Hell in Vietnam is a prime example of taking the popular 'Nam genre and failing to do anything positive with it.
Hell in Vietnam (HiV) is an FPS set in Vietnam during 1967-1968 before, during and shortly after the 1968 Tet Offensive. Sounds like a great time period in which to visit the 'Nam, right? Yes it is, but alas HiV, despite eight (rather short) missions, fails to deliver any sense of immersion ... this game could be set in the jungles of central America, like other City Interactive (CI) titles using the same graphics engine. This is an opportunity missed, but CI makes an effort to set the scene of each mission with a briefing screen.
HiV, like other CI titles is mission-centric. No need to look for character development or flowing narrative structure. The missions start and end abruptly with no intervening cut scenes to fill you in on the impact of the actions of 2nd Lt Tom Coburn, the player character. The diary-like briefing/loading screens at the start of each mission provides give an outline of events but lack the grittiness you would expect from a front line Vietnam era diary and shed no light on the character or the progress or point of the war. Unsurprisingly for a 'Nam game our hero, Coburn, is disillusioned and disenchanted but that's about the depth of it.
There are eight (8) missions in HiV which try to cover the gamut of typical 'Nam missions. The results in HiV are indifferent at best and poor at worst. The missions, all heavily scripted, are as follows:
#1 Baptism of Fire - take out the VC/NVA hill top outpost and fend off counter-attack. An exceptionally lame mission, playable in about one minute (no, seriously).
#2 A Day in the Country - advance along jungle path; fend of a couple of ambushes; advance up hill to clear a VC/NVA held village. Reasonably challenging but whack a mole nature of enemy AI detracts here and all missions that follow.
#3 Highway Patrol - ambush enemy convoy with claymores; advance along road encountering snipers, take out enemy AA positions with charges (no, grenades or RPG missiles will not work, only the charges).
#4 Down by the River - battle through village to river, hop aboard PBR; man twin-HMG turret on PBR and mow down enemy along banks; check downed helo and reboard PBR, jump off and blow up bunkers.
#5 The Battle of Hue - this is the mission in the HiV demo; Hue reduced to a micro-scale version of Stalingrad with ruined concrete and steel buildings largely at odds with Hue in era photos; clear rail yards and station; fend off hordes of VC/NVA charging out(?) of Hue; battle through "city" and up and down through buildings; mission is to kill enemy "sniper" (first seen "blind firing"(!) an AK47 from a building window). Fine as a mission but fails to provide any insight into this battle.
#6 Buddha's Smile - clear village and blow two bunkers; enter outer monastery compound, climb pagoda and snipe enemy; enter inner compound and battle VC/NVA until cleared and blow AA guns. Longish mission and one of the better ones.
#7 Fields of Destruction - defend hilltop outpost (no, this is no firebase, just a shack and some fencing); once VC/NVA cleared hop aboard Huey for the obligatory 'Nam chopper-MG mission; destroy enemy trucks, troops and helos.
#8 The Journey Home - your last buddy dies, you are alone (so, no real change); escape and evade VC/NVA; head down to river through a number of firefights; advance up hill to down chopper (note there is a waterfall off to your right with a bunker near top that is somehow "off-map" but still able to be visited); take out enemy armoured car and trucks with RPG; clear last of the enemy and await chopper evac. The End (no, not in the sense of Apocalypse Now and The Doors ... but very welcome if you lasted this far).
Graphics-wise the game, especially the jungle environments, looks reasonably fine with Nvidia control panel settings maxed out. The same cannot be said for the NPCs which have a strange sameness about them. There are no cut-scenes in the traditional sense. Indeed a quick review of my earlier reviews of Terrorist Takedown: War in Colombia (in my 18 July 2010 blog) and Terrorist Takedown: Covert Operations (here at GameSpot) will give a taste of what HiV has in store for the unwitting buyer.
Gameplay is essentially identical to other CI titles of the time, like Terrorist Takedown (either Colombia or Covert Ops) with the same seriously flawed AI (did I mention "whack a mole" appearances of the enemy). Coburn while often depicted with his squad mates is usually very much alone. Squad mates cannot be relied on to take out enemy, but can be relied on to block your line of fire. No attempt is made to use 'Nam era popular music, instead its an orchestral soundtrack. When working through some "tense", or what passes for tense in HiV, segments the music sounds suspiciously like that at similar tense times in EA's Bond-themed FPS Nightfire. Alas even a more traditional 'Nam era soundtrack would not save HiV, if anything it would detract from the 1960s music.
The voice acting is very limited and indeed very lame indeed with the disembodied voices calling out instructions from time to time (perhaps acceptable in a modern era shooter with comms-equipped operatives but not so in 1967-68). Enemy dialogue is restricted to taunts, most notably "round eyed Yankee pigs". The game itself is highly scripted, as in linear ... not as in "well scripted". Alas there are few redeeming features in this game. It commences with a ridiculously short mission and ends with a whimper about an one-and-a-half hours later. This must be one of the shortest FPS games out there, even for a budget title.
CI fans will be familiar with the gameplay mechanics (including the need for those explosive charges) and the briefing screens and the stark white font against a black background announcing "Standby" as the mission completes its long loading cycle. Also ever-present are those invisible walls that keep you channeled to the predetermined path and "on script". Instant death if you wander off the scripted path and enemy grenade spam familiar from other CI titles are also present.
If you have any interest in the game due to its inviting 'Nam setting at all ... play the demo, which is set during the battle for Hue, and stop there and save your money. In some ways it is a blessing is that the missions are indeed very short and the pain/embarrassment is over quickly and you can move onto something better. Replay value is non-existent and the difficulty settings only change the amount of damage Coburn can take (less on Hard) to the damage you need to inflict on the enemy to achieve a kill (more on Hard).
Yes, City Interactive has improved its FPS games, as indicated by the more recent Sniper: Ghost Warrior, but Hell in Vietnam suggests this is a relative improvement from a very low base. Strangely, CI's Code of Honor: French Foreign Legion remains a guilty pleasure being one of my first FPS games.
OVERALL: Beware. Arguably Hell in Vietnam is arguably the worst in City Interactive's stable of FPS games, AVOID it. By all means hunt around for a copy of Vietcong or Men of Valor and you will NOT be disappointed.