User Rating: 8.7 | Vietcong (2003) PC
I had been looking at purchasing this game for a while, but put it off because it does have a cheesy name, and I figured that it was of the same caliber of that "other" Vietnam simulator. I found it at a reduced price of $29.99, and figured even if it did suck, I was only out $30 bucks. The game was well worth the $30 or so dollars that I paid for it. The music is one of the things that grabbed me right from the start. The title screen is playing some very mellow, very Jimi Hendrix-ish guitar rift that does a great job of setting the era "mood". The training scenarios are good, if a bit annoying at times, and the drill is funny if not monotonous. I spent at least of couple of hours just screwing around in the training scenarios. It also lends a bit of history to the main single player character. One gripe, the calling in of artillery is a major pain in the ass. They could have provide a better map for calling in artillery. The map that is provided is not very clear, nor detailed. Like I said, a minor gripe, but one still worth mentioning, as the first time I tried to do it, I blew myself into next week. So approach it with caution. After getting bored with "boot camp", I jumped into the single player game. It plays well. A true measure of a great game is if it has sub-par graphics but still manages to suck you in, leaving you waiting for the end of a workday so that you can rush home and play it. A lot of people seem to be comparing this to the MOH series. I would agree that it is as good of a shooter as MOH, but as I have stated, the graphics look a bit dated. They would have been very good as of late 2000 or early 2001, but are starting to show their age. This is a minor hit, as it will allow it to run on lower end systems without a hitch. This would be a bigger concern if this was not such a quality game. The sound is very good. I can't say that I have noticed all that much in the sound department that is not just very good, with the minor exception of I have encountered a minor glitch that cause dialog to sometimes be repeated, but since the install of the patch, this seems to have alleviated itself. Another more annoying complaint is the team member AI. They are, at times very stupid. There has been more that once that I have become trapped in a tunnel by my team behind me, and ahead of me trying to walk through a wall. It is also somewhat amusing when they catch on fire, and calmly proclaim "Oh no, I am on fire." and then proceed to pat themselves until the flames are extinguished. The stupid AI team members can be a real pain in the hind end. Another thing that may turn some people off is you can't carry an arsenal on your back. You are limited to a knife, pistol, rifle/machine gun, and four grenades of US manufacture/ four of Vietcong origin, for a total of eight. I rather liked this feature. Overall, the game has kept me coming back for more. I would recommended it to anyone likes a d@!$%* good FPS shooter. On a side note, if you really care to see how hard these guys worked on the game, you must check out the website fore Vietcong. It is truly impressive. These guys started out to create a quality product, and have succeeded masterfully. When cruising the web site, pay attention to the name of the guide they received Vietnam...
