Vietcong

by 2K Games

Product Features

• You are the commander of an A-Team, a part of the U.S. Special Forces as you fight your way through the treacherous Vietnamese jungles
• Lead as many as six specialists through 20 dramatic missions that capture the shocks and dangers of jungle combat
• Choose from 25 different weapons, from M-16s and grenade launchers to sniper rifles
• Order air strikes, ambush enemy patrols and leads your fighting force through dangerous territories
• Special multi-player mode lay as U.S. Special Forces or Vietcong soldiers in specially designed levels

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000078COP
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: March 28, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,779 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

For reasons beyond my comprehension, at the time of this writing (April 2003) there are a plethora of games available that cover virtually every major combat or war in human history, with the exception of Vietnam. There are, obviously, a handful of titles centered around that conflict, but no major releases that were notably popular or well-done... that is, until now. In Vietcong, you'll play as Sgt. Steve Hawkins, an Intelligence Officer who transfers to Nui Pek Camp, but there's no real story to speak of. Get your mission objectives in a briefing, go kill some Charlies, and repeat.

Vietcongis a first person shooter tends to straddle the line between a tactical FPS and a Quake-style FPS. It's a mixed bag where enemies take anywhere from one to ten bullets to kill, and the action varies wildly between slowly plodding through the jungle and running through it like Rambo. This odd variation makes the gameplay tough to get used to. There's also online play available in the standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and last man standing flavors.

Levels are typically laid out in moderately narrow corridors that you must travel through with a squad of friendly AI soldiers filling a number of roles like pointman, radioman, medic, machinegunner, etc. Herein lie the first two major problems with the game. First, since the levels are filled with visually obstructive but technically "not there" foliage, it is oftentimes impossible to tell where you're being shot from, and quite frequently even when you can see an enemy, the only thing you can actually see is sporadic muzzle flashes. This may be realistic, but the AI is seemingly unaffected by concealment from foliage and so it's also horribly unfair. Second, the friendly AI is indescribably infuriating. Between moving slowly, having moronic pathfinding problems, and getting stuck on trees, rocks, and each other, you'll wonder why they're along at all. The answer is, of course, that until they draw enemy fire, you'll have no idea where the enemy even is.

I do have to applaud the game's sound, however. Voiceovers from teammates and even your drill sergeant in the tutorial mode sound a lot like dialog from Vietnam movies, and 60's music on the radios and in game menus really helps to set the mood.

As enjoyable as the core thematic elements in Vietcong are, the critical concept execution simply isn't there. An interesting and untapped premise can't save the game from frustrating gameplay. -- Jon "Safety Monkey" Grover

Pros:

• Vietnamese war is an interesting and untapped game premise
• Voiceovers do an excellent job of mood-setting

Cons:

• Friendly AI is incredibly frustrating
• Foliage and level layout make it too hard to see enemies

Product Description

Vietcong takes you into the dense, steaming jungles of Vietnam during the deadly conflict between American & North Vietnamese forces against the rebel Vietcong!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CHARLIE DOES SURF!!!, June 1, 2003

By 

Roule Duke (the Green Inferno) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vietcong (CD-ROM)

Well, what more is there to say, this has to be one of the most enjoyable and exciting FPS games based in a war setting. Being the type of person who enjoys FPS games based around real conflict I have immensley enjoyed games like Medal of Honour and such, I used to think Allied Assault was the best wartime shooter but I think Vietcong has snatched that throne now. The boys at Pterodon have really done a great job with this one it is obvious that they have done their homework as to the environment and feel of the war, and the times. The oppresiveness, fear and disorientation of the jungle has been captured perfectly, with expansive and detailed environments.

The singleplayer is excellent, the first thing which really jumped out and grabbed me about VC was the realism of the combat, I have exeperienced some of the most intense firefights ever in an FPS with this little gem. There is none of the run and gun Quake style fighting here, it is ass in the grass realistic fighting. Moving from cover to cover, hearing the VC shouting commands at each other and moving onto your flank while you and your squad desperately try to fight your way out of the killing ground you have suddenly found yourselves in.

The gameplay itself has a swag of very nice features;

- The system of command over your teammates is both functional and quick to use, plus easily mastered quickly which helps you get right into the game.

- A comprehensive weapon line up including;

VC
AK-47, SKS Siminov, SVD Dragunov and Mosin Nagant 91/30 sniper rifles, Degtarev MG, PPSH-41 and 43 SMG's, Bazikahal double barrel shotgun.

US
M-16, M1 Carbine, M1 Garand and Winchester 70 sniper rifles, M60 MG, Thompson and M3A1 SMG's, Remington 80 shotgun, M79 grenade launcher (singleplayer only).

- The use of iron sights for aiming, it is so refreshing to have a game where you actually have to aim with your sights.

- The system of interchanging your weapon with that of a dead VC as well as searching him for ammo and intel is quite a unique feature which really adds to the realism of the game.

The missions themselves are entertaining and varied, although the voice acting of your teammates is a bit cheesy I still like the way that the terms and language used by the troops in Vietnam was recreated in the game. Living in Australia I got the uncensored version (I feel sorry for all the US players who are victims of unfair censorship). Now I have the joy of being surrounded by a group of realistically foul mouthed soldiers, plus having some nice blood and gore effects which aren't over the top like many other games. My only complaint with the single player would be that there aren't enough damn missions!

Now for the life and soul of the contemporary first person shooter these days... multiplayer. All I can say is wow, this game sure is addictive! This game's environments and features like iron sights really combine to make quite a unique multiplayer experience. The gameplay is like no other FPS online, hiding, caution and teamwork trully pay high divends in VC, trying do run and gun will do nothing but get you wasted very quickly. It also has a class based system with Soldiers, Machinegunners, Snipers, Sapper/Engineers (and yes they can lay booby traps hehehe), Medics and Radiomen who call in air and mortar strikes.

Multiplay also contains a lot modes, there is;

Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag - Need I explain these?

Assault Team Game - This is different for each map, ranges from completing an objective like 'Kill the US Pilot' while he is armed with only a pistol and the US side have to defend him, to simple search and destroy the enemy. In this mode you can't respawn.

Real War - There are a certain number of control points on the map and your team has to capture them all to win.

Last Man Standing - Exactly like deathmatch with no respawning, the last man standing at the end of a round respawns next round with extra health and an M60, everyone else only gets a pistol.

Coop - This is one of the unique features of Vietcong, all players are on the US side and they have to go through and clear a map full of AI generated VC, it's great fun to get together with friends (or clan mates) using a voice communication proggy and fight an intense battle.

The only real shortcomings of the multiplayer are the relatively small number of maps, and some curious lag anomalies.

There's been a lot of bad reviews over bugs, PC Gamer gave 'Line of Sight: Vietnam' a higher score than Vietcong. Do not take this as gospel and go buy LoS: Vietnam instead of VC, VC is a much better game, and personally I don't know what the hell the PC Gamer guys were smoking when they pulled this one. The fact is that Vietcong was extremely buggy upon release and had immense framerate problems due to poorly implemented Securom disk protection on the CD's and it still does have technical issues. But a lot of these bugs were addressed within weeks by the 1.01 patch, if you live outside the US and buy the game it is already patched to 1.01. Now there is patch 1.02 on the horizon which looks to deliver new skins, maps, weapons and fix a lot of the bugs.

All in all I think Vietcong delivers a solid offering of both single and multiplayer action. It is a fresh, unique and promising game, although not forgiving to the lower end systems, I have a machine double the recommended specs and it just runs the game comfortably. I'd advise all fans of FPS games to look into it, especially those tiring of the mundane run and gun formula...

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent excitement, December 18, 2002

By 

Robert F. Campbell (Yachats, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vietcong (CD-ROM)

I've been playing the multiplayer demo of this game for several days, and it is fantastic. The lush jungle environment is beautiful (even on a 2 year old computer - 800mhz and GeForce 2 card is adequate). The game offers strange emotional punch as you are able to play both sides of the questionable war. Politics aside, the complex jungle landscape makes patiently hiding pay off as you are given powerful sniper rifles and camoflague.

I am not an avid FPS gamer, but this one is simple to learn and actually gets the heart racing. It is difficult to tell friend from foe at a distance in the jungle, and "friendly fire" is common in this game as well as in reality.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent realism, raises bar in today's standards, February 9, 2003

By 

J. Feng (Cupertino, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vietcong (CD-ROM)

On trying the game from various game demos that i test from fileshack.com, I could tell that it wasn't just any other "this is realistic" game. VC offers a real jungle world where players can hide in the scenery and pick off the enemy from a distance.

On trying out the sniper, I felt like I was an actual GI employing "jungle warfare". In other games you just point and click, but in vc you have to think like you're in the jungle to survive. If you just run out you'll surely be sniped from a distance by enshrouded enemy snipers. If you crawl or quickly dash from bush to bush, the chances are greatly lowered.

The game offers a wide variety of actual guns used in nam including the tommy gun, m16, AK-47. So far the demo offers 3 modes of play: capture the flag, assassination, and all out death match. Get this game if you're looking for something that will be fun. After 40 hours of playing this, I'm still not bored.