Everybody Do The Conga (Vietcong (PC))

Member Name: JPShooter

Product:	Vietcong (PC)
Date:	18/05/04 (155 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Immersive, realistic, interesting storyline

Disadvantages: Expect gore and strong language, fairly long, not for those without patience

Vietcong is not for the faint of heart. I purchased the Vietcong: Purple Haze pack, including the Fist Alpha expansion, and it is one of the few games that has actually shocked me. This game deserves its 18 rating, not particularly for its gore, but for the explicit language. Imagine Quentin Tarintino directs a film about Vietnam and ensures all the cast swear regularly. Expect this from the outset.

The game centres on Steve Hawkins, who has been transferred to the Nui Pek Special Forces basecamp, a few miles from the cambodian border. It is here where the immersive nature of the gameplay begins. Steve has his bunker, but this is as close to a rest as you can expect, as from here on in you are in Vietnam until the end of the game. Your bunker allows you to view documents about weapons, intel, maps and your diary, which is updated as the game continues. You can also access the firing range where you can test all the weapons the game has to offer. It is from here you will go to briefing for your missions.

Essentially the gameplay in Vietcong is very similar from level to level. There is the occasional departure from first-person shooter, such as manning a helicopter gun, but much more of a first-person shooter you can't get. However the game is also tactical, as you take control of a team varying between 3 and 5 members. You get to know your team members and their personalities, and they each have roles to play such as medic, munitions, radionman, demolition and, interestingly, pointman. I enjoyed this feature. For too many games you are the first into the action, and hence often the first to die, but Vietcong introduces a member of the LLDB or CIDG (locals trained by US forces) to lead the team, based on their knowledge of the area. Each of the team members can be called over using one button - a nice feature, as they are often required at various times. This team management requires a certain amount of planning, rather than the
turn-up-and-shoot nature of games like the Soldier of Fortune or Medal of Honor series.

The graphics in Vietcong are pretty stunning. The environments of Vietnam are well rendered and very detailed. However, sometimes the forest can seem constricting, and invisible walls are very obvious at certain points. For the most part, the level design is fair, but there are some viscous tunnel fairly early on in the game which infuriated me and, it seems, everyone else who has reviewed the game that I've read. Despite the games 18 rating, you will not see too much blood, although the corpses are pretty messed up. The environmental affects, like rain, cloud and forest cover help to create a mood, particularly seeing as there can be long periods of relative inactivity. Moving on to sound, with the correct setup this creates excellent effects, both of weapons and sounds and the voice acting is good as well. The score to the game is superb, as all the songs have been taken from the Vietnam war period (Iggy Pop, Deep Purple, The Stooges...) and excellently used within the game.

The controls are straightforward enough, comparable to any other PC shooter. For the most part, walking pace is the norm, but at times you will be required to duck, crawl and run to get away from the VC. Commanding your team members is easy, and something you will pick up early on. In addition, you can use maps to call in air support should you feel the situation warrants. The game also uses a down-the-barrel aiming system (seen in Call of Duty, Far Cry), where right-clicking causes Steve to look down the barrel of whatever gun he's holding for a more accurate aim. He also slows down whilst doing this if he's running to make sure of the shot.

It's always nice when a game does things that you either haven't seen before or haven't seen for a long time. The team command aspect is definetely a different take on other team-based games (Rainbow 6 ser
ies, Socom series). For me it's the immersive nature of the game, the fact that you're always in Vietnam, often missions can be long and slow, much as missions were in Vietnam. For me, this added to the suspense and made the action more real. Vietcong also pulls no punches; you hear phrases that aren't PC, they're not even non-PC, they're on a level below that. But this made it more realistic for me, as so many games treat war as this glorious event full of heroes and enemies. Vietcong is a one-sided tail of cowards, trigger-happy soldiers, orders and lack of resources. It may not be pretty, but I have to guess that this is more realistic than the bland, sanitised experiences of war that video games often bring us.

If you like first-person shooters, buy this game and you will not regret it. If you're deciding between this and Battlefield Vietnam, then make your choice based on your likelihood of playing multiplayer; if you play MP a lot then get Battlefield. If you want an immersive, realistic, enjoyable shooter then get Vietcong.

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