Day of Defeat (2003)

I liked Day of Defeat on its own. It is a Deathmatch Classic or Half-Life Deathmatch reskin, set in a World War II setting. It is fast paced, responds well and can be fun to play.

You connect to a server, choose your side and join the action. You can play two game modes: Detonation and Territorial control. With Detonation, you need to plant explosives on the enemy structures and blow them up. With Territorial Control, you need to capture strategic points, dominating the map eventually. You can choose various classes, each with their own loadouts, abilities and purpose. This way, a team can consists of various specialists which gives the game a more realistic feel when playing.

The action can be intense and the overall multiplayer feeling is stronger than ever with this game. It can be compared to games like Counterstrike and Half-Life.

The graphics are nice enough, although nothing special. It still runs on the same Source engine, that is used for many Valve games. However, like the other Valve games, the framerate is smooth as ever and no lag or tearing is ever present.

Sound effects are really nice. Gunfire from Kar98 rifles and machine guns feel on point and give a nice feedback in your ears. For me, sound is important when playing WWII themed games to get me into the action.

Control wise, Day of Defeat plays smooth, easy and fast paced. Aiming, shooting, running around, it all feels natural and responsive. Nothing to complain here.

The only problem I had with Day of Defeat, is that it is simply not unique enough. There are hundreds of games out there in the WWII genre, with larger player bases, more content and more replay ability.

So although Day of Defeat was fun, and there is nothing wrong with it, it just is not memorable and special enough for me to play for longer periods of time.

If this game were your only option for some reason however, I would definitely recommend it.