When we embarked on our current project 'In Country: Vietnam' I took it upon myself to attempt to play through every game set during the Vietnam War. I did this for a number of reasons but chiefly I wanted to see what was done well and what wasn't.
Where to start, well from this experience I have learnt there are far more bad games set during and about the Vietnam War than there are good games. Is this a surprise? probably not. We all know bad games exist, what was most surprising however were how few good Vietnam War games there are.
When I approached this challenge I had a certain list of expectations, a check list of various Vietnam War movie clichés. The things every gamer expects from the Vietnam War setting. This includes everything from the jungle setting, helicopters, over the top caricatures to classic 1960s rock music. I found all of this and more.
So here is a brief run through the jungle of (almost) every game set during the Vietnam War.
THE GOOD
Vietcong (Fist Alpha)
Let's start with the good as there aren't many of them. In fact there's only one very good game set during the Vietnam War. In many ways it's the only game that you'll need to play, the rest don't even come close.
The game places you at Nui Pek camp on the border with Cambodia. From here you are given mission orders and you'll have the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere during this cool down period. You can read the fictional journal by the main character Hawkins that details the previous mission, further information on your team as well as historical information about the area, the VC and some of the combat tactics used in the Vietnam War. It's this attention to the small details that has the biggest pay off (and helps counterbalance some of the cheesy voice acting and story), from searching dead bodies to discover photographs and letters of your fallen enemy to finding enemy propaganda in VC tunnel systems.
Vietcong had it's flaws but with a superbly atmospheric single player campaign it's managed to stand the test of time. The flaws are a little more noticeable now but it has been over eight years since it was released. However the large variety of missions and great mechanics still make this the best game set during the Vietnam War.
THE AVERAGE
Men of Valor
Vietcong 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Battlefield Vietnam
The first game in this section is Men of Valor, a game that deserved more recognition and attention on it's release in 2004. That it has been forgotten is largely to due to the timing of it's release and the games that came the previous year noticeably both Call of Duty and Vietcong. Men of Valor was developed by 2015 Inc the team best know for their previous title 'Medal of Honour: Allied Assualt'.
One of the first things you'll notice apart from the dated graphics on the Unreal Engine 2 is the interaction between your squad and the expansive battle chatter. It's this element that really helps push the story along. Teamwork also plays a large part in the game and a lot relies on your ability to work as a unit by following orders, watching out for others and lending assistance when needed.
Unfortunately what lets the game down is that it's essentially a corridor shooter set in jungle environments. Add to this it's numerous rough edges and rather clunky and sluggish mechanics and it sadly doesn't play as well as it once did.
Vietcong 2 set during the Tet Offensive in 1968 offers a very different experience to that of Vietcong. Most noticeably it's urban setting of Hue City and it's split single player campaign between the VC and the US. It also appears to be a step backwards, gone is the attention to small detail to be replaced with frantic urban combat coupled with poor AI and scripting. It's not a terrible game but in comparison to the original it doesn't hold up well. Without the Jungle setting the game's flaws are far more apparent, eventually when the campaign switches to the VC it's a little too late.
Another game to tackle the urban setting of Hue City is Call of Duty: Black Ops. Whilst Vietnam plays only a small role in the overall story arch it has a big enough impact to be remembered. It plays out like a series of Vietnam War movie clichés turned all the way up to 11, over the top action coupled with ridiculous set pieces like most Call of Duty games. However that's what also makes Black Ops an enjoyable experience, it's the closet you'll come to playing a movie, it's not realistic or thought provoking but it's fun.
Lastly we have Battlefield: Vietnam, at first it may appear to be just another Battlefield title but Battlefield Vietnam offers something a little different. The biggest of these is the asymmetrical game play. The VC and US sides are given a very different selection of vehicles and weapons. This changes the whole game play dynamic and how each team decides to play. However this can at times lead to huge balancing problems along with strange choices in map design and the same issues that affected BF:1942.
THE BAD
Tunnel Rats
Hell in Vietnam
Line of Sight: Vietnam
Shellshock: Nam '67
Shellshock 2: Blood Trails
Conflict: Vietnam
Made Man
There are numerous games set during the Vietnam War and sadly the majority of them are worth avoiding. There isn't much worth saying about the above titles other than some are obviously budget titles such as Hell in Vietnam and Line of Sight: Vietnam whilst others like Shellshock 2 just comes across as childish in their depiction of the Vietnam War.
I'll leave you with this quote from a review of Tunnel Rats.
"2.5 / 10 - Five buggy hours of tunnels, booby traps, and laughably bad dialogue"
OMISSION
Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam
Men of War: Vietnam
Platoon
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you have any interest in trying these games for yourselves then it can be done cheaply. Most of these games can be bought cheaply from any good second hand shop or easily found on ebay. Vietcong 2 for example set me back £0.75 a couple of years ago.There are also demos or trials available for most of them from places like OnLive.
If there is enough interest I will write another feature but based on Vietnam War films and TV shows. Leave your thoughts below.
8 comments
I can`t really enjoy any other game since I played Vietcong (Multiplayer).
First of all I played it back in 2005 for the first time so it won`t be the same if you try it now but let me tell you that the only reason for that would be the outdated graphics and nothing else.
Vietcong had and still has the best gameplay and atmosphere of them all. It´s demanding, funny and has awesome sounds and voices, even by todays standards.
It doesn`t matter if you play it alone, in a clan or in coop mode, it just keeps you hooked without the need for a ranking system or any of other gadgets that todays game developers implement in order to keep kids motivated for a month.
But what do I know, I just owned computers since C64 times and have seen a bunch of games since then. Yes the newer games like BF2/3 have better graphics, vehicles and a bunch of other goodies but they still can`t match the fun factor of Vietcong.
That being said I demand that someone makes a Vietcong successor but It should be based on Vietcong 1 and most importantly don`t try to reinvent this game or it will be ruined.
Keep everything that`s good and bring the rest up to date, just like Ford did with the GT40 and you`ll have yourself a bestseller.
Hi all,
I started to play vietcong since the demo release in 2003 and i still play it. The game is just awesome. I know it's old, but i still think it's 1 of the best fps ever made, especially based on the vietnam.
Like silent bob already mentioned, there are still a lot of players playing this game at the moment. You have the 1.01 version(original), which has around 10-15 servers still running. And the 1.6(patched version/newest) Which still has around 50 active servers in the list.
I will post you a few links where you can have a look to see for yourself how many players/people still play this game with big love, and still put there efforts in it, to upgrate the game in every single way :)
nGG team, which is the biggest clan left in the original 1.01 version(also active on 1.6)
http://www.ngg-team.com/
http://vietcong.info which is the home base for most of the community that's left.
http://www.vietcong1.cz which is the home base for the Cz population that overrules the vietcong community at the moment
http://www.esl.eu/czsk/vc/teamplay/ladder/ ESL. Where the oldskool/better players still play vietcong on a competitive way
Regards, Bierkes
QUOTE: in anycase, the thing that really stuck about Vietcong for me(and my interest in all books/documentaries about the american vietnam war) was the MP gameplay but unfortunately there are probably no more servers up i guess?
There are still 500+ players playing Vietcong everyday ;)
check www.vietcong.info for all community infos....
I love the Vietnam War history, and always came across about games based on it, since Nam 1975 Neo Geo classsic, and I can tell;
Battlefield Vietnam is hell of a fun, best nam game by far, and Men of Valor also, very long game, good grafix, immersive ,not a masterpiece, but very very nice,(Both I have been playing in widescreen, changing the files outside the game) another one is Shell Shock 2, underrated, tons of gore, very fun to play, amazing grafix also, but little short.
I hope more games based on Vietnam War are being made, like that mod.
What I remember of Vietcong was good, played it when it was a year or two old.
The only other one I have played was bc2 Vietnam. I hated it! cant say I've ever felt so bad about spending $15.
Thanks for the feedback. I edited the post to say Vietcong & Fist Alpha now ;)
I too played Vietcong 1 when it was first released but didn't play any competitive ladders only the occasional public, I wished I had played more.
Vietcong 1 is something we've looked at and has provided us with a lot of inspiration on how to make a good Vietnam game and hopefully we achieve some of what they did.
It's about time we had a great Vietnam game again.
I was HEAVY into the Vietcong series (competitive MP ladders), but i see you guys played them all except the first one? or did you mean Vietcong 1 AND Fist Alpha?
in anycase, the thing that really stuck about Vietcong for me(and my interest in all books/documentaries about the american vietnam war) was the MP gameplay but unfortunately there are probably no more servers up i guess?
mp maps like waterfall/stream/arroyo were what made the game amazing imo because of the amount of cover you could obtain, you could have the enemy run right pass you or have your teammates essentially sit and wait to make an ambush happen. it was ahead of its time for an FPS game that allowed your to use cover to your advantage.
anyways i appreciate the effort into any vietnam mod/title, thnx for your hard work!
also there was the Eve of Destruction mod for BF1942/BF2 and arma 2 had the vietnam mod but i never tried that or know how accurate that one is
Nice list harv. I would only add (if we're counting mods) Eve of Destruction for BF1942. That's the game that first demonstrated to me how different an experience a Vietnam game could be. The 'Nam period music blasting out of US bases, new colorful jungle environments, a different type of enemy to your standard military shooter, and helicopters which brought a whole new combat dynamic added up to create such a great atmosphere. Battlefield Vietnam did a good job building off of those elements but EoD beat DICE to the punch.