“I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. The smell, you know that gasoline smell. Smells like victory.”– (Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore, Apocalypse Now)

I don’t think any game has accomplished the feeling of actually living in a certain era as well as Battlefield Vietnam. From the incredible soundtrack that features songs such as CCR’s “Fortunate Son,” Deep Purple’s “Hush,” “War” by Edwin Star, “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane and a host of other popular songs from the memorable 60s and 70s, to the N.V.A. announcing over loudspeakers “G.I. your helicopters fall from the sky like broken birds, they lie to you G.I., it is a good idea to leave a sinking ship, you have lost this war G.I.,” etc., the game almost gives you a glimpse of what it may have been like to fight in the Vietnam War. The other fun part about the game is the fact that you can draw several similarities from war movies such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket.

To start off, if you’re thinking this is just another expansion to Battlefield 1942 you are making a mistake. This is an entirely new game with much better looking player models as well as a big increase in foliage such as grass, weeds, rice fields and trees. The terrain also seems to have more detail and variety while not giving the fell of being wide open. As far as the other improvements, the rendering engine has been completely rewritten, there is a timer for the flag change so the player knows how long it will take, the more teammates you have at the flag the faster it can be taken, the team is immediately informed if a flag is threatened with capture so they can react to it or at the very least be aware of the enemy, and there is a 3D map function so the player can more easily identify where control points are or even locate teammates faster.

Similar to the original Battlefield, you can choose from single or multiplayer modes. I haven’t even attempted single player yet because there have been many improvements in the bots. If you haven’t tried Battlefield 1942 then you wouldn’t know that the bots in it are very dumb, doing things like randomly running around, getting into vehicles and not doing anything, and not fighting as a team. The multiplayer definitely makes up for it though, which is what you’ll probably end up playing 90% to all of the time. If you can get on a good server with a good ping and adequate hardware you’ll most likely have a good time.

Most of the maps are based on actual missions from the Vietnam War, which is always a nice touch from EA and Dice. The maps are also smaller, which is a great improvement for combat on the ground, but it may seem a little cramped for players looking to take to the air in one of the two planes offered for both sides of the fight. Like I mentioned above the environments seem much more realistic, with more vegetation, hills, crevices, and small mountains.

The first difference in the vehicles that you will notice right away is the ability to play music, including the songs mentioned above, on the radio. Some obvious differences that you will notice among vehicles are the addition of helicopters, and that the N.V.A side has a small, two person motor bike/scooter. Other vehicles that are great additions are transport helicopters (that can carry troops and vehicles), boats (a la Apocalypse Now), as well as the normal Vietnamese vehicles such as jeeps, tanks, planes and armored transport vehicles.

The weapons in BF Vietnam are all that you would expect and then some. Firearms like the M16, AK-47, M60, CAR-15, and AKMS are some of the popular weapons of choice along with mortar, grenade and heat seeking rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, depending of course on what class you choose to be. The American Mossberg Shotgun can be really fun to play with for closer combat, whereas the sniper rifle is more suited for distance. The four classes that you can choose from are Infantry, Engineer, Demolitions, and a sniper class.

My major complaint with ‘Vietnam’ is that is the occasional slow down, the long loading times in-between maps (they try to keep you from being bored in-between by giving you War facts and music from the soundtrack on the loading screens), sort by ping and a few of the other features for multiplayer don’t seem to be functioning properly, and the radio becomes annoying after extended periods of play.

If you enjoyed playing Battlefield 1942 and the popular mods for it like Desert Combat, I would recommend picking up this game. It really does a fantastic job at letting you in on the Vietnam era, and I’m sure that after a few patches it will be even better. The game almost gives you a glimpse of what it may have been like to fight in the Vietnam War, and it is a great improvement since the revolutionary BF 1942.

The Good
-New Improved Character Models
-More Vegetation
-Smaller Maps and Better Environments
-Good Variety of Weapons and Vehicles
-Excellent Music!

The Bad
-Can get laggy (make sure to get on a good server)
-Long loading times between maps
-Some functions in the menu don't work such as sort by ping
-The radio can quickly become annoying

Overall, I give it a score of 8/10.