Hands on with Operation: Vietnam for DS
Known to its friends as mini-Conflict: Operation Vietnam
It's not the sort of thing you'd probably shout about now, but back in the day, there used to be something innocent about war games. The likes of Cannon Fodder and Commando couldn't really be taken seriously, while the creature comforts of Worms and Hogs of War brought humour into their slapstick-brutal proceedings.
However, the rise of military sims and tactical squad-based shooters such as the Conflict, SOCOM and Ghost Recon series means we're now spending more time worrying about the muzzle velocity of the Dragunov versus the L96 sniper rifle.
To that extent, at least, Operation: Vietnam is a return to a simpler time. Frankly, it plays more like Asteroids or Geometry Wars than a tactical combat sim. Partly, this is to do with the top-down view, which sees you taking control of your squad of four troopers, who are stuck behind Vietcong lines, and spinning them around to wheel out volleys of fire in a rather uncoordinated manner.
Of course, that could have just been the way we played the game as we got to try it out recently.
We started at the beginning, with one general purpose trooper. He could fire three bullets at a time by pumping the A button. Moving through the forest, which has a slightly cartoon style and contains details such as colourful birds flying around, was carried out with the D-pad. This also controlled the targeting cursor.
Such a combination took a bit of getting used to, and contributed to our rather random approach to combat: essentially, you have to move your character around to aim him in the right direction. Another oddity is that when the cursor hits the edge of the screen, it scrolls the map in that direction – another issue for players to get accustomed to.
Still, it wasn't long before we had found the first of our captured chums and set about rescuing him from the enemy. Sarge is a heavy-weapons-type of guy; slower to move, he packs a punch with a more powerful, one-shot gun.
Sadly though, we couldn't work out how to break up the group and give orders to different characters – a feature that's been promised. For that reason, we operated in 'follow' mode, toggling the lead soldier as circumstance dictated. In this set-up, the other soldiers kept on auto-firing until all onscreen enemies were neutralised.
Next up, we rescued our sniper. He fires a fast, single bullet, although as this uses the same aiming system, it proved difficult to carry out any targeted sharp shooting. Most likely, it's something that will improve with practice.
A more immediate concern was that, as our squad grew, it also became harder to see what was going on, especially as the soldiers are small sprites and you start to come across enemies hidden in bushes and trees.
One nice touch was the medic pack system, which like Eidos' console Conflict series enables you to 'tick' squad members, whose health has hit zero, back into life.
Overall, then, we remain to be convinced whether the game's various features will combine into a coherent whole. But at least we won't have long to wait before we find out as Operation: Vietnam is due to be released sometime in October.
