Conflict: Vietnam
| Conflict: Vietnam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Pivotal Games |
| Publisher(s) |
SCi (EUR) Global Star Software (US) |
| Series | Conflict |
| Platform(s) |
PlayStation 2 Xbox Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Tactical shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer - Split-screen |
Conflict: Vietnam is the third installment in the Conflict series of video games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows.
Gameplay
A third person shooter, Conflict: Vietnam has the player taking control of a squad of four 101st Airborne Division soldiers on the eve of the Tet Offensive in 1968.
Multiplayer allows two players to each control two of the squad's four men and take on Viet Cong members and North Vietnamese forces.
Plot
Conflict: Vietnam opens in 1968, just days before the Tet Offensive begins, as 19-year-old Private Harold Kahler is introduced to his squadmates on a Huey gunship while heading to "Ghost Town" a 101st Airborne Division base in South Vietnam. Twenty-eight-year-old Staff Sergeant Frank "Ragman" Wier is the leader, highly familiar with the Vietnam War from two previous tours of duty. Corporals Bruce "Junior" Lesh and Will "Hoss" Schafer comprise the rest of the squad. Hoss is the squad's adrenaline-junkie machine gunner, while Junior, the squad sniper, is counting the final days of his tour. The 1968 Tet Offensive occurs just after Kahler's first combat patrol, and he and the rest of Ragman's squad soon find themselves cut off behind enemy lines after the helicopters deploying them on a night patrol are shot down.
Over the course of the next several days, the squad battles through miles of unknown jungle filled with hostile NVA and VC and escaping a napalm strike they meet up with "The Chief", commander of a Navy PBR. The Chief is alone prior to meeting up with Wier's squad, having dropped some Green Berets off up river where he "saw some strange shit up there". After fighting their way through a VC-fortified area called 'Charlie's Point', the men discover the Chief has been killed and soon meet up with a group of Montagnards. After retrieving a sacred statue and releasing several village prisoners for the leader of the village, the squad uses a radio gained as a reward to call for a helicopter extraction from the 1st Air Cav, being landed in a base under siege. After fighting off a heavy VC and NVA assault, the squad is praised by an overjoyed Major Wallace, who promises all of them commendations for their bravery. A dying VC throws a grenade into the bunker as the Major speaks, however, knocking them out, and the five men are taken prisoner. Major Wallace is killed when the men are forced to play Russian roulette.
After escaping from the VC POW camp, Ragman's squad fights their way through the jungle and meets Sergeant Stone of the Australian SAS and his squad. The two sergeants lead their men through a series of VC tunnels that the SAS were ordered to destroy. They succeed, and Stone and Wier part on good terms. Meeting up with a USMC jeep, the squad joins up with a column of trucks and tanks headed for Hue. After battling through the war-torn city and destroying numerous NVA T-34's with an M48 Patton tank, the squad mounts up in a 101st Airborne Huey. The helicopter is shot down by a RPG while attempting to destroy NVA SAM's and HAWK radars in the area, and the squad fights their way to and assaults The Citadel, taking the fortress and eliminating its garrison, including a handful of tanks and the commanding general.
A closing cinematic, narrated by Kahler, tells what happens to each of his squadmates and himself after their tour. Hoss signs on for another tour, Kahler later hearing from a drunk CIA agent that he is fighting in Cambodia, forever going wherever he can find the thrill of combat. Junior finally goes home, but meets an unjust fate after he joins the Black Panther Party and is killed in a shootout with the FBI. Ragman comes home to an empty house and a pile of divorce papers, and moves to live in the Rocky Mountains with his dog, Ho Chi Minh, having found a well-deserved peace. Kahler goes home, raising a family and becoming a respected doctor, his expertise in dealing with gunshot wounds being all-too-needed in cities torn by violence and civil unrest.
Reception
The game was generally well received, gaining positive reviews in a number of gaming magazines including a score of 91% in 'Gamesmaster'.
GameSpot gave the PS2 version of Conflict: Vietnam a 6.1 stating it as "A solidly average game whose few original ideas are compromised by screwy controls, some pacing problems, and a punishing save-game system".