Evaluation of Battlefield VietnamBasic Information - 1Basic Information - 2Basic Information - 3Game Summary - OverviewGame Summary – Player Role / StorylinePowerPoint PresentationGame Summary – Installation - 1Game Summary – Installation - 2Game Summary – User Interface - 1Game Summary – User Interface - 2Game Summary – User Interface - 3Game Summary – Game PlayGame Summary – ScoringGame Summary – ArtworkGame Summary – Sound & MusicGame Summary – Special FeaturesGame Summary – ManualGame Summary – Bugs - 1Game Summary – Bugs - 2Game Review – What Makes It Fun? - 1Game Review – What Makes It Fun? - 2Game Review – What Makes It Fun? - 3Slide 24Game Review – What Makes It Not Fun? - 1Game Review – What Makes It Not Fun? - 2Game Review – Comparison to Similar Games - 1Game Review – Comparison to Similar Games - 2Game Review – Comparison to Similar Games - 3Game Review – Appropriate AudienceGame Review – Design MistakesSummary – Overall Strengths and WeaknessesSummary – Is It Worth Purchasing?Summary – How Could it be Improved?1Evaluation ofBattlefield VietnamPresentationAaron Curley(For Professor Bruce Maxim, CIS 487, Fall 07)2Basic Information - 1Game Title: Battlefield VietnamPlayers 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 ShooterCurrent Price: Approximately $10-$15 if purchased online.3Basic Information - 2Manufacturer Stated Hardware RequirementsProcessor: 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: 9.0bCD Rom: 16x CD-ROM driveSound Card: DirectX 9.0b Compatible Sound CardMouse: MS compatible mouseKeyboard: 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.4Basic Information - 3Actual Hardware RequiredActual 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.5Game Summary - OverviewSuccessor 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).6Game Summary – Player Role / StorylinePlayer’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.78Game Summary – Installation - 1Initial 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.9Game Summary – Installation - 2Patches: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.10Game Summary – User Interface - 1There 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
View Full Document
Unlocking...