Gameplay

If you've played Battlefield 1942, you'll feel quite at home in Vietnam. The mode played most often is still Conquest - in fact, I had difficulty finding any other kind of server online. Conquest has gone through some changes that make it more systematic, in order to avoid the blowouts and wild comebacks of 1942, but it's still quite a wild and woolly game.

For those unfamiliar with the Battlefield system of play, let me describe it first. Each team starts off with a certain number of tickets. Every time you respawn, you use up a ticket. However, tickets will also count down for the team that doesn't happen to own enough flags. Now what "enough" means varies by map, but generally a count-down won't start until about two-thirds of the flags are in one team's hands. The more flags a team has, the faster his enemy's tickets go down. The ticket counter isn't rapid, but it's quick and steady enough to give a decisive score advantage to the winning team. The flag capture timer is dependent on the number of friendly and enemy soldiers within capture range - so three friendlies capturing a flag will do it three times as fast as one, but only twice as fast if an enemy is around. This has the welcome benefit of being able to capture a flag despite a well-hidden enemy.

Unlike vanilla Battlefield 1942, both teams have spawn points that are permanent and cannot be captured. On most maps, there are also mobile spawn points available. For the American and South Vietnamese faction, this normally takes the shape of a crate that can be transported by helicopter, but on some maps it's a large river boat. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces make do with tunnels which are picked up and moved by engineers with shovels - don't ask.


As you can tell, realism isn't really a focus of Battlefield Vietnam. It wasn't so in Battlefield 1942 and we're not complaining. Some of the most interesting and useful features of the game wouldn't be possible if it was realistic. Helicopters can pick up tanks and armored personnel carriers to move them around. Although a difficult and risky task, it's extremely rewarding when pulled off right. Nothing wreaks havoc with an enemy's plans than dropping a tank on top of a hill that overlooks their forward base.

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