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View Full Version : Shellshock Nam '67: Hands-on



OuFtb
04-24-2004, 06:44 PM
Guerrilla Games (formerly known as Lost Boys) has quickly gained a reputation for itself with two potentially major games for 2004. The first one being Kill Zone, a PlayStation 2 exclusive first-person shooter our readers liken to Halo. The second, less infamous one, is Shellshock Nam '67, a third-person shooter set in the Vietnam War. It's a game that, according to Guerrilla, is the most gruesome, goriest, and most realistic Vietnam games to hit retail shelves this year. Eidos gave IGN a very early look at the newly playable PS2 version, and we have new impressions and movies for you to read and gaze at, in that order.

The current trend in first-person shooters is to blend realistic shooting, tactics and guerrilla warfare with well, the Vietnam War, one of the US's most devastating wars in every sense imaginable. Seeing as how World War II theme has been thoroughly handled by both EA's Medal of Honor series, Activision's Call of Duty, and several other publishers, the new flavor of the month is Vietnam. Shellshock Nam '67 places players in the role of a fresh recruit and then throws them into the game with slim training or tutorial. The impact is interesting. You and AI-controlled squad maneuver through a moderately wide set of corridors, sometimes opening up into rice fields, wide pastures, or beach settings, and alternating between quietly pacing the jungle floors and instantly engaging in surprise attacks.

Shellshock Nam '67 is a mixture of realistic backgrounds, mostly realistic fighting tactics, and real re-creations of the weapons, clothing, and kinds of warfare North Vietnamese and US soldiers experienced in the 1960s and early 1970s. The gameplay is still being balanced at the moment, but as it is, players need to carefully inspect their environments, looking out for hidden ground traps, trip wires, and deadly spiked traps, before progressing on. The pacing is quite good; long ponderous periods of silence followed by intense surprise combat. Players can pick up any gun they see on the ground, and health packs occasionally pop up for some respite, as your soldiers cross over lush jungle floors, sludge through knee-high rivers, and stomp across seemingly safe rice paddy fields. Guerrilla plans to deliver unconventional gameplay to match the unconventional warfare employed in Vietnam, some of which is played out in this early version.

The game is still early at this point, so we believe the HUD will change, but as it is, the player has a health bar at the upper left-hand side of the screen, and a simple ammo indicator. The rest, at least for now, is you and the enemy. Right now, the game offers about 12 playable levels, each giving players the chance to explore a range of combat styles. Players not only launch napalm attacks, but they can use intricate tunnel systems in a variety of small and large-scale environments. Much of the fighting is straightforward bush combat. Charlie surprise attacks, your squad finds cover, and you either make it or you don't. Players can use the standard third-person viewpoint, or tuck into a closer, more precise-angle perspective, which is better pinpointing enemies from a distance. Players are briefly trained to shoot in short bursts, which is important here because the guns are designed to react realistically. The longer the trigger is pulled, the farther the guns swing into the air.

The mission list seems initially short, but the levels themselves aren't. The missions are long and smart. They range from clearing villages to assaulting and then defending a massive fort, attacking a supply route using unorthodox tactics, and huge ongoing combat scenarios, wherein players use every bush, tree or object in their path to stay alive. Other missions have you encountering urban areas, forcing players to differentiate between civilians and the soldiers they're hiding in nearby huts and innocent looking structures. Further missions range from working with the NVA and going into all-out attacks to fulfilling stealth-based objectives including the assassinating a Viet Cong General (Elder Execution).

Players build up their characters by rank and experience and they also experience realistic injuries to themselves, their squad, and enemies. Struggling, wounded enemies will still try to take down you and your team, shooting spays of last second shots in your direction. And you will watch as soldiers in your company will die right by your side. As part of newer, modern warfare (for the time), you'll encounter militiawomen and a constantly elusive enemy. The intense and direct manner of the war screams from the cutscenes, giving players the feeling that each time they trudge into the jungle, it's the last time. You'll encounter misdirected support fire; realtime, accidental and random deaths of your own soldiers in battle, and numerous friendly fire incidents.

The graphics and the framerate at this point are far from finished, as are the soundtrack and dialog. But the soundtrack is already impressive, using mid-'60s tracks (we can't reveal their names yet) that are full of the spirit of the times. The dialog is also impressive, with intense yelling, chatter and commands being yelled over explosions, screaming enemies, and other chaotic sounds of war.

In all, Shellshock Nam'67 has become even more intriguing for us, if not for its promise to deliver realism during the Vietnam War, but because the build we have is so early. Many of the levels weren't playable and the ones we did play aren't entirely balanced. So, while I had fun playing these now, I know they'll change and evolve, becoming more intricately woven with stealth and tactical warfare gameplay. We'll have more on Eidos' third-person shooter in the near future.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/508/508789p1.html

This is from the PS2 version but seeing how its on the Xbox part of IGN, its coming to Xbox and will probably be the same as the PS2 version.