DS gets a tour of duty in Operation: Vietnam

Following the premise that the military organises itself in terms of winning the last war it lost, so with game developers. The past couple of years saw a whole jungle of titles reliving the psychedelic horror that was Vietnam – at least until everyone got bored and went back to the usual business of shooting Nazis and terrorists.

Maybe on that basis, the just-announced Operation: Vietnam for DS is a bit behind the times. Still, we'll have to wait for more definitive evidence – some screenshots would be nice – before marking down its card.

On a positive front, the game's developer is Coyote, a London-based outfit that has already done a tour of 'Nam when working on the Xbox version of Vietcong: Purple Haze, so it should be down with all the '70s camo patterns, at least.

As for the game's features, Operation: Vietnam will be a squad-based affair, which finds you and your troop shot down behind enemy lines. Each member of the squad will be a specialist, with a sniper, grenade launcher guy and heavy weapons expert on hand. You'll be able to toggle direct control between team members as well as issuing commands using the touchscreen. You'll also be able to use the latter to select the inventory and view tactical maps.

Operation: Vietnam is due for release this autumn. Majesco is handing publishing duties in the US, with Eidos the most likely candidate for European deployment.