Should you pay?

This review of Day of Defeat: Source is not just a review of a game, or a review of a mod, but a statement on whether or not mods are financially viable. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that there are people – a lot of people – who would have paid for Counter-Strike, Enemy Territory, Day of Defeat, or Desert Combat. With the exception of Enemy Territory, these are mods that are different enough from the core game on which they are built to make a new game. Half-Life deathmatch was underwhelming, yet it spawned the most popular multiplayer shooter ever. Clearly, that is a testament to the worthiness of mods as a commercial product.

There is the other side of the argument, of course, that we’ve been getting mods for free. The fact is that we will continue to no matter what, since these end-user add-ons won’t gain the popularity they need to charge money by charging it in the first place. Even if paying becomes standard, it won’t be exclusive as long as someone wants to make a name for himself.

With Day of Defeat: Source, this issue is more complicated. It’s already heavily based on previous source matter that was well developed. Counter-Strike: Source has set the precedent of releasing a free version of an updated original as well. Are there better games? That solely depends on taste; Enemy Territory is not as fast-paced or realistic, but the gameplay is more evolved. Medal of Honor isn’t nearly as pretty and while it retains the tempo, it doesn’t have as much realism to it. Battlefield 1942 is much larger and slower, and features vehicles – for better or worse.

What it comes down to, however, is that the development team exchanged the number of maps and weapons for visual goodies, and then decided to charge money. More maps aren’t necessarily better but four is a prohibitively small number for a multiplayer game, especially one that actually costs the player money. Fancy artwork and the beautiful HDR lighting notwithstanding, it’s hard to justify the value.


Mods have to offer more before they go commercial. Simply making the graphics nice doesn’t cut it. People aren’t still playing Battlefield 1942 and its add-ons for the graphics. They’re playing because of the experience it offered. With DoD: Source already having been delayed so much, Valve could have held off until more content was available for the launch. Most people simply would not have noticed.