	Vietcong: Purple Haze
	Developer: Coyote/Illusion Softworks Publisher: Gathering/Take 2 Release Date: Out Now Players: 1, 1-10 via Xbox Live	Words By:
So another Vietnam game hits our consoles. Surely the most depressing, glamour-free and ultimately pointless war of all time seems to be the flavour of the year with developers, so I guess we have to ride with it, but enjoy it? Sorry, not me. Now without wanting to get too flippant or sound too dumb, World War 2 and future wars seem a lot more fun to me, all of the Vietnam games I’ve played have just left me cold and depressed by the end – but maybe that’s just a sign that the makers are giving us a fair idea of just how crappy a war Vietnam was, despite some cool and evocative music (I wanna Be Your Dog by the Stooges should be number one, possibly FOR EVER) … Let’s get this outta the way straight off; Vietcong Purple Haze is a conversion of an ageing PC game from a couple of years back, and despite a lot of effort it still looks it. Many of the levels have loads of foliage and undergrowth but everything, from the character models to the distant hills look their age, with a distinct lack of texturing and detail. On the plus side, this relative lack of visual ambition means that the Xbox draws VPH without a murmur, and the action plays at a steady, smooth frame rate. And although it isn’t going to be challenging Riddick or Halo 2 for “Best Looking FPS of the Year” there are even some visual “wow” moments, like the flowing river or the Bell Huey helicopter that swoops in to pick you up after some missions. Controls are pretty standard but for some reason (like so many other FPS) they determinedly refuse to exactly copy Halo’s setup (and you can’t reconfigure them), meaning that to crouch/go prone you have to press the Y button which is clunky to say the least- especially when you have the instinctive left stick click doing NOTHING. The D-pad gets plenty of use as you can lean round corners or trees with left or right, and up selects your binoculars (very useful for surveying the way ahead) and down brings up your map (also pretty useful as sometimes you call in air strikes or artillery support with it). The X button brings up the inventory (which makes for a fairly sluggish selection process when you want a grenade FAST, and the left trigger (that made such a perfect grenade throw button in Halo and Brute Force) is an alternative ‘hold to’ crouch button. As the game progresses your squad changes, so you don’t really form any attachment to them as in the Conflict or Ghost Recon games, but you do get to order them around and come to rely on them. Press the black button and you can give them orders individually or as a group (they don’t always do as they’re told) or you can interact directly with them by walking close to them and pressing A. Your ever-faithful Vietnamese pointman will lead the way, inform you of any booby traps and fight alongside you too. The medic is also invaluable as he’ll heal most of your wounds as long as they’re not too bad – he’ll heal you automatically if you get close to him or you can call him over. Your radio man is vital for checking with HQ and your engineer will restock your ammo. Now this all sounds great but the AI isn’t the best, and your pointman will sometimes completely ignore you, like he’s having a sulk. The most comical moments though are when they all follow you into a narrow passageway or confined space and you find you need to turn back – they bump into you, block your way and generally mill around like embarrassed party guests. Turning around on a rope bridge had the funniest results, as, in his efforts to get out of my way, my pointman repeatedly tried to hop over the side… This wasn’t the best though, as my gung-ho hardman machine gunner Hornster managed to walk straight through a campfire, obviously burning himself and making “Ow ~ Oohh ~ Ow ~ Ouch” noises… So, with your crack military killing team behind, in front and to the side of you (usually pointing in the wrong direction), off you set on a 19 mission tour of duty. From search & rescue to clearance missions, you’ll require a deal of patience as Vietcong doesn’t often reward bullish tactics. You need to traverse most levels slow and steadily, and keep your head down, because even more so than Rainbow Six 3 or Ghost Recon VPH favours the “one hit kill” school of thought – any bullet wound causes severe damage and headshots always kill. Thankfully (and unlike several other Xbox FPS) VPH has excellent collision detection so that when you shoot enemies, they tend to go down (and they sometimes get back up after non-lethal wounds so it’s best to finish them off). Although VPH could never be considered an easy game, 19 levels (some are very short) won’t take you long to complete, but there’s always “Vietnam” difficulty setting to play it on (tougher opposition, no ammo or health gauge). To be honest (and much like Conflict Vietnam) I was glad when it was all over, and approached the online multiplayer game with a faint feeling of dread, not expecting too much (I still have nightmares about Shadow Ops Red Mercury)… …But as unremarkable as the solo game is, where VPH shines is on Xbox Live. A fairly basic graphics engine by today’s standards means rarely a hint of lag, decent frame rate and expansive, superbly thought-out levels – the level designers clearly know what you want in a deathmatch/multiplayer level and there are loads of overlooks, tunnels, bridges, ledges, nooks & crannies to explore, hide in and snipe from. Game options include settings for public/private lobbies, time/number of frags, auto balance (equalizes the number on each team) and team kill kick on/off for those ejits who shoot before they think. Game modes include: Assault Team Game – one team might have to protect a downed pilot and escort him to the LZ, the Vietcong team have to stop them. Capture the Flag - Each team has a flag to protect whilst trying to steal the other team’s flag and return it to the home base in order to score a point. Deathmatch/Team Deathmatch - Free for all where killing the enemy is the only requirement. Team games mean a combined score total. Real War -Capture all the fags on the level, each map will have three or more to capture. Co-operative - Form a squad (you can start a game alone and others can join a game in progress) and play through missions themed on the solo game against AI opposition in a simple “hunt and be hunted” type domination game. The different weapons in VPH (30ish) have all the traits of the real things, complete with realistic muzzle flash, heavy recoil, slow reload times and in certain cases, wild inaccuracy. On the US side you can choose from the good old Colt .45, the heavy M60 or the familiar M-16, when playing on the VC side then it’s mostly Soviet weapons with things like the Makarov 9mm pistol, the Mosin-Nagent rifle or possibly the most infamous weapon in the World, the Kalashnikov AK-47. Sadly there are only 3 co-op levels and 9 in total, although more downloadable ones are promised. Regardless of the number of levels, thanks to a solid game engine and excellent map design VPH is one of the better Xbox Live shooters, has plenty of people playing it at the time of writing, and is well worth a pop – but you don’t buy Vietcong Purple Haze for the solo game.

Best Bits
- Some good, atmospheric levels.
- Loads of authentic weapions.
- Some cool music.
- A good solid challenge to finish.
- Multiplayer is pretty good and has some cleverly designed maps.
- Downloadable content.

Worst Bits
- Looks like a 2-year old PC game.
- The Vietnam war sucks - you can't "win".
- Some dumb AI on both sides, and squad mates that are apparently deaf spoil things too, but at least these things break the tension.
- Some horribly linear levels bring back bad memories of Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun.


by: Diddly