War games are really
making a big hit in the retail market, with players getting to pick from
everything from the Revolutionary War to the conflict in the gulf. Vietnam was
one of those things that got some attention, and as of late we have been seeing
more and more titles hit the shelves based around the events that took place
during that time period. The newest addition to the Vietnam games list to hit
store shelves is Shellshock, Nam ’67 by Eidos Interactive. While there are other
titles out there to choose from, Shellshock does a good job in portraying all of
the action and even atrocities that were found in the war back in the 60’s … but
the game overall does come off as shallow, and you probably won’t take too long
to go through it either.
Shellshock opens with
players taking the role of a new enlistee out in the battlegrounds of the war.
The game is a third person action title, and has players doing a series of
missions during the battle like clearing out villages or running missions to
destroy AA guns and such. Now, as if getting attacked by hordes of VC’s that are
looking to make your ears into trophies isn’t enough, you will also have to
contend with trip lines and other booby traps along the way as well, so while
there is a heavy emphasis on fighting … you will also need to use your head and
watch where you are going in many areas to avoid getting your legs blown off
while heading to a mission objective point.
Now, the main issue with
Shellshock is the fact that the realism of the game really comes only in the
cutscenes and some of the disturbing things that you will see or have to do,
like killing an entire group of villagers to get information about a missing
person. While you are moving through the jungles or underbrush, you usually are
moving from mission objective to mission objective while the computer throws a
ton of VC enemies at you. You have squad mates that accompany you into battle,
and they cannot die during the actual game which of course removes a lot of the
challenge, so if you get hit you can just get behind something and heal up while
they fire away at bad guys (and girls).
Another problem that I
had with Shellshock is in the area in between missions. You will go to a base
camp, but the whole point to this is completely meaningless. You can get chits
after missions (combat pay) and use them to buy drugs, postcards, or even hook
up with a prostitute for a little RnR … but none of this really makes any
difference in the game nor does it do anything for your character. While I guess
it was supposed to be part of the “realism” thing in the game, I just tried to
go from mission to mission since anything outside of that was pointless.
Lastly, the game isn’t
going to give you much reason to go back and play it through a second time after
you have beaten it (As I stated in the opening paragraph). The game won’t take
many people more than a weekend or less to go through all of the missions, and
since there is no multiplayer and due to your indestructible teammates which
help make the game a little too easy regardless of difficulty level, this
probably will wind up getting taken out on a Saturday and then forgotten and
left to collect dust.
Graphically, Shellshock
does a pretty decent job in giving players a realistic environment, complete
with jungles, rice patty fields, and villages to go through. The cutscenes were
done well, and were intended to add to the game, but again some of them seemed
kind of pointless overall and really didn’t do much except to emphasize giving
you a lot of violence (like a VC general putting a pistol to his chin and
blowing the top of his head off). In addition, there were some weird physics
when characters would die, like flopping limbs or even one situation where I
guess the computer couldn’t figure out where the dead body was supposed to go so
it sat in one place on a hill and just rolled around and around.
The sound to Shellshock
was pretty good for the most part, with rock style 60’s music making up the
tunes you will hear in base camp and all of the gunfire and explosions that you
will experience out in the jungle. The enemies usually only had a couple of
things that they would shout while attacking like “You going home in body bag,
GI”, which got redundant, and you can bet that there are plenty of four letter
words added in which is excusable, since I would be doing the same thing in real
life if I were getting shot at or a mortar went off near me.
Overall, Guerrilla and
Eidos did a decent job in trying to give players realism in the Vietnam era, but
somewhere along the way they seemed to forget that gameplay was a little more of
a factor in addition to keeping realism accurate while actually playing the game
… not just in some movies that were tossed in. Even if you love war games and
are looking for a new Vietnam title to play with, I would suggest renting this
title prior to buying since it will probably be one of those “beat it and trade
it in” titles for a lot of you action gamers out there.
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Gameplay: 6.5
The developers
were going for realism, but seemed to capture the majority of that in the
cutscenes. The game overall isn’t difficult, even on a hard setting thanks to
the fact that you can magically heal by just sitting there, and you will be
accompanied by troops that cannot be killed. The game is also way too short, and
since there is no multiplayer there’s not much of a need to go through it a
second time.
Graphics: 7.1
The graphics
overall were decent, and they did a good job in capturing the environment of
Vietnam with lush jungles and dismembered or dead bodies. The animations were
OK, but sometimes dead enemies would be a little too limp when killed, and there
were a couple of times where they did weird things like keep rolling in place or
would have a leg vanish into the ground.
Sound: 7.0
The music to
Shellshock was a good mix of 60’s style rock and the sounds of gunfire and
explosions throughout the battles were done well. The voiceovers did tend to get
a little repetitive though, since saying would be repeated over and over again
mostly by enemies but sometimes by your own squad as well.
Difficulty: Easy
Again, thanks to
the undying commandos and the ability to heal by just getting out of the way of
battle, the game is not hard to go through regardless of difficulty setting. If
you beat it on easy, doing it again on hard isn’t going to be very rewarding.
Concept: 6.8
I think that the
developer’s hearts were in the right place, kinda, but somewhere along the way
they focused too much on trying to be violent and showing stuff to make you go
“Oh my gosh” versus focusing on what makes the game really enjoyable. This is
definitely one of those games that had a ton of potential but fell short before
the finish.
Overall: 6.8
The game does
provide some fun, and the first time you play through the opening mission you’ll
probably be really excited. The enjoyment dies out after about two or three more
missions though, and the game becomes repetitive all the way up until the end.
If you are thinking of buying Shellshock, definitely give it a rent first, since
a lot of you will be able to take it out that weekend anyways.
