War Over Vietnam Review

War Over Vietnam is suited for those with intimate knowledge of the subject matter who are willing to forgive several flaws to fulfill their "what-if" strike commander fantasies.

The Vietnam air war was an amazing conflict that is criminally underutilized in today's games. This was the period in which the US paid dearly for relying on fledgling missile technology when old-fashioned cannons and machine guns were still deciding the outcome of dogfights. It was a time in which Thuds and F-111s practically scraped their bellies on the ground during bombing missions, even as massive B-52s rained death from on high. It was an era in which American pilots faced the most massive antiaircraft network ever created, which made it necessary for them to dodge everything from radar-guided surface-to-air missiles (the size of telephone poles) to casual shots from ancient rifles--all in bids to avoid extended stays at the Hanoi Hilton. While we're still waiting for a decent flight simulator that covers this era, in War Over Vietnam, HPS Simulations has at least delivered a decent real-time tactical wargame that lets players simulate nearly every aspect of the air war, from the initial Pierce Arrow forays in 1964 to the massive Linebacker II bombing campaign in 1972. It plays a little bit like the air traffic simulations of yore, but instead of directing planes to avoid collisions and land safely, you instead conduct a symphony of destruction.

Everything is clearly laid out, but the graphics pretty much define 'drab.'
Everything is clearly laid out, but the graphics pretty much define 'drab.'

Handling multiple flights of planes at once seems overwhelming at first, but the interface is streamlined to the point where decisions usually are straightforward. After loading a scenario, you issue orders to flights or ground units that are simple by themselves but can be strung together to create more-complex commands. For example, it is easy to set up patrol routes for radar planes--which can jam aircraft, fighters, and tankers--or to set a series of waypoints for a flight that keeps it out of range of antiaircraft guns and SAM radars on the way to the target. When things heat up, you can order planes to drop external weapons or fuel tanks to increase speed and maneuverability, and some planes can even dispense chaff to confuse incoming missiles. It is also possible to order aircraft to fly high or low and to increase or decrease speed depending on the situation. Furthermore, you can point aircraft manually toward a target or toward impromptu waypoints.

Fuel is tracked for each flight, but in most missions it doesn't have too big of an impact on gameplay. Flying low burns the precious liquid at twice the normal rate, and ordering fighters to use afterburners to get an edge in a dogfight guzzles frightening amounts of gas. Range is displayed as a black circle around the aircraft, and it is possible to flip an autoreturn switch that forces the flight to head home as soon as it hits "bingo" (military slang for having just enough fuel to make it back to base). Once there, the flight can rearm and refuel for another sortie, provided there's enough time left on the mission countdown timer to make it back to the target.

Operation Kingpin involves a diverse force, with each flight playing a distinct role.
Operation Kingpin involves a diverse force, with each flight playing a distinct role.

Missions play out in real-time, but it is possible to speed up, slow down, or pause the action. Fortunately, you can issue orders while the game is paused, because there are generally many flights to manage. One of the game's main problems is that even though time is tracked down to the second, flights react instantly to commands. This makes it possible to quickly bounce a flight from high altitude to low altitude and vice versa, or you can instantly command a flight to turn around to make passes on targets over and over until it runs out of ammo. Heavy tankers and radar aircraft should not be able to turn on a dime, and the ability to pop up for a second to identify a target and then immediately drop back down to low level is completely unrealistic. Incorporating rudimentary turn and climb rates would have added enough to the game's tactical component to make things much more interesting.

The Operation Kingpin scenario, which is included as one of the game's 23 missions, provides a good overview of how the general gameplay works, because it involves nearly every type of aircraft imaginable. In reality, this scenario involves a coordinated raid on the large Son Tay POW camps, with F4 Phantoms providing high-altitude air cover, low-flying F-105 Wild Weasel ground attack planes diverting antiair attention and suppressing SAM sites, an EC-121 Constellation providing air radar coverage, and an MC-130 Combat Talon to drop flares over the target. All of these planes were protecting slow-flying helicopters filled with special forces troops that would be dropped in to rescue POWs. The mission went very well, despite some potential disasters, but, unfortunately, no POWs remained at the camp.

In the game, the stage is set as soon as the mission is loaded. All aircraft are in the air and en route to their respective targets, and it's possible to switch them all to what is effectively autopilot to watch the mission play out. After checking to see what aircraft were available, we ordered the solitary Mach 3+ SR-71 recon plane to loiter, sent the Wild Weasel flight after some nearby SAMs, and had the F4s patrol the skies to the east of the camp, setting their speeds just one notch below full afterburner to improve their odds at dodging stray missiles. Meanwhile, the MC-130s and helicopters lumbered toward the camp at low altitude, escorted by a tree-skimming formation of A-1 Skyraiders to provide close air support. The radar plane picked up a target for the F4s, which intercepted the unknown target and brought it down with a long-range missile shot. The F-105s blinded a SAM site close to the camp by obliterating its radar, and after the A-1 shot a few rockets at the camp, we had it harass another SAM site by taking potshots before it ran out of ammo and had to return to base.

Issuing a series of orders is simple, courtesy of a streamlined interface.
Issuing a series of orders is simple, courtesy of a streamlined interface.

The combined air cover and SAM suppression was enough to provide the strike force with an unopposed path to the base. The ground forces dropped in, went to work, and were extracted by the helicopters. One of the chopper flights rescued some downed aircrew members that popped up on the screen (seemingly at random since no American planes were shot down), and the SR-71 was then ordered to take pictures of the camp to assess the mission's effectiveness. When time was up, the Americans achieved a massive victory, thanks mainly to the points accumulated for picking up the stranded pilots.

This sounds like an exhilarating time, but most of the action takes place in your imagination. Onscreen, all you see are generic plane icons moving toward generic target icons, with weapons represented as dots that fly toward their targets. Hits and misses are reported via text messages that flash up on the screen, but they consist of all fact and no flavor. Including pilot names or breaking down the final scores by flights so that you could easily tell what unit contributed the most in the battle would have made things somewhat more interesting,. As wargames go, War Over Vietnam is about as bland as they come, and the included scenarios set everything up so perfectly that many of the most meaningful decisions--force selection, attack order, and weapons loadouts--are not left up to the player. This is realistic in terms of sticking to the theme of the game, which consists of letting you assume the role of a strike commander who leads preassigned flight packages to preassigned targets, but it strips a lot of potential fun from the game.

Fortunately, the included scenario editor is the game's saving grace, and the included Ham Rung bridge attack mission is a perfect example of why the editor works so well. This massive span, aptly nicknamed the "Dragon's Jaw," proved to be an exceedingly difficult target for the American pilots to destroy. Planes used in the initial attack--the one re-created in the game--relied mainly on small missiles that did little more than scorch the bridge's metal superstructure. The editor provides a perfect opportunity for players to find out what could have happened if those initial flights were packing bigger bombs or if different types of aircraft were used in the attack. We set up an alternate version of the mission within a few minutes, although it will take anyone who is unfamiliar with aircraft and weapons designations much longer than this to sift through the orders of battle and loadout screens.

The scenario editor uses the same graphics and engine as the game and is incredibly easy to use for those familiar with the subject matter.
The scenario editor uses the same graphics and engine as the game and is incredibly easy to use for those familiar with the subject matter.

The graphics in both the game and the editor are spartan, with a drab, tan 2D map crisscrossed with brown roads and blue rivers. Planes are represented by simple monotone icons that provide an overhead, silhouetted view of the aircraft. Clicking an icon selects the plane, which is then displayed on the left of the screen using clear, hand-drawn side views. These side views are overlaid with information about the aircraft, including its current speed and range, and right-clicking on the side view brings up more-detailed information about the planes ordnance, training level, and additional factors. Up to seven of these side views can be displayed at once to let players easily switch focus between aircraft, but there, unfortunately, is no way to quickly cycle through all of the planes on the map to ensure that you aren't missing anything. Wargames don't generally offer much in the sound department, and War Over Vietnam adheres to this policy. There is background radio chatter to add some ambience, there are explosion sounds for weapon drops, and there are some engine sounds. But that about covers it.

This game obviously appeals to an extremely select audience. You have to not only love planes but also you have to know reams of information about hundreds of variants of military aircraft, ordnance, and ground units to form a viable offensive or defensive strategy. If you want to play over a network connection with a buddy, he or she needs to know all of that stuff as well. All of this data, along with math formulas used by the game engine, is included with the well-organized online documentation, but there, unfortunately, is no printed manual to help out the uninitiated. If the designer had focused as much on simulating aerodynamics as it did on simulating weapons systems, War Over Vietnam would be an excellent tactical exercise. As it stands, it's a game that's better suited for those with intimate knowledge of the subject matter who are willing to forgive several flaws to fulfill their "what-if" strike commander fantasies.

The Good

  • N/A

The Bad

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