Conflict Vietnam
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| Conflict Vietnam

War, huh? What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, it turns out, unless you’re a movie studio or video game developer, in which case it equals fat profits. Drop Sylvester Stallone into a steaming jungle and he’ll take to it like a duck to water, swatting aside the enemy insurgents like flies, making for prime-time entertainment at the cinema and on DVD, whilst spawning countless imitation computer games. Which brings us rather neatly to Conflict Vietnam, a mobile phone game based upon a PC game based upon the war of the title, that places you in charge of a pair of US troops and demands you complete a series of increasingly tough missions deep inside enemy territory. Whilst many of these missions themselves have cinematic inspirations (the journey up the river could be Apocalypse Now and the Russian roulette prison break is straight out of The Dear Hunter), the likely conclusion to most missions for will be more akin to the reality; you will die, frequently.

This is partly because the missions themselves are actually quite tough, hurling a combination of enemy soldiers, vehicles and dastardly hidden traps into your path, but it's also contributed to by the fiddly nature of the controls. The game features 8-way directional movement allowing you to move and aim on diagonal lines as well as up, down, left and right and this immediately creates a problem for anyone that uses a joypad (which can't support 8-way movement). You either have to try and use the key pad (very tricky if you're playing when out and about) or make best use of the joypad and refer to the 1, 3, 7 and 9 keys when diagonals are necessary (you can sometimes get a diagonal position by pressing 2 directions consecutively quickly, but it's haphazard). Whilst the latter option is certainly possible, it frequently causes problems when you're trying to pick off an enemy when moving round a corner. This is neatly resolved by the vehicle-based stages in which you use a rotating aiming system. A similar solution or even an automatic targeting approach for when you’re on foot would have been very welcome.

The second irritation arrives with the selection of objects and weaponry, of which an increasing amount becomes available throughout the game. Whilst pressing fire or the 5 button uses the current object, you need to cycle through your inventory using the * key first or you'll trigger the wrong item, usually resulting in a swap between a gun and the trap-disabling device. Although the control system sounds fine on paper, in practise it becomes hugely annoying. You'll frequently find yourself losing health points because you've stopped to disable a trap (if you don't you die instantly by walking into it) only to have an enemy appear and fire off several rounds before you realise you have to swap the toolkit for your pistol to return fire. An automatic tool selection option, though perhaps less in tune with the challenge, would certainly have reduced frustration here.

Despite these flaws we must admit that we kept coming back to Conflict Vietnam and grudgingly enjoyed the experience. Hiding beneath these tetchy controls (like a VC in the jungle) is a compelling, challenging and well-crafted game. The visual style is spot-on, from the military fonts in menus to the camouflage coloured scenery, the levels themselves are varied and interesting in design and include a great basic training level to introduce controls. Likewise, the idea of controlling 2 soldiers works very well indeed and opens up several different strategies. Glory hunters can choose to go it alone, controlling each soldier in turn until their health gets low, while the more cautious can link the team so the second computer-controlled soldier follows and provides additional covering fire. The very clever can advance each soldier in turn to strategically useful positions. Whatever you decide, you have to keep both soldiers alive to successfully complete the level. The unlimited continues and comparatively short levels partly mitigate the control difficulties, too, allowing you to learn aspects of each level in advance. Ultimately, though, your opinion of this game will come down to how much patience you have. If you're prepared to persevere against unfriendly control conditions or are one of those dextrous folk who're happy to play with the number pad (or own an N-Gage for that matter) then you'll find many hours of explosive enjoyment here. If you demand instant results and undiluted enjoyment, you might be better off looking elsewhere.

Conflict Vietnam

An interesting addition to the war games canon, as compelling yet frustrating as its subject matter
Score
Chris James
Chris James
A footy game fanatic and experienced editor of numerous computing and game titles, bossman Chris is up for anything – including running Steel Media (the madman).