As
a war, Vietnam got little respect. As a game, Elite
Warriors: Vietnam will also garner little respect
as certain aspects of the game are obviously flawed,
making it anything but enjoyable.
It's
not the Vietnam theme that's in question. I know that
there are lots of gamers that don't get excited about
this war. It's certainly not as epic as WWII and there's
not much glory associated with it but Elite Warriors:
Vietnam sheds light on a little known unit of soldiers
that were specially trained for squad-based combat
behind enemy lines. Called the SOG, they were feared
by the Cong who in turn trained teams to counter the
SOG units. These elite warriors deserve recognition
but this game does little to promote them properly.
At
first, you would suspect that EWV is a shooter. It
is but that's only half of the story. Plan to spend
a lot of time with the interface. You will have some
RTS elements to grapple with, but the least of them
is strategy. There may be a lot of choices to make
in this game but there's not a lot of ways to deal
with them when things go bad.
Waypoints
are chosen for each mission. Your unit moves up the
map not unlike a board game. You're informed of your
progress, good and bad, with little to do other than
see what other random surprises await you.
Commands
are relatively straightforward. You can select each
character and arm them with various weapons such as
a knife, sniper rifle and semi-automatic. Enemy AI
often give themselves away as you can hear them firing
in the distance. As long as you don't leave the topographical
map you'll find them very easy to defeat. All you
have to do is keep firing into their nest from a long
distance. They won't even know what hit them as they
are unaware of your presence until you cross that
scripted trigger.
Missions
are rated on time, effectiveness and how much damage
you receive. To make your unit more effective, you
can take a rest but at the expense of a good time
score. You'll also be more vulnerable to attack. You
can also choose to go through the mission in half-time
or double time but the faster you go the bigger the
risk. The risks don't seem to be consistent and all
bets are off when you leave the map and the enemy
becomes incredibly aggressive. If you call for an
emergency extraction you'll automatically end the
mission.
With
insects buzzing, birds singing and tribal drums beating
the soundtrack reminds me more of Africa than Vietnam.
The radio chatter helps keep it real and reminds you
that you're in a war and not on a safari. The guns
sounds are good though they sound a little subdued.
The voiceacting is too serious and monotone. Like
a bad religious service. Graphically it's pretty decent
but there are a lot of areas that you can't interact
with thanks to invisible walls that force you to stay
on your chosen path.
EWV
is not half bad but guess what the other half is?
Not good!
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