Desert Combat: Lost Village

Category: Jason Recommends

Monday, May 26, 2003

The latest update (version .35) to the outstanding Battlefield 1942 mod "Desert Combat" adds a sweetener that's practically addictive: a new map called "Lost Village". Lost Village addresses the greatest problem with DC to date: how to address the overwhelming advantage in force the "Coalition" (aka Americans) has over the "Opposition" (aka Iraqis). LV's solution is to present a claustrophobic urban battlefield where the fighting is too close-in for tanks or air power -- and then to start all the Americans at a helicopter pad waaay on the other side of the map from the town. This forces the Americans to fight their way into the town by dropping in from Black Hawk helicopters and seizing the spawn points they need to obtain victory -- a dicey proposition when you consider that each dead Iraqi re-spawns in a building next door, while each dead American goes back to the helo pad (until they can seize and hold a spawn point in the town). In practice, this results in small bands of Americans holding on for dear life against swarms of Iraqis, trying to hold out until the next helo shows up. Even though the bad guys are Iraqis, the overall feel is more reminiscent of the gritty battle of Mogadishu than anything from either of the Persian Gulf Wars. It's a real nail-biter, and the best Battlefield 1942 map produced to date -- check it out.