Vietnam Hardware #1: A Tale of Two Tanks

Just in from EA's Battlefield Blog

Vietnam Hardware #1: A Tale of Two Tanks

Welcome to Vietnam Hardware -- our new blog series on the upcoming expansion Battlefield:

Bad Company 2 Vietnam. Stay tuned every Thursday for never before published info and

screenshots, straight from the developers here at DICE.

Fact: If it ain't got tanks, it ain't Battlefield. In the upcoming expansion Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, the North Vietnamese and the US Army get one new tank each to take into the fray.

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Say hello to our little friend.

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North Vietnamese fly swatter on loan from Russia.

The American and Vietnamese tanks function pretty much like in the base game, with one driver/main gunner, plus room for one extra soldier to man the machine gun. The driver may also fire a secondary weapon from within the tank, if he has the required vehicle specialization.

Since the NVA don't have any real AA guns to talk about in this expansion, their tanks will often play the very important role of mobile air defense. The US tank is no less important as part of a winning strategy, and has the added luxury of a number of 60's themed radio stations to enjoy while on duty. The enemy can actually hear the music from outside as well, so it's not just for the driver's enjoyment.

Niklas Fegraeus is Lead Designer on the Vietnam expansion. We caught him between two playtests to get some inside info on the upcoming tanks:

Hey Niklas, what's the biggest difference in tank warfare in the Vietnam expansion compared to the base game?

-- The actual gameplay from within the tanks is pretty much classic Battlefield fare. The threat image versus the tanks is a bit different in Vietnam, though.

Is that because there is less high tech weaponry and gadgets in the Vietnam expansion?

-- Exactly. For example, there are no fixed anti-tank weapons or tracer darts here, so there is generally more enemy infantry in close proximity of the tanks, trying to take it down with dynamite or unguided RPG's. It's kind of a theme in this expansion, I think. The battle is more up close and personal in general.

Cool. Hey, I noticed during our playtests that the design of the NVA tank changed recently. Why was that?

-- Well, in the interest of finely tuned game balance, we decided to give the NVA tank a domed machine gunner position -- instead of the historically correct approach, where the soldier would actually pop his head up to look around. That's just asking for a headshot, and would cause massive imbalance in this multiplayer expansion.

So there you have it. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam will be released winter 2010. In the meantime, check out these previews from Tokyo Game Show:

IGN Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Takes you to Vietnam

Gamespot Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam First Look

Eurogamer Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam Hands On

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