Day of Defeat: Source
October 3,2005 - When the original Day of Defeat was released, it gathered one of the biggest followings out there, rivaling even Counter-Strike in terms of fan base and support.  It didn’t take Valve long to notice, and pretty soon we had Day of Defeat as an official Valve game.  No small feat, and now Valve is treating us to the Source remake of the much vaunted World War II shooter.

As mentioned, Day of Defeat is a World War II era shooter that revolves around capturing flags in order to claim victory.  Each team (Axis or Allies) starts out at their respective spawn points and the battle begins.  The first team to successfully capture all the flags in the map is victorious.

This is no Counter-Strike.  Your weapon load out is determined with the click of a mouse button, and all classes have their strengths and weaknesses.  This is extremely important, DoD has long been known as a very balanced shooter with no team or class being the absolute best.

The classes in the game are varied enough to represent the team in various ways.  There are six classes in the game, each with very specific roles and important responsibilities that effect the success of the squads. Riflemen, as the name implies, tote accurate rifles that also include the capability to launch grenades.  This class can also use the new feature to DoD: Source, knowns as iron sights, which make this class even more deadly. The assault class sports sub machine guns, pistols, frags and smoke grenades that are invaluable to the success of your team. Support soldiers carry machine guns that kick like mules but are much more powerful than the guns the Assault troops carry.  They also have the ability to aim down the sights. Snipers have a very specified role, find a good sniping position and take out some volatile targets. Not only do snipers carry the standard sniper rifle, but they also carry a backup pistol.  Heavy machine gunners carry a deployable .50 calibur that will decimate the opposition.  These soldiers can be deployed as well. The rocket class carries a rocket launcher that must be reloaded after every shot and is extremely hard to use.

The classes all make for a balanced game of Day of Defeat.  No class is so powerful that the game becomes unfair.  This is one of the focal points of DoD, a game that presents great gameplay and brings skill to the table.  Each class is critical to the success of the team and the skill in using each class to their own unique advantages makes the game all the more interesting.

Like its relative Counter-Strike, it includes voice chat which can make or break a match.  Constant communication with your team is important, and even without a microphone Valve has included quick button presses that can alert your team to danger.

The beauty of the gameplay has been established, but what about the gloss and paint?  It’s safe to say that Day of Defeat: Source is the nicest looking game running on the Source engine.  The game features use of the phenomenal physics of the engine, but is sadly only used for rag doll physics and petty objects around the map.  It’s unfortunate that the physics weren’t utilized to bring something new to the table with Day of Defeat: Source.  Besides the great physics, the textures are simply amazing looking.  The war torn buildings and destroyed streets make the games already dark look even better.  Playing Day of Defeat after playing Source would make your eyes bleed.  The character models in typical Valve fashion are nothing short of fantastic looking.  The gun models and reloading animations for all of them will make your jaw drop.

With the great visuals comes a slew of technical issues.  Some glitches including sticking and some bad framerate issues on great gaming rigs are causing distress with many gamers.  Nothing that a few patches can’t fix, but they do tarnish the game with issues that could have been avoided with more testing. 

As for the sound, it’s just as good as the shine.  Hearing bullets wiz past your head as you hear the crackle of machine gun fire in the background is something that I have yet to experience in any game.  Something Day of Defeat prided itself on was well done Sound effects, and the team seem to have pulled it off again with the Source release.

Valve has done it again.  Fearing a screw up on Valve’s part seemed to be in vain by DoD fans as they now have yet another game to hone our skills at.  Technical issues aside, DoD is something any aspiring shooter fan needs to own.

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