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Evaluation ofBattlefield Vietnam

Presentation

Aaron Curley

(For Professor Bruce Maxim, CIS 487, Fall 07)

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Basic Information - 1 Game Title: Battlefield Vietnam

Players often refer to the game as BFV. Released March 14, 2004.

Company & Author: Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (DICE) Owned by Electronic Arts (EA).

Type of Game: First Person Shooter Current Price: Approximately $10-$15 if purchased

online.

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Basic Information - 2 Manufacturer Stated Hardware Requirements

Processor: 933 Mhz CPU* RAM: 256 MB* Graphics Card: 3D accelerated GeForce3 64 MB or equivalent

DirectX9 compatible video card (cannot be integrated graphics).** Hard disk space: 2 GB free hard drive space (additional space

required for Windows swap-file and DirectX) DirectX Version: 9.0b CD Rom: 16x CD-ROM drive Sound Card: DirectX 9.0b Compatible Sound Card Mouse: MS compatible mouse Keyboard: Any standard keyboard   * The manufacturer recommends a 1.2 Ghz CPU and 512 MB of RAM. ** For optimal performance, a Geforce 4 128 MB (Not MX) or equivalent

DirectX9 compatible video card is recommended along with a 2.0 Ghz processor.

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Basic Information - 3 Actual Hardware Required

Actual hardware required is not precisely known. Information here is based off of a test machine’s ability to run the game.

The test machine had the following hardware specifications:• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 processor 3.0 GHz (dual core)• RAM: 512 MB DDR SDRAM• Graphics Card: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9200 (64 MB dedicated) • Hard disk: 80 GB enhanced-IDE hard disk drive (4200 rpm)

Required approximately 2.4 GB hard disk space• More than stated by the manufacturer, but that figure included

the WW2 mod, patches, and extra tools. On lowest graphics detail, the game ran with respectable

performance.• The presence of “jumps” in the graphics imply that the test

machine was just barely keeping up.• Doubtful that it could run on a machine with 256 MB of ram.

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Game Summary - Overview Successor for the game Battlefield 1942. Based off of the Vietnam War.

Two teams: the U.S. and N.V.A. Maps, weapons, and vehicles are modeled after real weapons

and vehicles at the time. Greatly emphasizes the use of teamwork and strategy.

All maps have strategic “control points” that can be captured. Captured “control points” are then used as bases for your team.

Different maps have different strategies/rules. Each team has a number of “tickets”. When a team’s

tickets reach zero, the other team wins. Tickets are lost when team members die. If a certain number of “control points” are not maintained,

tickets slowly “bleed” (decrease).

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Game Summary – Player Role / Storyline Player’s Role – A soldier fighting for either the United

States or the North Vietnamese in a battle during the Vietnam War.

Storyline – No storyline beyond the current “map”. User controls an anonymous soldier with no known history. User switch sides easily and often. Focus is only on winning the current map for your “team.”

• There is no overall “state” of the game - Winning a “map” does not affect, for instance, the “state” of the war.

• Maps can be played in any order and with different settings.• Maps can be repeated.

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Game Summary – Installation - 1 Initial Installation:

Very easy. - Installer worked properly.• Requires data from all 3 CDs. Installer prompts for the different

disks when they required. Can choose to install “extra” tools.

• MOD development toolkit.• Map editor.• Dedicated server manager.

An anti-cheat tool called “PunkBuster” is required for most servers online. Installation is easy and automatically launched by the Battlefield Vietnam installer.

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Game Summary – Installation - 2 Patches:

To play online, your game’s version must be 1.21. Users who own the initial release version of the game (not the

“Battlefield Vietnam Redux” release) will have version 1.0 and will need to patch.

It is recommended to also install the official WW2 MOD so it is available to be played when desired.

Three patch files need to be downloaded. Two of the files are large:• Vietnam version 1.2 patch. (295 MB)• Vietnam incremental 1.2 to 1.21 patch. (10 MB)• Battlefield Vietnam WW2 MOD. (298 MB)

The 1.2 update and WW2 MOD have a circular dependency problem. WW2 MOD requires at least v1.1, but the 1.2 update says to install

the WW2 MOD first.• To patch, you have to install the 1.2 update, WW2 MOD, re-install the 1.2

update, and then finally install the 1.21 incremental patch.• Takes quite a while to do this because of the large patch file sizes.

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Game Summary – User Interface - 1 There are two “sections” of Battlefield Vietnam’s user interface:

The “configuration” user interface.• This is used to start a game, join a game, or change settings.• The menu structure used can be confusing for new users; it is not initially

obvious which items are “sub choices” of the currently selected menu item.

• The game does have a good lobby design; it is very easy to locate a game with the desired settings.

The “in-game” user interface.• This is used while actually playing the game.

• Uses the mouse to face in a certain direction. Clicking fires the current weapon.

• Uses the left hand on the keyboard to walk/move.• Other keyboard buttons perform actions such as crouching, opening a

parachute, or chatting.

• The default controls may be changed easily to suit any user’s preferences.• Is this standard first person shooter set up?

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Game Summary – User Interface - 2 It’s not intuitive

that the second group of choices are sub-items of the “options” choice.

Here, these choices are sub-items of the “controls” item.

It’s easy to forget to press the “save” button after changing the controls. A “would you like to save changes” message would be nice…

The so-called “configuration” user interface:

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Game Summary – User Interface - 3

The user interface in the game:

Use the mouse to aim and fire.

The keyboard makes you walk.

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Game Summary – Game Play Battlefield Vietnam’s game play focuses on providing a

realistic battle experience to the user: “Real” physics and effects. “Real” weapons and vehicles from the era.

Some compromises were made during design to make the game more interesting: Vehicles are not “exactly” the same as “real life” versions to

avoid having a vehicle that has too much of an advantage.• Ex: Helicopter rockets require a delay between firing.

Weapon packs• Each player can choose from a variety of weapon packs.

• Each pack has advantages and disadvantages.• Players can steal weapons left by a dead soldier, but they have to

swap the entire weapon pack, not individual weapons. Players respawn at “control points” that are currently owned.

Many different strategies can be used.

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Game Summary – Scoring The “ticket” system is used to determine the team that

wins. Each player is scored individually based on his own

actions: Number of kills. Number of “control point” captures. Number of deaths. Number of team kills.

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Game Summary – Artwork Artwork is pretty good; graphical effects are decent. Don’t expect things to be up to today’s standards.

Remember, we’re talking about a 64 MB graphics card here.

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Game Summary – Sound & Music Game has 3D sound effects:

Nice to hear from which direction shots are coming from.

Music is excellent: Songs are classics from the Vietnam era. Music plays on menu and while game is loading. Some vehicles have radios in them to play music in the game.

What’s really cool is hearing the Doppler effect as a helicopter flies by with music playing loudly.

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Game Summary – Special Features A number of support tools are included with Battlefield

Vietnam. Dedicated server program

• Included on CD.• Free to download; no purchase necessary.• Can get Linux version from the Internet.

Map editor• New maps can add a lot to the game.

MOD development toolkit• For instance, DICE created a WW2 MOD for Battlefield Vietnam,

allowing containing three of the original 1942 maps.• Other MODs made by other people are available.

“PunkBuster”• Prevents cheating.• Can be annoying when it doesn’t work properly.

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Game Summary – Manual No electronic manual could be located.

Some parts of the official strategy guide located online.

It is impossible to be sure if a printed manual came with the game. The game was purchased a while ago and the manual could have been lost. However, it’s likely that no manual was included.

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Game Summary – Bugs - 1 A crash to the desktop.

Occurs when anything goes wrong.• Annoying because it is difficult to say what went wrong.

Activating the 3D map feature in certain non-official maps causes the game to crash immediately in this way.

Maps that experience the 3D map crash are large and complex maps that are made by a third party.

• Likely that the bug is triggered by large resource requirements of the map.• Could be an issue with the map, and not the game.

The “stupid reload bug.” If the player is injured while reloading a weapon, the reload procedure

starts over abruptly. This wasn’t in the original game. This bug was introduced by a patch.

Collision detection issues. Mid-air collisions are often not registered. Helicopters can be flown through small doorways into the building on

occasion.

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Game Summary – Bugs - 2 Network de-sync issues.

Might not be considered a “bug.”

User clicks “fire”, game lags, no rocket is displayed, but target explodes.

The server registers a “hit” when the client shows a clean miss.

• For instance, sometimes an obvious miss such as this rocket going past an enemy helicopter still registers a “hit” on the server due to slight de-sync of server and client. Other times, hits are not counted.

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Game Review –What Makes It Fun? - 1 The presence of a large number of different weapons

and vehicles. These allow invention of new strategies and the use of weapons in new ways:

Using C4 (plastic explosives) to time the destruction of a base’s tower.

Flying up extremely high, bailing out, and dropping dynamite on enemy players from above.

Theft of an enemy troop transport and use of it as an ammunition supply for your troops and bases.

• (Will provide infinite ammo for a base’s defensive turret.) Flying a weaponless transport helicopter at an enemy tank and

bailing out, using the helicopter as a missile. Stealing the enemy “weapon pack” that contains the item that

can carry the enemy’s mobile spawn point and stealing the enemy spawn point. This eliminates the use of the spawn point by the enemy.

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Game Review –What Makes It Fun? - 2 The ability to use any unoccupied vehicle nearby.

Allows the “theft” of enemy vehicles from enemy bases. Allows “vehicle hopping” where players jump into a vehicle, use

it, and then jump to another vehicle once the current one is damaged.

The fact that each “weapon pack” and vehicle type has advantages and disadvantages.

Users must weigh the pros and cons. Allows combination of weapons and vehicles.

• Choose the “weapon pack” with the wrench and fly a helicopter. After taking damage, land in an obscure location, use the wrench, and take off in your now-repaired Huey.

• Setting up a mortar next to an ammo box to get infinite shots. The force of explosions acting upon nearby objects.

Being thrown in the air by an exploding jeep and parachuting down.

When a jeep with enemy soldiers around it explodes, the soldiers fly into the air in every direction.

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Game Review –What Makes It Fun? - 3

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Game Review –What Makes It Fun? - 3 Helicopters!

One of the most fun and challenging vehicles. Tricky for even pros to fly. Powerful rockets but weaker armor. Various types.

Teamwork element of the game. Filling a transport helicopter and quickly taking a control point as

“control points” are taken faster with more allied units in range. One person shooting with a tank while the other hides behind it

and continuously makes repairs. Person at the front line “spots” for the guy at the mortar. Many vehicles have “gunner” positions where a second or third

person can shoot while the other drives. Some...amusing…unrealistic behaviors in the game.

Allied units riding on the helicopter rotors, firing heat-seeking weapons at enemy helicopters.

Landing helicopters upside down on repair pads.

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Game Review –What Makes It Not Fun? - 1 Unbalanced Maps

Many maps give an unfair advantage to one team or another. On these maps, if teams are evenly matched with skill, one team

will nearly always win. The fact that a stolen enemy main base does not

usually respawn vehicles. For instance, once the enemy’s main base has been captured

and it’s helicopters destroyed, they do not respawn for your use. This is likely caused by the settings embedded in the built-in

maps, because custom made maps do not have this issue. The presence of a dominant strategy in some maps.

A level where the NVA team always destroys all US towers right away, causing there to be no competition.

Some wide-open-field levels with no vehicles or cover. Annoying because there is not much strategy other than “shoot

like heck and die”. Simple Fix: Just don’t play these, and play the others instead.

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Game Review –What Makes It Not Fun? - 2 Allied “bots” (computer players)

The bots on your team seem to be oblivious to you. They often hamper your efforts:

• Stealing your parked vehicles• Driving you into the enemy line when you want to use the turret at a

safe distance.• Taking off with all the helicopters and flying aimlessly around, leaving

you left with no vehicles. Killing them when they annoy you causes you to be punished for

team killing. It’s best to play without bots on your own team.

Invincible fences and “sandbag” walls Tanks and other large vehicles cannot drive over extremely short

fences and tiny rows of sandbags along the ground. For a game released in 2004, it’s understandable that all

buildings and terrain elements cannot be destroyed; however, tanks should be able to drive over minor obstacles instead of getting “stuck.”

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Game Review – Comparison to Similar Games - 1 Compared to other games of the time, Battlefield

Vietnam was good competition to other games. It placed less emphasis on perfect graphics, sound effects, and

perfect physics.

It placed more emphasis on the ability to have many strategies (in other words, making the game fun).

• Different vehicles – In fact, Battlefield 1942 was one of the first games to allow a player to use empty vehicles in the game.

• Many weapons

It placed very little emphasis on a storyline.• When levels are loading, some historical facts are displayed while the

user is waiting. • Nothing else in the game that remotely resembles a “storyline.”• The game is primarily a multiplayer game.

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Game Review – Comparison to Similar Games - 2 Compared to today’s games, Battlefield Vietnam is

outdated in some areas, but other areas are still good.

Graphics ability – When running at the highest graphics detail, Battlefield Vietnam’s graphics are impressive, but do not rival today’s newest game graphics.

Strategy – The ability to use so many different strategies in Battlefield Vietnam still is a great attribute that entices people to continue playing it, even when new games are available.

• Some people who played newer Battlefield games and went back to playing Vietnam and 1942 because they did not like how certain fun strategies in Vietnam and 1942 were prevented in the newer games.

• Battlefield Vietnam requires a mix of the intellect (to plan a strategy) with technical skills (to carry out the strategy).

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Game Review – Comparison to Similar Games - 3 Overall, Battlefield Vietnam is better than a number of

other games of its time and even some modern games today, not because of the game’s graphics, physics, or sound effects; but rather because of the game’s excellent design choices.

Of course, this is a matter of what the game player prefers to see in a game.

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Game Review – Appropriate Audience Although not extremely violent, Battlefield Vietnam is

about killing the enemy players, and therefore is probably appropriate for teenagers and adults who will understand that the game is “just a game.”

Furthermore, it should be understood that many other online players use obscene language in their chat messages, and therefore if the game is to be played online, swearing and cursing will likely be encountered.

Players of Battlefield Vietnam should be willing to lose if they are to play online.

New players will die repeatedly until they get up to par with other real players.

• It will take time.• New players might practice in the single player mode for a while first.

Even pros will lose often.

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Game Review – Design Mistakes Battlefield Vietnam had some initial design mistakes

and imbalances that were changed by the patches. Certain “weapon pack” unbalances were corrected, namely, the

the American pack that had both an M60 and LAW weapon in it. New vehicles added. Damage ratios adjusted.

Some other design issues still exist that can be annoying.

Often, when you shoot someone directly in front of you in the head, that person does not die, but rather only takes some damage and then has a chance to kill you.

• Might be best to allow 1-hit-KO shots if the shooter is within a certain distance and aims at the player’s head or heart.

The supply of vehicle “respawns” is infinite.• Destroyed parked vehicles quickly reappear with no penalty to the

team.

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Summary – Overall Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths:

The numerous types vehicles and weapons. The “balanced” nature of the game.

• There is not a single dominant weapon or vehicle. The ability for players to “invent” new strategies and play the

game in numerous different ways. The ability to install custom maps and MODs.

Weaknesses: Graphics not up to par with today’s standards. Certain map imbalances.

• Weapons / vehicles are balanced well, but certain maps could use some work.

• Maybe the designers wanted the maps to be historically accurate. The physics are not quite right in some cases. Some annoying bugs:

• “The reload bug”.• Collision detection.• Network de-sync issues?

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Summary – Is It Worth Purchasing? Is it worth purchasing? Yes!

Definitely one to get a copy of, even if you have other games in the Battlefield series.

Only $10 – $15, and you might even get it cheaper. Buy the “Redux” release to avoid the annoying patch issue, if

possible.• If not, make sure you have a fast Internet connection to download the

patches.

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Summary – How Could it be Improved? Fix any bugs. Better graphics/physics. Improve computer player AI.

The bots are incredibly stupid. Balance the maps better.

You can also do this yourself by downloading or making new maps.