Battlefield Bad Company 2

[Aimless]

It isn't free. Or out, unless you're playing on PC.

 

For some reason the latest 360 update is Vietnam branded, but the pack itself is released on the 21st for £9.99/1200 points. Ostensibly the contents of the expansion is included in the 1.6GB download, although I'm not sure why.

[gaggle64]

I trust they'll be enough folks left on the "regular" flavour BBC2 - Vietnam sounds great but I'm hoping to avoid spending an extra tenner unless I really have to.

[Emasher]

Dice have done that for every expansion so far with BC2. In a way its a good thing though, as it means you don't need sit there and wait to play the game after you've purchased it, although, when I just want to go into the game and play a quick match, I'd rather they let me choose when I downloaded it.

[McPhee]

Ohh. Stupid Dice. The game told me I needed to update to play online and took me to the marketplace to buy "BFBC2 Vietnam Multiplayer Update" at 1.64GB. I just assumed that something with that name and that filesize would be the Vietnam update, not enforced preloading for an update that I may/may not buy.

[Aimless]

The update includes four new VIP maps — Oasis, Harvest Day, Heavy Metal and Cold War — so it's worth the download even if you don't intend to buy Vietnam.

[dwarf]

I trust they'll be enough folks left on the "regular" flavour BBC2 - Vietnam sounds great but I'm hoping to avoid spending an extra tenner unless I really have to.

You'll want to be playing Vietnam. It sounds like the perfect mix of BC2 & 1943.

[MadDog]

ah, i see now.

 

Still, i want the game back

[Emasher]

Vietnam is awesome. Full review to come, but I recommend everyone buy it.

 

Edit: Review:

 

The first thing everyone wants to know when a new piece of DLC comes out is how much content do you get for the money you pay. In the case of Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam, you get tons.

 

The game has about 20 different small arms weapons. A few are pulled right out of the main game, such as the M60 and the Uzi, as well as, you have access to all 3 of the Battlefield 1943 weapons that were included in the main game (provided you've unlocked them in the main game). Most weapons however, are either outright new, or have been changed around a bit from the Main game. The M16 for instance is the fully automatic M16A1 variant, as opposed to 3 round burst M16A2 found in the main game. The M14 in the game is an older wooden variant, and is fully automatic as opposed to the semi-automatic variant in the main game. There are new weapons as well, including the AK47 and the most significant new weapon, the flamethrower (which works just as you would expect one to in a battlefield game). Weapons unlocked in the main game (for obvious reasons) are not present in the Vietnam expansion aside from what I mentioned before (to be honest, I haven't looked to see if vietnam weapons can be used in the main game, but I doubt they can).

 

The classes themselves are the same as in the main game, they carry slightly different equipment, but otherwise they function the same way. The assault class carries a stand alone grenade launcher to replace the underbarrel one. It also still has ammo boxes (which have been re-skinned). The Engineer carries a blow torch instead of the power tool, and has a choice between an RPG-7 (No scope however) and AT Mines. The recon kit now lacks the motion sensors, however, includes both TNT and binoculars to call in artillery strikes, rather than having to choose between them. Finally, the medic still carries Med Kits (which have been re-skinned), as well as a syringe which is used to revive fallen teammates.

 

For the most part, the perks are exactly the same as the main game. 4x Scopes and red dot sights have been removed however as well as the spotting scope perk. The The vehicle alternate fire perk now gives tanks a flamethrower rather than a coax gun as well. There may have been other changes I haven't noticed yet however. You have access to all the available perks that you unlocked in the main game (and speaking of that, your rank and experience points are carried over from the main game).

 

Vehicles are basically what you would expect. Both sides have virtually identical tanks and jeeps. There's also a patrol boat (which has machine guns rather than grenade launchers), and a helicopter (Huey). The helicopter is identical to the black hawk, however the pilot is able to shoot missiles from it (I think this is only available if you have the alternate fire perk, but I'm not sure). The other change is that small arms fire (regular bullets from any gun) can damage it. There's also another light ground vehicle, however, it isn't available in any of the maps that have been released yet. Strangely, the game lacks mounted weapons.

 

Now the big one. Maps. The game has 4 of them at the moment, with another one that is to be released once enough support actions have been performed (basically the same as Air Superiority mode getting released in 1943). The 4 that are out now are good, but not perfect. The maps really aren't designed for vehicles. The vehicles are useful, but aren't nearly as important as they were in some maps in BC2, and nowhere near as important as they were in 1943. There just isn't that much room to do anything with the land vehicles, you can use the jeeps to transport people faster, true, but they're really easy to take out, so that's about all you'll be doing with them. Most of the maps aren't really that open either, so the tanks role is basically to drive down the rode and be used to kill as many people as possible before someone takes it out. There isn't really any strategic demolition, or tank on tank fights. Patrol boats as usual can't get very close to the action, and helicopters, while useful, are really easy to take out. Aside from that though, the maps are great. Despite all being in the vietnam jungle, each one feels unique. One is based on a hill, with fox holes all over the place, and one side having been destroyed by napalm. One is based in the ruins of an old ancient temple, one is relatively flat and surrounded by rice fields, and the last one that's already been released is in a hilly sort of area with a swamp at one end, and a village at the other. Despite the vehicle thing, they're all great maps, and for the most part, are better than the ones in the main game. One thing to note however is they only have 3 bases in Rush mode, so games tend to be a little bit shorter.

 

The sound is just as good as it was in the main game. A number of songs from the era are featured in the menus as well as in vehicle radios. Visually, vietnam is exactly the same as the main game.

 

If you liked Bad Company 2, I can assure you that this is worth the price tag ($14.99). If you didn't, you should probably consider that gameplay wise, its very similar to the main game before buying it.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Emasher

[McPhee]

The chopper in Vietnam is the UH-1 Huey. That's why it's got weapons. The Blackhawk is primarily a troop transport whereas the Huey was the first real attack helicopter. It's smaller than the Blackhawk and rather vulnerable to small arms fire (as all helicopters were in that time period, the US lost near 5000 in 'Nam!).

[Dyson]

I needed to drop this somewhere; just picked the game up on the Steam sale the other day and performed this stunner (by my standards anyway):

 

 

On a TOW missile!

[MadDog]

Got this back, so we need to get a squad going and deal out some epic ownage sometime, who's in yo.

 

Oh super, half hour wait for a 1752mb patch, .

[dwarf]

I'll be up for that Madz, I'm still waiting for irl friend to buy Vietnam so I can PSN share that shit. Otherwise I'll be happy playing standard shizzle in the mean time.

 

I think lag has been pretty bad recently though.

 

[MadDog]

I noticed lag a few times last night actually. Had some great games with Aimless, never played conquest on Arica Harbour before, and i really enjoyed it. Was raping with the Akhban (sp?).

[Emasher]

I'd be up for anything, Vietnam or otherwise for the next week or so on PSN.

 

Provided the rest of my PC parts arrive soon, I'd be up for playing the PC version with anyone as well, however, I don't have Vietnam for the PC.

 

I'll be up for that Madz, I'm still waiting for irl friend to buy Vietnam so I can PSN share that shit. Otherwise I'll be happy playing standard shizzle in the mean time.

 

You might want to be careful with that. Sony's been cracking down on that lately and quite a few people have been banned (Name, IP, AND MAC address).

[Aimless]

I noticed lag a few times last night actually. Had some great games with Aimless, never played conquest on Arica Harbour before, and i really enjoyed it. Was raping with the Akhban (sp?).

I think they were some of the most even matches I've played in terms of skill level. We were far more proactive in securing flags, but the other team were surprisingly organised with their attacks.

 

I notice the stats server appears to be completely screwed at the moment, often resetting me to rank 0 when entering games. I guess it must be due to an influx of Vietnam players and people getting the game for Christmas, and as always EA underestimated the network requirements.

[dwarf]

The game was riddled with those stat issues, it just appears it's much more frequent at the moment. And yeah MadDog, that be the Abakan, it's very effective, in fact it may as well be a fully automatic because you just have to spam r1 and it'll probably end up in a kill, though it was nerfed slightly, now it's not utterly rape at close range, though before it was a bit of a joke.

 

Still, it's fun trying out all the guns, very glad I came across the F2000. The patches have actually kept the game a bit fresher because everything swaps around a bit. I don't find myself using the PP2000 anymore though, DICE ruined it.

 

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