The Vietnam War has been the focus of countless movies, but until recently not many video games. Maybe it was the fact that it was still fresh in our memories, maybe it was the fact that the processing power of early PCs couldn’t accurately represent the strategy and locations that needed to be included, or maybe it the fact that the Americans didn’t win the war outright, so how could they make a game where ultimately you were a loser? Whatever reason, with the slew of World War II First Person Shooters, the premise of setting a game in another war seemed quaint, and Illusion and Pterodon were one of the first game companies to take advantage of this setting.

Vietcong: Purple Haze is two games in one – the original game released in 2003 and Fist Alpha, the add-on pack released early this year. In both games, you play as a squad member in a small outfit thrust into the middle of this mad war. Vietcong places us in the position of Sergeant First Class Steve Hawkins, who is transferred to Nui Pek camp, and he and his Special Forces comrades must face the enemy in unfamiliar territory while accomplishing various objectives in the process. These missions involve reconnaissance, extraction, and elimination… the standard FPS fair. Whist there’s a little variety, it all comes a bit too samey after a few missions. The add-on pack puts you in the shoes of another Special Forces officer Warren Douglas, and it’s set a few months before the original game, and whilst a little more difficult, doesn’t add too much more variety to the action.

Speaking of gameplay, although you’ve got teammates, and each member has their own abilities, style, and their own history, they’re fairly 2 dimensional. You can order them around to do things, and you can talk to them, but on the whole the experience is a little dry. They’re invaluable in a firefight though. The hardest part of the game is seeing the enemy. It creates a sense of being there as you have to creep along looking for movement, but sometimes it seems like it’s just damn well cheating. Once you do see the enemy, they are rather easy to kill because they aren’t all that bright. You can easily outflank them, and sometimes even run straight for you!

Although the backdrops of the mountains look great, and the fog and lighting effects are used to create an eerie feeling of being in the jungle, the rest of the graphics are really sub-par and dated. The character models look awful, and objects in the foreground look blocky and badly rendered. The framerate is quite abominable when all the whiz bang effects are turned on, even on high end machines, and the game actually looks better with effects such as grass turned off.

The soundtrack is one saving grace, being full of realistic sounding jungles and swamps, with crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and the sounds of gunfire and helicopters echoing through the valleys. There’s a great number of authentic 60’s and 70’s rock throughout the game, and when in camp you can tune into American Forces Vietnam Network to listen to ‘Double J’ broadcasting to the troops. The voice acting is OK, but be warned – it’s rather mature and of the time. Lots of swearing, and use of the word “gook” in a demeaning way. Sure, it’s keeping in with the time and feel, but is it really necessary?

Online play is another saving grace, if you ignore the visuals of course. It becomes quite intense as you creep through the jungles, trying to capture the flag, or just kill as many people as possible. The maps are pretty big, and you can go some games without seeing an enemy, but again, the problem here is that after a few games, it’s just another First Person Shooter. Sure, there’s a little more stealth involved, a little more tactics and hiding, but it’s been done better in lots of other games.

While Vietcong: Purple Haze is does immerse you in the Vietnam conflict rather well, the other aspects of the game let it down. The questionable AI and sub-par graphics really hamper the enjoyment of the game. It’s a refreshing change from all the sci-fi and WWII shooters, but doesn’t really excell in enough areas to make this a “must buy” purchase.