Day of Defeat

The differences with the freely available mod are clear: easy set-up, no need to own Half-Life, superb sound effects, updated and glorious graphics. Set-up of the game is simple: install, load up the game, connect to the servers and choose one with a suitable ping rate (a lower number is better) and you should be playing within 10 minutes of opening the box.

The game itself is bound to be compared with the excellent Battlefield 1942, DOD does however play in a different way. It is a more tactical and tense game, there are none of the massive expanses of 1942 and no vehicles, the maps are urban in setting (even the forest maps feel urban) and each nook, cranny, door and window could hide an enemy waiting to snipe as you run past.

Weapon selection plays a very important part, from the easily held MP-40 machine guns and sniper rifles to the heavy Bren machine guns; each one needs to be used in a tactically different way. An example is that there's no way you'll be able to storm into a room and target enemies with the heavy guns: try and shoot on the move with a Bren and the simulated kick back will shoot all over the place--very realistic.

Battlefield 1942 might come out on top as the definitive WWII multi-player games as it has a single-player mode for offline play, but if you enjoy online battles you'll enjoy Day of Defeat too. --Laurent S Hall

What is it??

Day if Defeat is an online, multiplayer, First Person Shooter which uses the Half-Life engine, similar to Counter-Strike, but this time based upon the Normandy invasion of 1944, during the Second World War.

What is it like??

Quite simply, it is probably the best Half-Life mod that has been made, and there is plenty of support for this statement from the online community. The engine is well used & tested to produce high quality graphics & animations, which results in seamless, fast-paced action.
It pits teams of Axis (German) troops against Allied (British or American, depending on which map is being played) troops, with the objective to kill as many of the enemy as possible whilst staying alive & capping as many flags to secure the current map.
Teamplay is a big factor, you wont 'win' at this game by playing it like Q3, simply running around killing everything, you need your team mates & they need you!
When you've chosen Allied or Axis, you need to pick a class of player, each with its own main weapon, which will ultimately decide how you play the game. You can change player class or even your team at any point, even in the middle of the current game, which means the teams should never get unbalanced or one-sided.
There is a massive following for this mod online already, which will ensure that it will be easy to find plenty of online servers to choose from, even if you are unable to create your own. You dont even need broadband to play it, it runs fine on a 56k dial-up modem, and you might find you struggle 'ping-wise' on some US servers, there are plenty of Brit or European servers to play on. LAN-play is also supported, so there are no excuses for not getting together & filling your mates with WW2 lead!!

A lot of research has been made on this game to balance realism & gameplay, the results have been talked about in great depth in the forums online. The end product works really well, with a good selection of real life weapons to choose from that react just about as close to reality as you can get on a PC without leaving smoking holes in your monitor!

If this game wasnt as good as i say it is, then it would have never made it this far. If you like FPS, especially multiplayer ones, you simply HAVE to own this, because quite simply, it is the best one there is!


Day of Defeat   July 3, 2004
Mr Neil T Foley (Colchester, Essex United Kingdom)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I ordered this game off Amazon only a few weeks ago, and have barely managed to tear myself away from the game to write this review! Most people regard Counter-Strike as the ultimate online game, but they are very very wrong.

Day of Defeat has so many reasons why it's better than C-S. First of all, actually teamplay! In this game you're not going to get 30 Rambos running about gunning everything down, in fact it's the exact opposite. You NEED to work as a team if you want to get anywhere in the game. If you wander into a machine gun post with your Tommy-Gun blazing, your dead meat, but move tactically (E.g throw a grenade in first, then two of you charge in with somebody with a machine-gun covering you), and you'll discover where Day of Defeat's real potential is. And you don't need a super fast broadband connection to enjoy it! There are plenty of 56k modem servers out there, so having broadband won't give you a big edge over everybody else. So you're in luck 56k gamers!

Yeah, so the game sounds great, but how does it work??

Day of Defeat's game modes are a tiny bit like Battlefield's, there are usually 5 flags in each map, the main objective, is to seize all of these flags, and drive the enemy out of them, easier said than done. The second type of game is objectiver based. E.g On the level 'Charlie' you have to storm the beach, blow up some Flak guns and destroy several other things the Germans need, and the Krauts are trying to do the opposite.

This fantastic game comes at such a low price tag too, that if you like online gaming, you'd be an absoulute idiot to miss out on it! This game has completely changed the way I play games now. I just can't wait until they update the game using the Half-Life 2 engine, the engine has already been shown running Counter-Strike,, and it looks amazing, so even with the great graphics on this game, think what it will be like then!! So grab your helmet and move out and buy this game soldier!!


World War 2 comes alive   May 19, 2003
Glenn Ormsby
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

The battles of World War 2 come alive in this fast paced first person shooter. Although running on the ageing half life engine , it has been pushed to the absolute limits...debris and sand shower down from shell impacts, shouts and screams fill the air, gunshots echo everywhere.
Day of Defeat is much more tactical than Medal Of Honour or its ilk as an online game, as players hide amidst the fascimile city ruins and hunt one another down.
The action is class based with players able to assume the roles of heavy machine gunner, support infantry or sniper, but all working toward supporting the team. In fact, I'd go so far as to say Day Of Defeat is the best squad based team game available online currently. And for the price its hard to find many excuses not to buy it.


Shoddy service   May 18, 2004
4 out of 25 found this review helpful

i ordered my game 2 and a half weeks ago today...nothing has arrived and the company is handling this very half assed....the quality of the service is pardon my french...completeley shit...that was the first and sadly last thing i am ordering off of amazon.co.uk im just going to stick to www.gameplay.co.uk


the best of the best   June 29, 2004
M. S. P. Hickman (UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I have played most of the first person games over the years from doom to farcry but his game beats the lot. The reason for this is this gane has GAMEPLAY !!!. The others rely on fancy graphics but day of defeat makes you work as a team.

I have had enough of other games because this is the game I always come back to.

If you want a bargain...buy this game.