We soar high and sneak through the jungle with our first look at Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam.
EA hasn’t been shy about releasing regular post-launch content updates for its Battlefield Bad Company 2 game since the title went on sale earlier this year. Six free map packs have been released in total, tacking on additional maps at no cost and giving the already brimming online community of shooters something new to play with. Teased briefly at this year’s E3, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam marks a turning point in the DLC strategy, reskinning and aging the existing multiplayer game to provide players with the same shooter experience they’ve come to know and love, and moved it into a different time period. EA was showing off the expansion at its TGS 2010 press conference, and we got our hands on it.
Set up across four consoles as part of a larger online game, we played Conquest, a mode Battlefield fans will already be familiar with. For those uninitiated in the ways of war, Conquest requires teams to capture and defend flag points scattered across the playfield. Locations are only held as long as they can be defended, and it’s not uncommon to scrap for possession as teams fight it out at different spots and force players to make snap decisions on whether to stay and secure, or move to cut off the enemy and claim more ground. EA reps on hand at the event confirmed that B:BC2 Vietnam will not include any single-player component, and will be entirely focused on expanding online competitive and cooperative play.
Likewise, player rank and persistency will play a larger role, revealing that there will not be an unlocking process to get your hands on the biggest and baddest weapons. Rather than stagger upgrades, all items will be available from the word go to avoid offering only a small handful of guns to choose from. The development team believe it will be “the best way to play Vietnam” and as a result, future DLC will most likely follow the same design mantra to avoid the grind. Just because it’s all ready and waiting to be shot doesn’t mean that long-term play has fallen by the wayside. You’ll continue to earn experience points for every bit of turf captured and kill made, with courage determining your badge and ribbon rewards in the line of duty.
Chatting numbers with the development team we were told that the game will ship with around 15 new weapons, including Viet Cong mainstay the AK-47 assault rifle; six new vehicles, of which we saw a jeep, tank, and the Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” helicopter; and four new maps, including the Phu Bai Valley, a mountainous piece of terrain with a smattering of marshy areas, thick jungle undergrowth, and well-worn dirt paths primed for roaring vehicles to negotiate. Hopping into the hot seat of a missle-ladden chopper is further amped up by the inclusion of era-appropriate music, giving your explosive mayhem its own soundtrack as you perform village straffing runs and dodge gunfire from ground troops.
The lineage of this game is evident in its look and feel, but this new expansion brings with it a distinctive, and recognizable setting. No pricing information has been made public yet, but keep your eyes peeled for Charlie hiding in the grass when it ships on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC late in 2010.
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