Vietcong (PC)
Hit the Ho-Chi-Min trail in this cinematic shooter.
By Susie Vee

PLATFORM: PC

PUBLISHER: GoD

DEVELOPER: Pterodon

GENRE: 1st-Person Shooter

ESRB: Teen

SCORE:

While WWII games have been all the rage for some time now, games about the Vietnam conflict are few and far between.

A decade ago, Vietnam movies hit a high point with films like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket and TV programs like China Beach. Of course, before that was Apocalypse Now. Now perhaps the time is right to take the cinematic aesthetic that has become associated with Vietnam and translate it into games.

Close-combat in the tight jungles of southeast Asia certainly seems like a natural setting for a first-person shooter. The new release Vietcong seeks to create just such an experience, and in some regards, succeeds. Developed by Czech software house Pterodon, Vietcong has the look and feel of a budget title, but manages to show impressive detail in some areas.

As a story-driven FPS, you play at Sergeant Steve Hawkins, and have to complete a wide variety of missions in the jungles of Vietnam. The gameplay is reminiscent of Half-Life and other recent shooters that depend largely on scripted events and interaction with NPCs.

This part of the game is mostly well-done, and you’ll spend a good deal of your time talking to other soldiers or exploring areas. You’ll also spend a lot of time working with other members of your platoon, and can issue them simple commands. The AI of your teammates is average at best, however. Often you’ll want to creep through the jungle quietly, only to have your guys run ahead and get involved in giant firefights.

Combat is perhaps the least interesting part of the game (which can be a big flaw in a shooter). The main reason for this is the unsatisfactory feel of the controls. By know, you’d think that everyone would have the basics of movement and aiming down, and we could concentrate on other gameplay elements.

But in Vietcong, movement is a struggle. There’s a perceptible latency in your movement oftentimes, which makes aiming and moving more difficult than it needs to be. The huge outdoor environments often suffer from blocky textures and you're usually stuck on one path through a level.

Overall, Vietcong is an atmospheric execution of a great concept, undone by some needless flaws. For Game Gals into the whoe 'Nam thing, it's a fun shooter, but the gameplay problems lack of female characters keep this from being a must-play for casual gamers.