Customer Reviews

Vietcong: Purple Haze

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Unless you have Xbox Live, don't bother wasting any money on the game - not even for a rental. Multiplayer on Xbox Live is the only saving grace, if you don't mind only having 2 choices between controller setups - both only changing the button configurations, not the sticks. It seems like a crappier, Vietnam version of Counter-Strike while online in any close-quarters fighting. Overall, don't waste your money on this game when you could buy Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow or Star Wars: Battlefront instead. You could even just wait for Halo 2. If Vietnam is what you are looking for, wait for Men of Valor.

This game can only really be enjoyed by someone who didn't play the PC version first. I would call it "Samples of the PC Version" . . . although it follows the general story-line of the PC versions, it leaves out a lot of important missions (including considerable time in the tunnels and Hawkins' trip along the river alone to connect with the ARVN soldiers in the boat, which I was looking forward to re-playing on XBOX). In that sense, I can't even say it's a "Best of", just a "Samples of" kind of game.

Also absent, of course, is the kind of interactive detail of the PC version, like access to Hawkins' personal room and literature about the war, which you can read in the PC version. So in that sense it's much less educational.

Due to my familiarity with the storyline, I literally completed this 18-mission game over the course of about 3 days, not even playing that many hours on end. Furthermore, the game lets you save your progress whenever you want and has only 2 difficulty levels. While it's true that you sometimes pine for the option of saving at your own pace when playing console games, for me this only contributed to the lack of challenge and the speed with which I completed the game.

Overall, to see the best of Vietcong, stick to the PC version. All that the console version offers is a cheap imitation of the PC version with some worse language (something I already complained about in Conflict: Vietnam and Men of Valor . . . Vietcong is in the Men of Valor category with respect to language).

Played this game when it first came out on pc. It was fun, so I was pleased to find that it made it's way to the console. Unfortunatley it's not a good game for the console at all. Terrible graphics, and I rarely make comments about graphics being bad because gameplay usually makes up for that in my book. Well the gameplay sadly was subpar. The game itself was too simple. There was no challenge. the objectives were dull and didnt have meaning. There was a whole lot of repetition. Order the point man to lead. pointman stops when enemy spotted. kill enemy. proceed. reach objective. clear enemy. secure objective. proceed to landing zone. kill enemy. board chopper. booo
I made it to the 3rd mission and cut this game off. I recommend renting this game prior to making a purchase. Some might find this game interesting, but it lacks substance to make it a great game. I would also recommend trying the demo for the pc version. It is more well balanced and more fine tuned.

I must admit, I did not play the PC version so I am not aware of all the stuff I am missing as other reviewers pointed out so bear with me here as I've only played the XBox version.

I found the weapon selection to pretty consistant with the weapons at the time, including some weapons many did not know where used in Vietnam such as the M1 Carbine or the Sterling SMG. Of course, you eventually move up to the M16 and the M60, but you begin with the M14 as soldiers did in early 1967. However, I with they would've had more scoped weapons such as the Remmington .30-6, which was an incredibly popular rifle amongst snipers.

I really liked the quick fight feature; it allowed me to get a handle for the weapons before emersing myself in the missions. It's also fun during multi-player play when you have friends over or whatever. The two big problems was that you cannot start with enemy weapons such as the NVA side-by-side shotgun, which I thought was a blast playing with. Secondly, while you do get many options, I wish the enemies would spawn in random places rather than the same spot each time and you could have more enemies to fight. I found the option "too many!" to be somewhat easy to take on. I really like places where you're just being overwhelmed while on the defense.

Now the missions were incredibly short. Some took me less than five minutes to complete. Reading the reviews comparing the XBox to the PC version, I guess I got shortchanged and that leaves me a little miffed. Not to mention the enemies can be either really clever or downright stupid. Several times, I'll set up the squad to ambush a squad of NVA and several will not move while their comrades are being shot as by very loud rifles. Other times, I'll take a shot at one NVA, he'll run around in circles, stop then resume his previous stance as if nothing happened. "Must've been a misquito that causes this... hole in me."

Oh, and it seems as though many NVA and VC can take a LOT of hits before going down... or one arm hit and they go down. It's very weird at times.

Now your squad can either be really handy or very stupid as well. They're handy in the way if you have your medic (Crocker) and your engineer (Bronson) since one can heal you anytime while the other replentishes your ammo and they seem to be able to do this infinitely. This can make the game too easy. Your other squad members can be handy such as your pointman, that spots traps and ambushes but lets you do all the disarming and shooting. The machinegunner... well, I never see him do anything. Maybe he does, but I don't see it.

They do say random things during the mission, but usually profanities. During one mission, one soldier said "f*ck you!" almost a dozen times in a row. Now, I know combat brings out the vulgarity in people, but not only was it annoying that he said the same thing every time but a bit excessive. If you're going to make him vulgar, at least mix it up a little.

My biggest beef with the squad is how they sometimes follow you and sometimes they stay put while you go ahead. It's really annoying when you tell them to follow you, you go ahead, find yourself in a firefight and you turn around to discover they're still 100 meters behind you making smores by the fire having a gay ol' time.

However, this game was still very entertaining and worth purchasing. Overall, a solid 75% game. Nothing great, but still fun.

You're out of luck...this game sux.
Although the missions get a bit more challenging as the game progresses, you will never sit back and exclaim, "This rocks!".
The graphics are weak and the enemy AI is virtually non-existent. I didn't even feel as though I had been playing that long, much less putting much effort into it, when all of a sudden the game was over.
This is probably good for a younger gamer, except for the adult language, it has little gore and no screams from the wounded enemy but it lacks the challenge and strategy that the mature gamer will enjoy.
If you're looking for a challenge, please keep looking, there are much better games out there.

This game as a single player game starts off slow and easy. And it's there I think that people are making their judgments about this game. Yes this game was made for multi player action on-line or off. But it too turns out to be a fun single palyer game in the later levels. If you enjoy fps games I see no reason at all not to play or get this game.
The reviews by gamers sometimes get caught up on reviews from the so called experts that before the release of the game get to play and review the game and put that into a gaming magazine. They'll say oh Vietcong Purple Haze this and that and before a gamer even has it, that gamer is probally expecting not to like it. hence a bad review. I think this game is good and very playable

I recently purchased this title and found it to be worth the price I paid...bargin bin. I took on a single mission last night and it was pretty fun even though the graphics could be greatly improved. I had to sneak through the jungle and take out each VC as they came up. One guy was hid so good he nearly killed my character! So I had to back up and go around and found him. I haven't tried an actual career mission yet though. I tried a couple of the tutorials and quickly found the drill sergeant to be very annoying with an extremely foul mouth. I wanted to kill him before the first tutorial was over but I had no gun! lol Well the second tutorial gave me a gun...well you know what I did then! lol Boom! lol I had to restart the tutorial but it was worth it! =) If you find this game real cheap, it's not too bad.

I haven`t played many Vietnam games-only Men of Valor,Conflict:Vietnam,ShellShock:Nam `67 and this[VietCong:Purple Haze] and BY FAR i think that this is the worst its so boring,not-original sub-par graphics,worst of all the AI sucks.
Only buy it if you see it somewhere for about 63 cents which is not bad for this game.
It has no strategy-so it is your typical run n gun FPS where you shoot the hell outta everything.

If you want a good Vietnam-War game for XBox go ahead and buy Men Of Valor-believe me that is the best Vietnam game on XBox but also try Conflict:Vietnam and ShellShock.

I threw the game away into the nearest garbage bin.


WORST GAME ETHA!

Vietnam is the second most "used" subject for a war game-that is after WWII(Medal Of Honor vs.Call Of Duty vs.Brothers In Arms Vs.Wolfenstein vs. COMMANDOS).
Personally i think that VietCong:Purple Haze is the worst Vietnam game(yet anyway) here are my faverite Nam games in order:

Men Of Valor(XBox ONLY)
BattleField:VietNam(on PC)
Conflict:VietNam(on PS2)
ShellShock:Nam `67(on XBox)
VietCong:Purple Haze(on XBox)

I like MOV over BF:V because MOV was more exiting to me for some reason even though they are both Vietnam FPS games.

VC:PH is not underated-its just that there are better Nam games out at the same time and it falls into that "clone catorgory".

Unless you are a HARDCORE Vietnam games fan,have the other 4 games there are no other reason to get it

Rented this game from the local rental store, wouldn't recommend it. PS2 style characters and controls, if you've rented everything else then go ahead, otherwise try something else first.