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KILL DEATH RATIO
Battlefield:
Bad Company
2: Vietnam
When we realised there were not one but
two colons in the title of this expansion, we
figured we’d need not two but three brave
and able-bodied soldiers to deliver a report.
Instead, we got DYLAN BURNS, KEN LEE
and JAMES O’CONNOR.
Ken: I think you all know by now
that I absolutely love Battlefield:
Bad Company 2. I was really looking
forward to the Vietnam DLC: A
new setting, new maps and new
weapons. It hasn’t disappointed
so far, although there are things I
haven’t come to terms with yet. Even
so, there are plenty of changes that
I feel have had a positive impact on
the game. The first of which are the
new weapons, and more importantly,
how scopes have been removed from
most of them. Without the scopes, I
either need to be far more accurate,
or get in closer. This leads to more
intense skirmishes, which really ties
into the Vietnam feel. What do you
guys think?
Dylan: The flamethrower is pretty
cool, but it’s hard to get kills with.
Even though the maps encourage
more close quarters combat, an
AK beats a flamethrower most of
the time. In fact, an AK is pretty
damn handy even for snipe shots.
I like what they’ve done with this
expansion, embracing the era and
translating period-related limitations
to the gameplay experience. In
some ways it evens the playing field,
especially for players who previously
had upgraded sights on their
automatic weapons.
Ken: I definitely agree that the
Vietnam theme is incorporated
very strongly into the design of the
game, in terms of visuals, audio, and
gameplay. Even the title screen gives
you a clear indication of that Vietnam
vibe, with the shirtless soldier with a
flak jacket, and Creedence Clearwater
Revival’s Fortunate Son blaring in the
background. The feel is just spot-on.
The flamethrower breaks my
heart too. I love flamethrowers in
videogames, but there’s a real lack
of punch in Vietnam. I’m sure it’s
been balanced to prevent people
from abusing it, but nonetheless,
when I set someone on fire, I expect
them to die!
The other big addition to the game
are the maps, which I feel are very
well done. One of my criticisms
of the maps in vanilla BC2 is how
narrow and funnelled the maps feel.
There’s a small corridor leading
to the objective points, and the
areas around those points are
quite cramped as well. In Vietnam,
the objective points are still quite
cramped, but the areas leading up
to them are wider, allowing for more
22 www.pixelhunt.com.au
march 2011