M-16 chainsaws

Outdoor sequences are better, but there aren’t that many of them. Ostensibly, this is because battling the Tet Offensive involved a fair bit of WW II-style, house-by-house city clearing, although I’d imagine that in reality it has more to do with the engine’s problems rendering open spaces. I experienced slowdowns every time I entered even a moderately-sized city square or clearing, so I presume this is a big part of the reason why so many levels take place in matchbox-sized rooms.

Poor squad AI makes this design problem even more annoying. Like in every other shooter these days, Vietcong 2 adds the ability to control a small squad of men. But just like in many of those other shooters, your medic and ammo-distributing buddies here are more unwieldy than useful. In a game where creeping forward slowly is the only way to proceed, they charge into the fray. This presents all kinds of problems, as they frequently run in front of you and crouch right behind you, preventing you from moving around or seeking cover.

I found myself rushing objectives in order to negate this interference, which of course is the last thing you want to do in a game crammed with ambushes and crack shots who can kill with a single bullet. My pals even routinely blocked corridors and refused to move. And since shooting allies is an automatic mission failure, I occasionally had to load saves to escape them. I was thankful for those rare occasions when I got to tackle the VC solo, but then the absence of my buddy with the medical packs was duly noted.

Wonky weapons make fighting alone even more of a grind. I understand that firing a high-caliber weapon isn’t as effortless as it is depicted in most shooters, but some of the hardware here is practically impossible to manage. The M-16, which as standard equipment for GIs in Vietnam is of course the weapon of choice through a lot of missions here, jumps in your hands like a runaway chainsaw. It rears up after squeezing off even single shots. I found it completely useless unless I had a VC or an NVA regular right in my face. There is a good assortment of other weapons, at least, including the far more manageable AK-47 that can be swiped from the enemy and an ancient, blunderbuss-like shotgun that gets across the North Vietnamese desperation to fight with whatever they could find.


All of the above gives Vietcong 2 an erratic feel which is absolutely maddening in a game with so little room for error. Levels feature nothing but ambushes and choke points manned with eagle-eyed guys in black pajamas who can hit you on the run, from around corners, and across great distances. I can’t quite say that the AI cheats, because I’ve played plenty of multiplayer matches with human foes who are at least this skilled. But at the same time, levels are so thoroughly rigged against the player that everything seems ridiculously unfair.