and the MODs. I have not downloaded the Operation Peacekeeper (OPK) MOD for BFV as I already have the updated version for BF2. Anyway you can find many mods and maps here at Gamespot so give them a go and bring new life to BFV! The MODs of course do nort change the gameplay but add variety which keeps the game reasonably "fresh".

There is much to quibble about in BFV especially the AI bots ... you can adust the settings of these and increasing the difficulty means they become more lethal shots and are harder to dispatch. You can also adjust the number of AI bots running around on the map and the ratio of enemy to friendly bots. On the plus side is that the game intentionally or otherwise does reflect the feel of a modern counter-insurgency campaign ... the enemy will infiltrate to try and take your base(s) or retake its own ... there are no real front lines.

Another non-gaming plus is that the Vietnam period is nicely evoked by the now classic music of that era as well as soundbites from the news.

Finally, I cannot comment on the multiplayer aspects of BFV as I don't play on line (although I have played COOP on LAN by myself as with DFX/JO).

SUMMARY: My rating of BFV reflects more on the enjoyment of the MODS and MAPS than pure vanilla BFV alone. Obviously the BFV (and BF2) "engine" is VERY "mod-able" so what the BF games do seem to provide is VARIETY of "historical" settings and battles. Not many games I own can do this ... DFX/JO does but to a more limited extent probably due to the greater popularity (or mod-ability) of the BF series.

Hint: if you don't have BF1942 don't worry the WW2 Extended MOD for BFV gives you (I understand) all the maps included in that game BUT with the superior graphics of BFV. So you get BF1942 for "free"!

STOP PRESS (12 June 2009): 3FL Gaming (part of Westnet the Australian ISP) has made BFV Point of Existence MOD (FINAL) Client file released a few days ago available for download ... this bypasses the Torrent (only) option currently offered by the mod makers.

Link: http://www.3fl.net.au/downloads/?dlid=2620