Of course the idea of a soldier leading his way through dense Vietnamese (or Laotian or Cambodian, for that matter) jungle alone is obscure, but it is equally preposterous to use the same model for a game set in 1967 Vietnam that was used in missions fighting space aliens, terrorists, and Nazis alike. In Shellshock, platoon mates often inadvertently shoot you in the back, get in the way of your live fire, or fail to attack with any skill or ability. I’ve not been the last to trumpet the death of the squad-based combat genre, nor was I the first yet, developers cannot seem to keep their hands off the premise. Indeed, we’ve been through this before. This, of course, is not to say the game isn’t playable, likable, or even addictive, but rather, that it stinks of “copycatâ€. Yes, if the 60’s were the end of America’s innocence, Nam ’67 is definitely the end of squad-based combat, and it isn’t pretty. Shame of a nation, fighting an ugly war, destroying millions of innocent lives, the shame of men, committing some acts most unbecoming of America’s men in uniform, and finally, perhaps least importantly, the shame of a video game style. With that said, Eidos’ most recent foray into the squad-based action genre, is, in every aspect, a lesson in shame. You can even purchase the services of hookers in the base camp.Second only to Apocalypse Now, Shellshock provides one of grittiest, fairest, bloodiest accounts of the Vietnam war ever to reach popular culture. Either side is not afraid to abuse civilians for their cause and this sense of realism gives the game a rather raw edge. The atrocities on both sides are clearly shown in the cutscenes, filmed as through a shaky hand-camera. The game does not have drivable vehicles, multiplayer options or extensive environmental interaction, but it features a particular system of dismantling the many bombs and traps: in a race against time, you have to perform a long key sequence in the correct order to clear the path. You will have to assassinate enemy generals, take out crucial boats and guide your team through unknown territory. Most missions are played as a team, but your team members cannot die and do not influence the mission objectives. Using a third-person perspective, you experience napalm bombardments of civilian villages, sneaky night missions along the river banks, claustrophobic tunnel systems and huge battles in temples and open fields. You take on the role of a rookie soldier on his first tour of duty. Shellshock takes you back to the years of the Vietnam war.
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January 2023
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