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There are two things I know
about Gathering's Vietnam shooter,
Vietcong: Fist Alpha.
1) It’s hard, very hard. I probably hit the quick load key more times than
in any other first person shooter. If it’s even close to a
real world Vietnam experience, then I would’ve come home in a
box after the first day.
2) If I never hear the words, “S**T, they sounded the alarm.
We really screwed up” again, I’ll be very happy. There’s a
stealth scene near the end of the game. If you’re seen before
destroying a radio, you instantly fail and have to reload.
This was so frustrating that I actually stopped playing all
together. If anyone knows what the final mission looks like,
let me know and I might be motivated enough to battle through
the stealth mission from hell.
Despite those
two complaints, I really liked this expansion pack. Gathering
has fully captured the feel of jungle combat. Not that I’ve
ever experienced jungle combat, but it at least captures the
feel of jungle combat in Vietnam movies and I’ve seen plenty
of those. Crawling through the thick jungles and impressively
animated foliage is stressful. During these deep jungle
crawls, you can’t see very far ahead of your squad. Due to the
lack of visibility, you can easily stumble upon a camouflaged
VC squad or, even worse, a hidden VC trap, without knowing
what hit you.
Massive jungle fire fights between your squad mates and VC
forces are extremely tense and cinematic. Bullets whiz past
your head. Grenades explode, throwing shrapnel all around you. Your squad mates
scream for help, as your Medic does his best to keep you all
alive and fighting. There’s one defend-the-base mission which
is an absolute must play!
Another aspect which helps to set the mood is the late 60’s /
early 70’s, electric guitar heavy music tracks. Although it’s
all instrumental, you expect Jimmy Hendrix to start singing at
any minute. There’s no doubt the excellent music adds to the
“Platoon” feel of the game. It’s so good, you’ll wish there
was a separate soundtrack for the car CD player.
As I’ve already confessed, I didn’t finish the single player
campaign. However, I did clock in quite a few hours of
multiplayer and was very impressed. The in-game server browser
is top notch and, unlike many multiplayer games, I was able to
connect (first try!) to 99% of the servers. Once I was
connected and thrown into the heat of multiplayer battle,
everything worked and the game ran exceptionally smooth. It’s
bizarre, but I think Fist Alpha runs smoother in multiplayer
mode than it does in single player… go figure.
All in all, Vietcong: Fist Alpha is a good buy at the going
rate of $19.99. Of course, it’s an expansion pack and you do
need to own the original Vietcong, in order to play. But for
$10 more you can pick up Vietcong: Purple Haze, which includes
the original Vietcong and the Fist Alpha expansion. Until you
reach the aforementioned, ultra-annoying stealth mission,
single player is tense and immersive. The multiplayer is
tremendous, providing hours upon hours of VC sniping fun. If
you have the slightest interest in the Vietnam War or war
based first person shooters, then Vietcong: Fist Alpha is a
solid choice.
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