It feels like a Saturday. I'm not too keen on these Fridays off when I have to work Saturday all day.
So the WW2 genre finally wore itself out for first person shooters for video games. The latest and greatest is that taboo little war in Southeast Asia, and the first XBox game to tackle the subject is Shellshock: Nam '67. So far reviews for the game have been generally poor, but a military history magazine said veterans of that war gave it a very high rating, so I gave it a try.
If I could describe this game in two words, they would be HOLY and SHIT. Mission 1 was straightforward shoot 'em up action. Okay, nothing too terrible there . . . you just watch an NVA officer commit suicide rather than be captured. Mission 2 . . . well, you end up declaring a village a "free-fire zone" to quote John Kerry. Seeing old women and children charge you with machetes . . . or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time . . . makes you stop and think.
Then it's back to basecamp, where you can buy drugs. Yup, good ol' drugs to calm your nerves, sharpen your nerves, keep you awake, make you a berserker . . . or you can spend your hard-earned cash on whores. I haven't been able to afford one yet *shrug*. You afford all this by bring back stuff you looted off of your dead enemies.
Mission 3 starts easy enough--go rescue a cut-off platoon of Marines. They're holed up in an abbatoir that was originally a French fort. It looks kinda like Resident Evil or Doom 3 at this point . . . heads on pikes, bodies and parts of bodies everywhere, Marines strung up by their feet Mussolini-style. One of your buddies kills a PW . . . and you . . . well . . . things are ugly. And intense. And downright aweful.
When I play this, I remember my uncle Dave. He's the family outcast, and my dad's oldest brother. He served two tours in Vietnam and was badly wounded when he was gut-shot during his second tour. He's a little fucked up and always has been . . . at least, since he came home. When I play through this, I almost imagine being him, a 19 year old kid from Iowa who's only shot a gun a handful of times in his life. I start to feel a little sympathy. Vietnam wasn't like WW2 . . . not a damn bit like it. And Shellshock: Nam '67 shows it.
HOLY . . . SHIT
So the WW2 genre finally wore itself out for first person shooters for video games. The latest and greatest is that taboo little war in Southeast Asia, and the first XBox game to tackle the subject is Shellshock: Nam '67. So far reviews for the game have been generally poor, but a military history magazine said veterans of that war gave it a very high rating, so I gave it a try.
If I could describe this game in two words, they would be HOLY and SHIT. Mission 1 was straightforward shoot 'em up action. Okay, nothing too terrible there . . . you just watch an NVA officer commit suicide rather than be captured. Mission 2 . . . well, you end up declaring a village a "free-fire zone" to quote John Kerry. Seeing old women and children charge you with machetes . . . or just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time . . . makes you stop and think.
Then it's back to basecamp, where you can buy drugs. Yup, good ol' drugs to calm your nerves, sharpen your nerves, keep you awake, make you a berserker . . . or you can spend your hard-earned cash on whores. I haven't been able to afford one yet *shrug*. You afford all this by bring back stuff you looted off of your dead enemies.
Mission 3 starts easy enough--go rescue a cut-off platoon of Marines. They're holed up in an abbatoir that was originally a French fort. It looks kinda like Resident Evil or Doom 3 at this point . . . heads on pikes, bodies and parts of bodies everywhere, Marines strung up by their feet Mussolini-style. One of your buddies kills a PW . . . and you . . . well . . . things are ugly. And intense. And downright aweful.
When I play this, I remember my uncle Dave. He's the family outcast, and my dad's oldest brother. He served two tours in Vietnam and was badly wounded when he was gut-shot during his second tour. He's a little fucked up and always has been . . . at least, since he came home. When I play through this, I almost imagine being him, a 19 year old kid from Iowa who's only shot a gun a handful of times in his life. I start to feel a little sympathy. Vietnam wasn't like WW2 . . . not a damn bit like it. And Shellshock: Nam '67 shows it.
HOLY . . . SHIT
drakonos:
damn.. that makes me wanna get that game.. no PS2 version?
willard7:
damned if I know. It looks PS2 compatible.