Vietcong - incredibly overlooked (Vietcong (PC))

Member Name: smooth_criminal_

Product:	Vietcong (PC)
Date:	04/09/07 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Incredibly realistic, captures the setting of Vietnam very well

Disadvantages: Slightly repetitive at times

As yet only a small number of game designers have been brave enough to venture into the Vietnam genre. At first when thinking about it it’s hard to see why – surely basing a game on such a huge conflict would be an extremely good idea. Unfortunately it seems almost every designer who’s attempted it has come out with a distinctly flawed game. So when I bought Vietcong I decided to approach it with some caution.

Expecting a bit of a let down I settled into Nui Pek camp in the central highlands (the setting for the game) as Hawkins; a green beret with a distinct hate for the Viet Cong guerrillas. As I started getting into the game I suddenly realised how good it was – exciting and rewarding gameplay, beautiful jungle locations, a vast array of incredibly detailed weaponry and equipment, what more could a gamer ask for?

After looking past a few minor problems, Vietcong offers an incredible experience matching most other first person shooters out there. With the horror of jungle warfare, the realism of fighting such a dedicated enemy, and the variety of mission types, not to mention the online play, Vietcong certainly breaks the mould in the Vietnam genre.

Graphics

An integral part of any new pc game, the graphics in Vietcong are at the best of times stunning, and at the worst of times dull and uninspiring. Most of the time the graphics in Vietcong are nothing short of amazing – they have to be in such a detailed environment as a jungle. It’s only when you look slightly closer that you begin to see glitches such as your pointman walking into a bush and seemingly going straight through it.

What’s perhaps most impressive about Vietcong’s graphics is the attention to detail the game designers have employed. The weapons available in the game and the realism with which they’re presented was one of the things the designers, Pteredon, boasted about at the time of release. They were right to draw attention to it; the superbly detailed weaponry is really a feat of brilliant artwork.

The environments are, most of the time, brilliantly done. Everything, from the depths of the jungles to the open spaces surrounding bases or fortifications, is usually perfect. The only places you’ll find fault are in the boring, repetitive tunnel systems – unfortunately there’s nothing Pteredon could really do about this as it’s an important part of the game. What particularly impressed me were the missions in which you had to travel down or across rivers. Looking down and watching the water flow past your boots is genuinely spectacular.

The characters are also fairly well done, leaving nothing to really complain about. The graphics in Vietcong certainly don’t provide anything new or exciting, but they’re definitely up there with the best of them.

16/20

Sound

What’s good about the sound in Vietcong is that it really does sound like you’re in a jungle. You can hear the cries of birds, your body brushing against the leaves of a tree, and the hum of the jungle insects. As well as all the natural sounds you can’t help but admire the brilliantly accurate sounds of gunshots ricocheting off of a tree, the screams of your enemy as you empty rounds into him, and the distant sound of artillery homing in on its target.

All combined the sounds in Vietcong really make you feel as if you’re in the jungles of Vietnam engaging Viet Cong guerrillas. You get that sense of battle which is incredibly necessary in this type of game. Nothing beats hearing bullets zip over your head as you assault an enemy position, or listening to the cry of your fellow soldiers over the radio as they request support.

19/20

Gameplay

With the brilliant sound effects setting a standard for Vietcong, the gameplay doesn’t disappoint either. The game can switch very quickly between slow and fast paced action. Suddenly from out of nowhere you can find you and you team being ambushed by a group of enemy, then almost as quickly as it started the fire fight is over and you find yourself setting out on foot once again walking towards your objective.

In Vietcong you have a team to support you – this consists of five other men besides yourself. You have a radioman, a machinegunner, a pointman, a medic, and an engineer. All of the characters are typical Vietnam stereotypes; you get the blood thirsty machine gunner, the medic with big glasses and the small and slightly annoying radio operator. Although you have a team who you can command the gameplay is still essentially anything but squad based. You can tell your team to attack, retreat, and cover you but the commands don’t get much more complicated than that. Also, quite a large part of the game is played without your team actually being there. There are several reasons for this ranging from being cut off to having to go into tunnels (a job you can only really do on your own).

The variety of gameplay is also to be commended. With about twenty missions there’s an incredible diversity. Objectives range from attacking enemy fortifications and going on recon patrol in the jungle, to defending your base from attack, driving a jeep, and operating the side cannon of a Huey helicopter. The numbers of enemies you fight on a mission can sometimes be as little as three snipers (the first mission) or as large as an entire enemy company – it depends on the situation you’re in.

As you progress through the game the difficulty increases – at first you’re just fighting Viet Cong locals but within a few missions you find yourself beating back hordes of professional North Vietnamese Army soldiers.

The only real problem with the gameplay is the game’s tendency to give you one mission where you’re right in the thick of it – fighting off large numbers of enemy, and another mission where all you seem to do is walk around. Don’t get me wrong – it’s obvious that you can’t be fighting all the time, and having to walk around and find your enemy is realistic, but sometimes getting killed and then finding yourself having to re trace your steps can be incredibly tiresome especially if you’ve just covered a large distance.

The game is an incredibly realistic one employing such elements as extreme recoil, and finding yourself in trouble if you mismanage your ammunition. This can lead to the game being very rewarding but also very annoying at times.

Then there’s the online multiplayer – something which generally comes as standard with this type of pc game. The multiplayer is diverse, offering many different types of games including capture the flag, assault team game and deathmatch among others. The multiplayer is very well done and provides endless fun for the die hard Vietcong gamers.

17/25

Lifespan

Due to the online play Vietcong effectively has almost an unlimited lifespan. But putting that aside the actual single player is also quite long. With twenty missions to get your teeth into it’ll take you several days to complete.

Then as usual there’s the inevitable replay factor. After you’ve completed the game there’s the option to replay the levels as single missions. You might think this would be somewhat repetitive and indeed in some of the missions that’s true. However, most of the missions have a huge replay factor which allows you to relive those classic Vietcong moments time and time again.

25/25

Originality

As I said at the start of the review; Vietcong is one of the few games to be daring enough to tackle the Vietnam genre making it a fairly original game. Of course it’s not your average first person shooter namely because you can’t really play it like you’d play Halo or Unreal Tournament. You can’t go in all guns blazing because you’d simply be killed straight away.

This is the type of game where you have to stay in cover – and that’s one of the first lessons you learn. You have to be cautious and have your wits about you as an enemy could be lurking behind every bush, every tree and every rock you see. Close range combat is not to be advised. Instead the game adopts a more rainbow six style approach; obviously not quite as hard but as the instruction manual says – one bullet from two hundred metres away could kill you.

7/10

Overall

This is a great game with a few flaws. It’s been highly underrated this year and I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s the kind of game that you’ll either love or hate but even if you end up hating it you’ll find yourself addicted. There seems to be a certain charm about this game, whether it’s the idea of a successful Vietnam setting or just that it’s a very good game is hard to tell.

84%

Price: £22.99 (Amazon, September 07)

Certificate: 18

Summary: This is a great game with a few flaws