Eve of Destruction is a free modification of the popular Battlefield Vietnam game by DICE/EA, based on the Vietnam war. No other military conflict is comparable to those dramatic years of the 20th century. Most rumors spread about the Indochaina and Vietnam War are not honest, even though it was the best documented war in history. No other conflict was that controversal and pointed to an unloved fact: not our enemy is the only source of evil, the evil can be found within ourselves. The "Eve Of Destruction" mod is a tribute to the U.S. , ARVN and Vietcong/NVA soldiers who fought and died in Vietnam, and also to the Vietnamese people.
For such a well-known mod, I expected a much better experience. The only fair way for me to review this mod is to break everything down by topic.
Weapons: 1/10.
EoD only adds a few new weapons, including the “SLR”, really the L1A1, an L1A1 sniper that never existed, and a few weapons like the Remington 870 shotgun and Nambu pistol. All are poorly modeled and look like something out of a cartoon. Worse, some of the existing weapon models from BfV have been replaced with cartoonish models as well, like the M16 and CAR-15, and most weapons have near-perfect accuracy and almost no recoil. The sound choice is horrific also. Very, very poorly done.
Factions: 1/10.
Much like the Bf1942 version of EoD, this version’s representation of the South Vietnamese (ARVN) is so minimal that, as much as I hate to use this word, it feels racist. BfV-EoD adds twenty-eight new maps, and the ARVN is only featured on five of them. EoD also adds the Australian faction, which mostly re-uses the American character sounds, apart from a few wound/death screams, one of which sounds more like a squeal than a scream. The developer seems to think that Vietnam was the US’s war and the South Vietnamese just dropped in occasionally. Never mind the fact that the ARVN suffered four-five times as many casualties as the US, to say nothing of how many troops they actually had involved. The fact that this mod is advertised as a “tribute” to “all” the soldiers who fought in Vietnam is nothing short of laughable.
Vehicles: 3/10.
This is the first place where the mod starts to get it right. It does add a few decent vehicles, and even nice remodels of the existing T-54 and BTR-60. But a lot of the other remodels and new vehicles don’t look nearly as good as the original. The developer also apparently missed the fact that the Soviet BMP-1 and the American M60 Patton were NEVER used in Vietnam. Much like the weapons, the sound effects are awful; most notably, a BROKEN version of the base game’s M60 sound effect is used as the standard sound effect for most American vehicle-mounted MGs. Helicopter rockets have been switched from having decent visual effects (in the base game) to effects that don’t look anywhere close to right. EoD adds a few good vehicles, but like other aspects of the mod, misses the target far more often than hits it.
Maps: 2/10.
There are a few decent maps in EoD, but a lot of them are pretty bad. Some have almost no way at all to cause ticket bleed, meaning they go on too long and completely overstay their welcome. On the flipside, some others are far, far too easy, and have really poor bot performance. There are some decent ones, but overall, the same thing applies as does to vehicles: EoD misses the target far more often than hits it.
Bots: 1/10.
Apart from giving the bots the ability to use knives and handguns, plus a few other minor improvements, EoD’s bots are actually WORSE than the base game. They’re stupid, love to get stuck on objects, are awful pilots, and generally ineffective as a fighting force. Not only is their performance poor in general, on some maps it’s so awful they aren’t even worth playing against. I played the map “Saigon Jungle” once, with these results:
US Kills: 8 (7 of which were mine.)
NVA Kills: 4
US Deaths: 39 (1 bot was killed by a teammate, and 34 other bots killed themselves. I don’t know how.)
NV Deaths: 31 (23 bots killed themselves.)
US Flag Captures: 5 (4 Neutral+NVA Base, ALL of which were mine.)
NVA Flag Captures: NONE. NONE.
Historical Accuracy: 1/10.
Normally I wouldn’t rate a mod on this, because most don’t try to be historically accurate, but EoD claims to be based on real history. But from the vehicles that never saw service in Vietnam, to vehicles that are used throughout EoD but only saw minor use or didn’t enter the war until the later years, maps that barely recreate the battles they’re based on, and the complete under-representation of the South Vietnamese, EoD gets a flat 1/10 for historical accuracy.
Overall: 1.5/10.
Final conclusion: As a modder myself, who has put almost eleven years into Operation Remembrance as of this review's date, I would be ashamed to release this mod in its current state. And yes, I KNOW that it only made it to V0.20 before being abandoned, but that’s no excuse. For everything EoD added, something else was taken away. It slid backwards for every step forward it took from the base game. I spent nine years getting Operation Remembrance ready for release, because I wanted to put out something that was actually good. The developer for EoD made a half-hearted attempt and then abandoned it to go back to developing the Bf1942 version, and also making a Bf2 version to try to stay relevant. I’m shocked and confused as to why this mod is as highly rated as it is, and while it does have a few elements in it that I’ve borrowed for Operation Remembrance, other than that, I won’t be putting any more time into it.
The best way to play Eve of Destruction is Battlefield Vietnam. And yes, this mod is the best way to play Battlefield Vietnam.
Think of everything that was wrong with the base game and imagine it was fixed.
It was, every, single, thing.
This mod is absolutely perfect! The weapons sounds are well suited; especially the AK-47, SVD, and the SKS. However; the reloading sounds for the RPD and the SVD are a bit wonky, and desperately need to be fixed. The trucks are a bit un-maneuverable, but that is not a major issue. The radios in some of the additional vehicles don't function; but its not too worrying at the moment. In all; the mod has only minor flaws; and they can't be considered negative impacts on the mod itself.
Great mod...no words...
needs new updates to compete with the Battlefield 1942 version