10-Mar-2004 War. HUH! What is it good for? Many would have it that it's good for absolutely nothing. Edwin Starr and a variety of other songsmiths, blaring their lungs over the Battlefield Vietnam loading screens are certainly in that camp. When you've just lost control of a US chopper, however, and are travelling downwards at terrifying speeds towards the rice paddy where you've just dropped off your fellow marines while you leap from your fractured, exploding helicopter and watch it pirouette into the Vietcong forces... Well, then at least you can admit that war is extremely good for computer games. Some might say it's exceptional.
Roll Call Just to quell any doubts, Battlefield Vietnam is still the game you know and love from BF1942 at heart. A few nips and tucks to the modes, a plethora of new features and far more complexity to the lush environments, but the old Battlefield vibe still hangs heavy in the air. As soon as we booted up the preview code and gazed lovingly at the machines of death that surrounded us, we felt very much at home, thank you.
Among the toys you're given to play with are the usual heady mix of jeeps, tanks and planes, now complemented by some ingenious new (for the '60s) vehicles that boost the potential for online chaos no end. Airlifting is the name of the game here: M60-laden Hueys ferry soldiers to and from battle hot-spots, Chinook choppers deliver tanks and jeeps to newly captured bases, while the North Vietnamese Army's (NVA) amphibious troop transports scuttle around the banks and rivers fending off Yankee oppressors.
Incidentally, those NVA aren't quite the hole-dwelling guerrillas Hollywood would have you imagine either. They've got MiGs, assault helicopters, towable M46 artillery cannons and a platoon of non-armoured, gun-free scooters. Bizarre.
Back To Life A fair amount of thought has clearly been given to the politics of spawn-points. As per usual, your presence in and around the capture points on the map will result in your flag being raised and spawning a-go-go. Only this time round, you'll see exactly how long it'll take to capture. The more team-mates you have around you, the faster the process will be. Vietnamese engineers will also have the ability to dig out bolt-holes that'll act as camouflaged spawning sites, while the US have boats that can be moved around the more watery levels for better spawn locations.
You'll be able to choose between assault soldiers, engineers, heavy artillery and sniping scouts, each with their own range of weapons. On Charlie's side there's the ubiquitous AK47, flare guns, shotguns and SA-7 heat-seeking missiles. The US hardware, meanwhile, is a lot shinier and more technological than the grimy Chinese and Soviet weaponry of the NVA (what with the napalm, M60s and XM148 machine gun/grenade-launcher combos). While that would be good for documentaries and the like, fortunately our thorough play-testing showed everything to be well balanced and in good fighting order from a gaming point of view. There shouldn't be many whitewash-style, blitzkrieg victories in this simulated conflict - just as there wasn't one when the US stormed in for a quick and easy dust-down back in the '60s.
Band Of Bots True to form, in the admittedly early code we were playing, the single-player bots were still pretty vacant and not far elevated above the circle-driving, ally-shooting divots of BF1942 - despite the fact they're more likely to listen to your radio commands. It's in multiplayer however, that BFV will always show its true worth. Moments like the first time I was fragged by a Bouncing Betty mine (whose modus operandi is to spring out of the ground to gut-level before exploding) were just so magical that I can barely wait to use the same dirty trick on unsuspecting BF Vietnam virgins as soon as the game goes live.
The vehicle physics and controls, meanwhile, are just as much fun (and fiendishly tricky) as they ever were. Helicopters are still bastards to fly, as the hours I wasted trying to hook tanks onto my Chinook will readily testify. But the practice and skill required for airborne manoeuvring has always been, in my opinion at least, one of Battlefield's greatest, addiction-harbouring assets.
There's no doubt that Battlefield Vietnam has huge potential, and that it has huge, looming rivals in the form of Söldner: Secret Wars and the delectable temptation that will be Joint Operations. If I were a betting man, however, I'd place my money on the Battlefield franchise. With such a ridiculously strong community and so many ingenious nuggets of gameplay, it's pretty safe to say that Charlie's going to be everywhere. In the trees, on the rivers, falling out of the sky in badly piloted choppers...
While climbing through the hills of the Ho Chi Minh trail, I'm sure you'll be amazed to find a recreation of part of the set of The Swiss Family Robinson - or, if you've seen it, a little known film called Return Of The Jedi. Yes, you too will be able to let loose the logs of war and watch them tumble down the hillside, flattening marines, disrupting tank movement and causing balance issues with passing imperial artillery. Logs - truly nature's weapon of choice.
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