Not as bad as other reviewers would make out. But this ain't a good game. Disappointing and mediocre s
When I received Shellshock Nam 67 in the post I immediately liked the box. It featured some U.S. infantry soldier with a battle weary face with a peace symbol and skull and cross bones pin badges on his helmet. The duality of war eh!!
The game installed with no problems and I started playing it. After approximately 15 minutes of gameplay I knew I would not like this game but I am glad I did finish it.
The opening sequence is good and the narrative with the background info is informative and sets the game up. You start out as a nameless rookie choppered in to do battle and pop your proverbial cherry. Why can't you get a name?
The opening mission FIRST KILL is essential a training mission. I would have preferred an actual training base camp as this worked well in games like Men of Valor and Vietcong. This level looks a lot like N.Africa or the wild west not Vietnam. Large boulders and desert landscapes do not set the scene for me for being in Nam.
Shellshock is a played from a third person perspective. From my experience this isn't my preferred playing view; first person just looks and feels better. You cannot switch from first to third as in other 3rd person games. Objectives are not explained properly and the first objective was to blow up some tunnels. I jobbed numerous grenades and explosives at the flashing objective symbol and nothing happened. You have to go right up to the objective whatever it may be AA gun, tunnels, gas tanks etc and equip yourself with C4 and then plant it. This was never explained. Not a big deal really but annoying if playing for the first time.
Combat at times can be rewarding but for the most part it isn't. A clean headshot or seeing a limb fly off is great to watch for the inner child in yourself. Your main enemy is the NVA not the VC supplemented by native looking borneo type sappers.
The lack of a jump button is annoying and detracts form gameplay. Charlie seems to be able to leap over jogs while US infantry can't.
Booby Traps: How do you disarm them? Well in Shellshock you go up to the tripwire and a scissors type symbol appears. Next a series of matchstick bamboo puzzle thing appears. What's this about? I had no idea whatsoever how to deal with this and so it blew up in my face. I'm dead now right. No. The health system is poorly done and basically it regenerates over time unless you receive a continuous hammering by the enemy.
Those bamboo things correspond to the arrow keys and have to be pressed in a sequence in a limited time. Well it is different to just cutting them. You can also shoot them for a distance.
The environments are not great. For a 2004 game they still don't look great. It's almost like playing a playstation one game. Looking into the horizon a hazy foggy appearance is seen. The lack of visual aesthetics is apparent in introductory cutscenes to missions. Lack of any visual facial features and details on walls, etc just add to the feel of an underdeveloped game.
The save system isn't too bad. Basically it consists of well judged checkpoints in each level. With exception of two areas for me they are well placed. FORT ASSAULT; you have to clear numerous bunkers and I mean numerous. Finding where they are getting to them while Charlie dispatches an endless reserve of Charlie at you was desperate irritating.
MEN DOWN; the final checkpoint to destroying that gas tank was sheer torture. Again it was like fighting hordes of Ghenghis Khans horsemen except it was NVA and those Amazonian looking sappers.
Missions; par for the course in Vietnam games. Search and destroy, POW rescue, man a huey gunship prior to insertion, clearing streets of Charlie, destroying com links, establish contact with village elders, help defend village form local VC bullies, sweep and destroy areas of jungle, stealth mission lone wolf style (proving yourself to you special force buddies i.e. Ramirez) assaulting VC base, defending your base camp, exploring and clearing tunnels, destroying hooch's and sampans.
GETTING SPECIAL: Following the assault and capture of a former French fort (French then went into Charlie's hand and now yours) you are promoted to Special Forces. Great but it doesn't really do or add anything to gameplay.I had no idea what a Sampan was and it was never explained either. In this mission which is played solo you have to destroy them. Eventually with that flashing orange symbol thing it dawned on me.
Two missions for me which stand out are FORT ASSAULT and DIEM. Fort assault does what it says while Diem is set in an old Buddhist Cambodian temple complex. The main protagonist in this game is a mysterious General called Diem or known locally as King Cong. He is portrayed as a brutal sadistic effective NVA/VC leader.
Probably the best setting and best looking mission, you get to use the flame thrower but in the open it's not very effective. Prior to meeting Cong equip yourself with a sniper rifle located outside the entrance and 5 or 6 good chest hits will finish the job.
Weapons: Usual Vietnam era weapons. Nothing special or extraordinary. You can equip yourself with a cryojet pistol. Using an M60 doesn't slow you down as it should compared to a M-16.
Being a connoisseur of sniper rifles the level of Zoom or magnification is poor but gets the job done. The availability of the MAT 49 is good to see as it largely overlooked in Nam games. Also the inclusion of the Sten and silenced Sten is used well as it was largely used by US Special Forces.
Annoying Things:
Lack of lip synching and dubbing is par really but just annoying to see.
When NVA attack you they always seem to be squatting and resembling ducks walking for a distance.
Friendly fire should mean automatic mission fail to me after a few unintentional hits I mean but you comrades are indestructible.
Your squad yelling things like "Charlie spotted " and "Charlie Over There".
Fort: Welcome to Hell written in blood and skulls upended on stakes noted thank you.
Indestructible comrades; I mean come on. Indestructible on missions that is. One by one your squad gets killed off. The most memorable death scene is FORT ASSAULT.
You Captain dies in true Hollywood fashion.
Tunnels, you could easily drive a truck through some of them. Well lit, lacking atmosphere, not maze like enough for me, just not done well.
CUTSCENES: It really is saying something for a game when it is best know for its cutscenes than anything else. They are violent and use profane language. Also they are blurry. Similar cutscenes can be scene in Vietcong 2. Captured enemy committing suicide also is a theme seen in VC2.
POONTANG: Yes that's right I said it. Poontang.There I said it again. On completion of a mission you are rewarding with chits which can then be used to purchase nudey photographs, Dexedrine,Tamazepam ( pills used by special forces for certain situations) that rocket pistol thing and of course an R&R pass to MamaSan's . Brothel's seem to play a key role in Shellshock Nam 67.
This is the one aspect of the game I actually do like. While most Nam games pay passing reference to prostitution here you can actually take part in it. Similar sex scenes or lack of can be seen in GTA SAN ANDREAS without the hot coffee mod that is. After two visits you probably won't go back but still it is different.
Shellshock does mix up jungle environments (the first mission I will discard as being ' In Country') with urban conflict as seen with the mission RADIO SILENCE.
This is something that is a welcome change for the aforementioned settings.
BASECAMP: In between missions you can wander around and conduct meaningless conversations ( or informational depending on how you view these things) with your fellow colleagues , take a few shots on the rifle range, mingle with the Nurses, and of course listen to the radio on the camp PA system. It plays some not so famous music
Era music – The Spectres We ain't got nothing yet, Eddie Floyd Big Bird, The Monkees Someday Man Bo Diddley Who do you love.
The ending is taken right out of the final episode of season one of Tour of Duty. Also a similar ending is seen in the ending of Vietcong. Would I recommend this game? Honestly I could not. For a Vietnam obsessed gamer this game was just a big disappointment. It lacked in every department, Gameplay,Style,Visually Contols etc.
Shellshock Nam 67 is a run and gun shooter. And unfortunately for me that just isn't enough. The replay value of this game is nil. For dedicated fans of PC games set in Vietnam only. Purchase only at a bargain basement price as I did. While having said all this I did enjoy some aspects of this game but if you looking for a PC game set in Vietnam there are other ones out there which I would recommend well before this one.
Thanks for reading. Any comments or further discussion on this game welcomed. ZC.