Day of Defeat: Source | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Valve |
Publisher(s) | Valve |
Composer(s) | Dan Haigh |
Engine | Source |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux |
Release | |
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Day of Defeat: Source is a team-based online first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve. Set in World War II, the game is a remake of Day of Defeat . It was updated from the GoldSrc engine used by its predecessor to the Source engine, and a remake of the game models. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on September 26, 2005, [3] distributed through Valve's online content delivery service Steam. Retail distribution of the game was handled by Electronic Arts.
The game was announced in February 2005. During the course of its development, Day of Defeat: Source progressed from being a straight conversion of Day of Defeat, to the alteration of certain aspects of the game's design and introduction of several features. In addition, Day of Defeat: Source has been used by Valve to present new design features on the Source engine, such as high dynamic range rendering and cinematic effects. The game itself revolves around two teams, the U.S. Army and the Wehrmacht, each with access to six player classes, fighting in a variety of scenarios inspired by World War II engagements in the European Theatre of 1944.
Upon release, the game received a generally favorable reception, praised for its atmospheric and strategic gameplay and its graphics, audio work and overall presentation. However, the game was criticized for the lack of content in it at the time of release, although subsequent updates to the game have added new game modes and levels.
Day of Defeat: Source is set in World War II, specifically the European Theatre in 1944. Players join the forces of either the United States Army or the German Wehrmacht and compete against each other in a variety of game modes. Players select from one of six classes to play as, each with its own role within the team. [4] Player characters cannot afford to take much damage as in some circumstances they may be killed by a single bullet, forcing players to make use of cover to stay alive. [5] When a player character dies, that player starts a short countdown for reinforcements. When the timer runs out, the player and any friendly players killed in that time respawn into the game at their insertion point as the next wave of troops. [6] All weapons in the game have realistic limits to their use: machine guns must be deployed to maintain accurate fire or to be reloaded, rocket launchers must be shouldered to be aimed and fired, sniper rifles are most accurate when used with the scope and grenades not "cooked off" before release may be easily avoided or even thrown back by the opposition. [5]
The game was initially released with four maps, [5] although later updates have introduced five new levels [1] and eight community produced maps supported by Valve. [7] [8] The game's levels are based after real battles in the Allied campaigns in Italy, Sicily and France, such as the Falaise pocket or the beach landings of Operation Shingle at Anzio, as well as fictional battles. Combat can take place in several environments, such as city streets, buildings and sewers. Each online game can sustain a maximum of 32 players. [4]
Day of Defeat: Source, like other titles developed by Valve, tracks detailed statistics for individual players. They include the time spent playing as each class, accuracy and performance for each weapon used, flag captures, and various other details. Day of Defeat: Source features numerous "achievements" for carrying out certain tasks, such as scoring a certain number of kills with a particular weapon or completing a round within a certain time. Many of the achievements are class-specific, providing incentive for a player to improve his or her abilities with each class evenly. Achievements unlocked and statistics from previously played games are displayed on the player's Steam profile page.
There are two main game modes in Day of Defeat: Source: territorial control and detonation. In territorial control maps, players must fight for control of all strategic points on the map. [6] The strategic points take various forms, such as a destroyed tank in a street or fields and buildings, and are designated by a flag in its vicinity, which displays the army colors of the team who controls the point. Points are captured by a certain number of team members surrounding the point, with it either capturing instantly or after a couple of seconds. [6] Players on the other side can disrupt a capture by placing themselves within the capture area during the process or by killing the enemy players at the point. The first side to hold all the points simultaneously wins the round. [6]
The objective in a detonation level is to plant and detonate explosive devices on a number of enemy positions, which can consist of anti-aircraft guns, tanks and armored cars. Some positions must be hit twice for them to be destroyed. Players can protect their positions by defusing the explosives before they detonate. [9] In one variation of this game mode, one side has to defend their positions for a set amount of time, with the destruction of each piece of equipment giving the enemy team more time. The defenders win if they can hold their positions long enough for the time to run out, while the attackers win when all objectives have been destroyed. In the alternate version, both teams must attack the other's objectives while defending their own. The first team to destroy all of the enemy's equipment wins. [9]
Both factions in Day of Defeat: Source have access to six classes. Each class is designed with specific combat circumstances in mind, so that teams must use teamwork to succeed. The weapons and equipment carried by the classes are based on the weapons used by both the US Army and Wehrmacht during World War II. Some of classes are armed with pistols—the American M1911 or the German Walther P38—while others are equipped with trench knives or entrenching tools for melee combat. [10] Grenades are carried by a number of classes, depending on their role in the game—riflemen are equipped with rifle grenades, the assault classes are armed with a single fragmentation grenade and a smoke grenade for providing concealment, while support classes have access to two standard fragmentation grenades. [10]
Day of Defeat: Source was first announced for Microsoft Windows during the development of Half-Life 2 , the flagship game of the Source engine, as one of several of the Valve's GoldSrc powered games to be remade on the new game engine. In the aftermath of the release of Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source , very little information was released regarding the development of Day of Defeat: Source until 2005. In February 2005, Valve announced Day of Defeat: Source, stating that the game was nearing its beta development phase and would be available later in the first quarter of the year. [11] The game was opened to an internal beta test soon after, which certain members of the Day of Defeat community were invited to join. The beta version of the game was shown as a straight conversion of the most recent version of Day of Defeat , at the time even including the same player and weapon models as the game's GoldSrc counterpart. Due to the response of the beta testers, significant changes were made to the gameplay, taking it away from being a straight conversion: the behaviour of weapons was altered and several classes from Day of Defeat were dropped entirely. Later media releases showed the revamped version of the game, including its new player and weapon models, as well as new additions to the game, such as rifle grenades and smoke grenades. On September 2, 2005, Valve announced that they were "confident" that the game would be released that month, [12] and seven days later announced an official release date of September 26, 2005. [13] The game was made available for preload via Valve's Steam content delivery system on September 14, 2005, [14] and was officially released on time on September 26. [15]
Day of Defeat: Source has undergone several updates. These updates have consisted of gameplay tweaks, maps and graphical effects. The first new level was released on November 30, 2005, and was followed on January 25, 2006, by another map, used as a demonstration for the Source engine's abilities in rendering snow and ice. [16] [17] A major update was announced on June 22, 2006, adding the detonation game mode, various gameplay tweaks and two further maps to accommodate the new game mode. [18] The update was released on June 28, 2006. [9] On April 26, 2007, a group of maps produced by the game's community, entitled the Community Assembled Map Pack (CAMP1), was released. [7] Consisting of three maps, the pack was created with the assistance and support of Valve. [19] This was followed by CAMP2 on July 26, 2007, a pack which consisted of a further five maps. [8] On May 23, 2008, Valve announced another major update to Day of Defeat: Source, this time giving the game support for the company's new Steamworks programmer. The update is open to any owners of Day of Defeat: Source. Along with various gameplay tweaks, the update moves the game to the Source engine version used with The Orange Box , allowing the game to utilize particle effects, as well as adding a map based on a long-standing custom map for Day of Defeat and 54 achievement awards for players completing certain tasks. [20] [21]
Day of Defeat: Source has been used by Valve as a platform for demonstrating several technologies in the Source engine. Day of Defeat: Source introduced a dynamic audio system that was limited to non-player characters in Half-Life 2. [5] The sound of each weapon firing in-game is attributed with distance and occlusion variables, which are processed and then fed back to the player. Sounds far from the player lack higher frequencies and thus sound more like they naturally would, allowing for the actions of other players on a map to make up the ambient sounds for the level. [5] The game was the first to incorporate Valve's high dynamic range rendering, predating the official demonstration, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast . [22] Other effects were added post-release to make the game appear as if it were a World War II era film. The effects include motion blur, [23] depth of field, [24] film grain [25] and color correction. [26] Phong shading on the Source engine was added to Day of Defeat: Source with the major update in the second quarter of 2006. [9]
To promote the game, Valve has produced three machinima trailers depicting the game in play. The trailers are themed around wartime propaganda news reports for both Germany and the United States. To convey this effect, the trailers make extensive usage of the Source engine's capabilities for film grain, color correction, motion blur and depth of field, as well as sepia toning. The first trailer was released as part of the game's post-release marketing on December 20, 2005. Entitled Prelude to Victory, the trailer depicted a large firefight in the game as a report from the German perspective, complete with a commentator speaking in the German language. [27] Two further trailers were released to promote the major update to Day of Defeat: Source in the second quarter of 2006. The trailers, both from the American viewpoint, displayed how the new detonation gameplay worked, emphasising teamwork as the key to success, as well as introducing the viewer to the two new maps added by the update. [28] [29] To further create interest in the game, Valve has opened Day of Defeat: Source to three free weekends, the first taking place on February 10, 2006, [30] the second on July 8, 2006 [31] and the third on July 4, 2008, [32] where anyone with a Steam account could download and play the game for a maximum of 48 hours free of charge.
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | 81% [33] |
Metacritic | 80/100 [34] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
1Up.com | B− [35] |
GameSpot | 8.1/10 [36] |
GameSpy | [4] |
IGN | 8.4/10 [37] |
PC Gamer (UK) | 86% [5] |
PC Zone | 7.9/10 [38] |
Day of Defeat: Source was given a positive reception, receiving ratings of 80/100 and 81% from the review aggregation sites Metacritic and GameRankings. [33] [34] The game's graphics received praise, with GameSpot stating that "presentation is Day of Defeat: Source's most obvious strength", [36] and PC Zone citing this for creating a "tense and atmospheric" game. [38] The ragdoll physics in the game noted by reviewers as being "amusing", [5] [36] [37] and the game's audio work was also praised. The core gameplay, described as "lightning war meets capture the flag" by 1UP.com, [35] was equally praised by reviewers, many appreciating the interdependence of the classes and strategic gameplay. [36] [37] Several reviews closed remarking that the game's content was of a very high quality. [36] [37]
Criticism of the game principally revolved around the lack of content. While praise was bestowed upon the quality of the content already available, a number of reviewers were concerned about the small number of maps included in the initial release, even though new content was promised by Valve for later. IGN commented that the existing content had a good chance of going "stale", [37] while GameSpy stated that the game's "lack of breadth" was a "serious shortcoming". [4] In addition, PC Zone commented that "by still clinging to the small-scale skirmish atmosphere of the original, Day of Defeat: Source doesn't make much of departure from Counter-Strike ", stating that this made the game seem like a "facelift" to a "much-loved mod [...] before making us pay for it again". PC Zone summed its review up by commenting that "this is an old game—an excellent old game and a beautiful old game—but an old game nonetheless". [38]
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was initially developed and released as a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe in 1999, before Le and Cliffe were hired and the game's intellectual property acquired. Counter-Strike was released by Valve for Microsoft Windows in November 2000, and is the first installment in the Counter-Strike series. Several remakes and ports were released on Xbox, as well as OS X and Linux.
Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the Half-Life series. The player assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who must escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is overrun by alien creatures following a disastrous scientific experiment. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration and puzzles.
Team Fortress Classic is a first-person shooter game developed by Valve and published by Sierra Studios. It was originally released in April 1999 for Windows, and is based on Team Fortress, a mod for the 1996 game Quake. The game puts two teams against each other in online multiplayer matches; each member plays as one of nine classes, each with different skills. The scenarios include capture the flag, territorial control, and escorting a "VIP" player.
Day of Defeat is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game set in the European theatre of World War II on the Western front. Originally a modification of the 1998 game Half-Life, the rights of the modification were purchased by Valve and released as a full retail title in 2003.
Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 is played entirely from a first-person perspective, combining combat, puzzles, and storytelling. It adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, a multidimensional alien empire.
Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the releases of Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2. Other notable third-party games using Source include Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Dear Esther, and The Stanley Parable. Valve released incremental updates to the engine during its lifetime. Source was succeeded in 2015 by the release of Source 2.
Counter-Strike: Source is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. Released in October 2004 for Windows, it is a remake of Counter-Strike (2000) using the Source game engine. As in the original, Counter-Strike: Source pits a team of counter-terrorists against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won either by completing an objective or by eliminating all members of the enemy team. The game was initially bundled with all retail and digital copies of Half-Life 2, before being released standalone.
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ritual Entertainment, Turtle Rock Studios, and Valve, and published by Sierra Entertainment and Valve. The follow-up to Counter-Strike (2000), it was released in March 2004 for Windows. Condition Zero utilizes the GoldSrc engine and has a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks. It also includes two single-player campaigns; Tour of Duty and Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes.
Half-Life 2: Episode One is a 2006 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve for Windows. It continues the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). As the scientist Gordon Freeman, players must escape City 17 with Gordon's companion Alyx Vance. Like previous Half-Life games, Episode One combines shooting, puzzles and storytelling.
Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is a multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 Team Fortress mod for Quake and its 1999 remake, Team Fortress Classic. The game was released in October 2007 as part of The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox 360, and was ported to the PlayStation 3 in December 2007. It was released as a standalone game for Windows in April 2008, and updated to support macOS in June 2010 and Linux in February 2013. It was made free-to-play in June 2011, and is distributed online through Valve's digital retailer, Steam.
Dystopia is a team-based, objective-driven, first-person shooter video game, developed as a total conversion modification on the Valve's proprietary Source engine. It is based on the cyberpunk literary and aesthetic genre; it is somewhat based on popular role-playing game Shadowrun, created by an amateur development team and released to the public for free. Its first playable build was released on September 9, 2005, after a year of planning and nine months of development. The first full version of Dystopia, Version 1, was released after 3 years of development on February 25, 2007.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it is the second of two shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Players control Gordon Freeman, who travels through the mountains surrounding City 17 to a resistance base with his ally Alyx Vance. Like previous games in the series, Episode Two combines shooting, puzzle-solving and narrative elements, but adds expansive environments and less linear sequences.
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter games created by Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling, and are played entirely from the first-person perspective.
Left 4 Dead is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the Left 4 Dead series. Set during the aftermath of a zombie outbreak on the East Coast of the United States, the game pits its four protagonists, dubbed the "Survivors", against hordes of the infected.
Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat is a multiplayer tactical shooter total conversion mod for Valve's Source engine, developed by the Insurgency Development Team and published for Windows, macOS, and Linux on January 7, 2007. Set during the Iraq War, the game follows the conflict between the United States Marine Corps and the Iraqi insurgency.
Alien Swarm is a multiplayer top-down shooter video game developed by Valve. It is a remake of a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, and it was developed by the original team, who were hired by Valve during the course of the development process.
Dino D-Day is a multiplayer team-based first-person shooter video game developed and published by American studios 800 North and Digital Ranch. It was released for Microsoft Windows on April 8, 2011.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a 2012 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. Developed for over two years, Global Offensive was released for OS X, PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2012, and for Linux in 2014. In December 2018, Valve transitioned the game to a free-to-play model, focusing on revenue from cosmetic items.