The Conflict series has traditionally sold well based upon the fact that, well, anything to do with military tactics usually does. Conflict: Vietnam fares a bit better than its Gulf War predecessors, but unfortunately, that's not saying all too much.
Like in the previous titles, Conflict: Vietnam puts you in control of a four man squad of soldiers. You can control any one of them at any time, and issue orders to your squad using a line-of-sight style command interface that uses only two buttons. The problem with this is that in the middle of combat, as you're taking shots yourself, it can be quite the task to put your cursor on the man you want your medic to heal, or the item you want your man to pick up. For the Conflict series to make any real headway, it's going to have to improve the orders system.
Another thing that needs improvement is the targeting system. While I can appreciate the luxury of auto lock-on in the dense jungles of virtual 'Nam, the weapons tend to be very much inaccurate unless you go into the clunky manual aim mode.
The presentation is Conflict Vietnam's strongest attribute, with visuals that are very much improved over the first two games. Audio also sees a boost, in the form of several licensed tunes of the era. For what it's worth, the cutscenes do a good job of hyping the player up to start shooting VCs, and totally exceeded any expectations I had for a Vietnam game, let alone one from the Conflict brand.
Too bad, then, that the gameplay is still lacking. Ultimately, Conflict: Vietnam fixes a great many things from a presentation standpoint, but the engine itself remains in need of a massive tune-up.
-George
Create an Account
Member Login
