VC2 contains a few good urban battles, but doesn't really have the same appeal as the original...
The emotional impact of that Trojan Horse-style snub was enormous, both in my own mind and in the historical recollection of my coworker, which he based largely upon the accounts of older soldiers who actually witnessed the blitz. Using that startling event as the backdrop for Vietcong 2 works fairly well, as the game’s protagonist begins his journey soaking up the benefits of the celebratory truce at the local brothel, followed by what he assumes will be an easy babysitting gig for an American reporter. VC2 builds suspense during those expository scenes at the Giao Thua party, as various officials fatefully proclaim the war a done deal (with the exception of a cautionary cameo from VC1’s Captain Rosenfeld). The player is introduced to the action with an excellent little cutscene (in fact, all of the game’s cinematics are its strongest suit) that ends with an RPG round to the face. What follows is a series of regrettably repetitive room-to-room, house-to-house, and even street-to-street battles that, I’m sorry to say, eventually fail to sustain the momentum of the tense retreat to and defense of home base. Even though I tend to prefer well-staged waypoint crawls and on-rails sequences to other FPS conventions (like, for instance, the obligatory exercises in sneaking around that were shoehorned into VC1 and its expansion), the gameplay in VC2 was hampered by odd glitches and the enemy’s apparent tendency to, once again, target only me in favor of an entire squad of friendlies. I completely understand that the latter is necessary to prevent the possibility of a stale bot match, but the scapegoating certainly led to a high number of quickloads on higher levels of difficulty. Also, the game ran very poorly on my moderately powerful rig even with the physics detail (my favorite component) turned all the way down.
Vietcong 2's combat mechanics and character animation were reminiscent of a rushed product or even a budget title, and playing it after the comparatively solid proceedings of Vietcong and Fist Alpha found the sequel lacking. Although the dramatic setting of the Tet Offensive was very compelling, I found myself missing the jungle junkets through spacious highlands from the original. Which leads me to my favorite levels in the game: serving as a fresh VC conscript for the enemy. Although playing for the other team didn’t really feel taboo, I also didn’t relish the idea of doing so. However, good virtual combat works regardless of the politics involved, and VC2's short secondary campaign reminded me more of the general vibe found in the original. The main mission was adequately fun even though it came across as a bargain-priced knockoff of Men of Valor. I recommend VC2 for anyone who is fascinated by war stories, otherwise the Purple Haze pack for the original title is a much better deal.