Day of Defeat: Source Review - PAGE 1

The gaming world is full of WWII titles, many make excellent efforts to provide the best single player or multiplayer experiences. In the case of Day of Defeat the goal was multiplayer goodness, of course as HL2 and CS: Source made their appearances in the gaming world the general visual appeal of DoD started to fall through. Soon after Valve announced they would be picking up the title as their next port to the Source engine.

Through numerous months of concept art and teasers the game looked to be shaping up quite well. Then they dropped the suprise inclusion of HDR and really started to stir up waves. As time passed the game release was often debated only for it to be announced with a definite month and soon after a definite date over Steam.

Users that pick up Day of Defeat Source have two options currently. Purchasing a CS: Source and DoD: Source bundle at retail outlets or purchasing DoD over Steam without Counter-Strike. Honestly if it's a multiplayer experience that is desired then the pack is a good choice for those that didn't pick up HL2 and get CS: Source already.

With all that said lets jump into things and start taking in the game.
 

Gameplay

Luckily the game does not currently have bots, as such we can skip over parts attempting to detail how to properly configure them for the best single player self hosted server experience.

Day of Defeat changes up quite a bit from the general FPS in gameplay. The guns and weapons overall are not always instant kill and the accuracy is far from acceptable. Before everyone jumps up in fury the reason I state this is because the time period the game is designed to reflect, the hollow point bullets and low recoil guns were not the entire focus of the period and were not what the sides were both using. As such if someone runs around with a heavy duty machine gun they should expect the aiming sight to go straight into the air as they hold down the trigger. Instead players will find themselves crouching behind a crate or laying down to setup the gun and then firing off short burst rounds to try and take down enemies. The same applies to sub-machine guns where the kick is still there and accuracy is still tossed up.

With that said the game is not impossible to learn, it's just not a simple cakewalk where you master the weapons in a single run. Range, accuracy and reload times become critical in maintaining a good amount of time alive. For Counter-Strike players they probably will be happy to find out that respawns do occur in Day of Defeat and so the worry about single round knock outs are a thing of the past for this title. Some nice tweaks are also in the game such as the sprint command and the ability to toss back unwanted grenades to their owners or their friends which I find wonderful for cleaning house. The last notable one is the ability to lay down in the grass and hide within bushes or weeds from opponents. It adds a higher level of tension to the fight because of how hard it becomes to pick up where people are planted at.
 

Audio, Graphics, Performance

Day of Defeat takes a step up with the ability to have multichannel sound output. Approaching enemies or allies can be detected quite easily thanks to the setup and really it brings the overall experience up to modern standards with how many basic systems or motherboards come with a 5.1 analong output ability these days. While the experience will not be lost using 2 channels the 5.1 or even 4.1 is quite nice when in the middle of a fire fight or when in a duel with another sniper.

In terms of graphics the game keeps to the standards set by HL2, the game carries detailed unique textures and very nice modeling work. It's pretty to notice the work though, when stepping into any of the levels the building and nature details are very nicely done. It's not like they recycled up their archives from CS and HL2. Buildings have some nice accents and details while things like the ground and dirt take new treatments to better compliment the improvements to the source engine and the addition of HDR and a natural sun base. The HDR does actually do some nice work since it's not designed to be an overkill effect within the game, mainly it's reserved for longer portions of time in the dark then suddenly into the light. As such the worry about non-stop bloom effects while running is non-existent. An additional bonus are the grass textures to try and simulate brush or high weeds. it helps when trying to sneak around with a team of enemies approaching from the distance quite a bit.

In overall performance marks the improved engine and solid implementation of HDR make it possible for HL2 to run these effects without a large drop, in fact users with 3rd gen cards such as the 9800 Pro can run the game without extra stresses really seen. Also the HDR comes with 2 function settings, full bloom of course being the recommended over just the standard implementation. Always a nice turn of events to see since it means gamers are not looking at a heavy hardware overhaul just to play the game. It scales down quite nice and delivers good numbers. Although the ideal is always the latest hardware to really knock out high frame rates.
 

Conclusion

With Day of Defeat Source as a relatively new release still it's a bit hard for some to justify the purchase with a limited amount of levels currently out. The game currently carries a price tag of $19.99 and offers 4 levels. With the SDK still behind the times it only opens up a limited amount of options for maps to pick from in terms of additions. The upside to this is that most battles are not 3 minutes long. A good 40 user server can get rounds that can take up to 30-45mins if the teams are persistent and careful about how and where they push in the maps.

Overall I was impressed with the replay value that Day of Defeat brought to the table in the updated Source form. The game brings in some heavy fights and can remain quite addicting when trying to push for that one last win before quitting. As many can relate it's a hard thing to just up and leave in the middle of a full battle when the game could go either way, it gets even worse when the odds look positive for the win against the other side. In the coming months the game will probably become even stronger for a user base. Early adopters get the reward of learning weapon control and mastering the best parts of the maps to use. Later adoption will probably result in a bit more trouble as users will have the maps pinned down for the best force spots and the best classes to pick when the maps start up.

Hopefully Valve continues with more map updates to Day of Defeat Source so that the server rotations become a bit more diverse when trying to pick a game. We award Day of Defeat Source a 9.3 / 10. While the game does take the Source engine up to new heights the map availability is a big chaser for those looking at purchasing off the first sight.

Overall:

9.3 / 10