I first heard about this game when I noticed it on the 'Also consider' section of another game. At first glance, then at the site of Marine Heavy Gunner, I could already tell this game was going to suck. I was right. Marine Heavy Gunner places you in the role of 'Specialist Heavy Gunner' Grant (my first note - there is no rank in the US Army called 'Specialist Heavy Gunner' - so much for realism) as he fights in the Vietnam War. His view towards the war is similar to the many we've seen in other games and movies - a bloody and horrific conflict. I'll give credit for the game for this, but otherwise, its no different from what the soon to be released Shellshock: Nam '67 is going with. Anyways, on with the review. Grant is accompanied by his teammates, all of whom are invincible (so we may not have to actually babysit bad AI, maybe). Two are useful due to how they supply Grant with ammo and health, but the rest are just there for show. As I kept playing, I noticed how little animated they are, especially in the intro video, where their mouths don't move while speaking, and while they move, where they look as if they were sloppily animated by the developers. Aside from bad animations, their voice acting and AI doesn't help either. There is plentiful swearing, and it isn't different from what I've seen with The Suffering, but the acting isn't convincing - the teammates and other soldiers you'd run into seem to talk in such an exaggerated Texan accent, or they say things we've already heard in many other games and movies. Their AI is just as bad as their voice acting. As I said earlier, your entire team is basically there just for show - they can barely hit the enemy, and if one guy on your team has a grenade launcher and you happen to be standing next to him, disarm him of it immediately! He will fire, and sometimes hit the enemy, but chances are he'll fire but fail to realize that he has the muzzle pointed at the rock right in front of him. If you happen to be next to him, he won't die, but YOU will. The enemy isn't impressive either. Typical bad AI, along with horribly spewed taunting, which is always f*ck ___________. From what I know, I never knew the Viet Cong spoke English fluently enough to say that. The gameplay is okay - better than what I'd expect, but otherwise nothing special. It has moments where you'd have to mount your trademark M60 (or for me, the PKM) and lay down fire on advancing VC. These moment occur when you need to get to a specific spot within a certain duration of time and mount your weapon there, much similar to Day of Defeat and using machine guns. However, with the infinate ammunition you suddenly gain when doing this, the entire game becomes nothing but a mindless shoot 'em up - not exactly what the Vietnam War was. That fact would have been one of the few problems with their system, but when you're unmounted, it game is still a nonrealistic shoot 'em up. From what I know, M60's are pretty heavy, and aren't the most accurate of weapons, but with how it is used in the game, it seems as though its a wonder weapon or an assault rifle. For that, I can almost be thankful there isn't multiplayer, since stuff like that would be unbalanced as HELL. Other parts of the game put you into 'lone wolf' missions where you need to go in alone (while your teammates wait elsewhere) to do a certain simple task, such as retrive item X, destroy item Y, or do something else we already have experienced with item Z. Too simple, really. Marine Heavy Gunner has a realistic list of weapons: M16's, AK47's, SKS's, etc. This would have been good, but it still isn't. Weapon models look they they were done by an amateur skinner, and even so, some of the reloading animations are inaccurate (clearly, the developers have NEVER need pistols or a Simonov SKS being reloaded before). The other problem with the game is how when you reload a partially loaded clip, the number of rounds each magazine is supposed to carry is deducted from your current supply. As strange as it sounds, it makes sense when you completely unload a clip, possibly how it was designed, but it seems like they missed the rest. The graphics for Marine Heavy Gunner, contrary to what the box claims, are dated and subpar. Powered by the Unreal Engine (Unreal Tournament, the first one, not 2003/2004), the engine is put to poor use here. If we've played our share of mods by the Unreal Tournament community, we've seen impressive works be done, by fans and people who have been gifted enough to learn how to use UnrealEd (what? I never got how to use it...). As for Marine Heavy Gunner, being a game which although was on a small budget, is more than what modders would work with, is sloppier and looks even older than what UT is supposed to be like. The Unreal Engine was always impressive and was able to do great effects and create beautiful and creative levels and worlds. But the developers of Marine Heavy Gunner seem to have missed all that, using a powerful engine to create boring and dead levels choked in a horrible looking fog that might as well be hiding the small draw distance of the game, and to create wimpy and primitive explosion effects. In conclusion, there really isn't any need to buy Marine Heavy Gunner (see my note on the game's CD above). If you're looking for a cheap budget game, you'd be better off not even spending your money on it, or better yet, look for another game, or even save up more to get a vastly superior game. If you insist, you may buy Marine Heavy Gunner, but all you'd find is a waste of your money and time better spend on another game. /end review
Other Helpful Reviews for Marine Heavy Gunner: Vietnam
Marine: Heavy Gunner is a continuation of the value budget "Marine" series, following the Marine: Sharpshooter games. Developed by a different company with a different engine, and also published by a different publisher,... Read Full Review
i bought this game for $2 from the game wizard bargain section so have no complaints about value for money.i found it fun to play and had many enjoyable hours of gameplay.there are plenty of missions with lots of shootin... Read Full Review
