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Men of Valor: Vietnam - Hands On Preview
Chris Leyton
20/08/2004
TVG takes a trip back to Nam, to check out the latest shooter from 2015...
With the release of Conflict Vietnam, Shellshock: Namâ67 and Men of Valor: Vietnam, war fans are likely to have more titles taking them back to Nam towards the end of the year then even the most hardened vet could cope with.
TVG recently took the latest build of Vivendi-Universal Men of Valor: Vietnam into the jungle, and came away suitable impressed. Currently in development for the Xbox and PC at 2015, the talented team behind the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault expansion pack for EA; Men of Valor: Vietnam sets out to capture the chaotic nature of the Vietnam conflict.
Based upon a series of historically accurate scenarios, players take the role of an American Marine named Dean Shepard, through the early stages of the conflict right up to the Tet Offensive. Touching on some of the most familiar scenes of the war as they exist in the popular imagination, the player must guide his group of fellow soldiers through the hardship and confusion of the battlefield, bonding with them as they do their duty for the United States of America.
Similar to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Men of Valor: Vietnam utilises intense scripted events to create a highly cinematic and captivating experience. One particular example early on in the game sees you enjoying some R&R time at the base camp with your unit, having picked up a football you promptly engage in a quick game of throw-and-catch, before a voice booms over the action âGet Downâ and a rocket whizzes into the camp, blowing it up into a smouldering wreck and emphasising the ensuing chaos as you scramble for cover.
This feature is carried out throughout the events of the game, adding to the realism and providing a rich range of events for you to undertake, whether it be sky-filling helicopter raids, intense jungle fighting or harrowing assaults against fanatically defended enemy placements.
Certainly Men of Valor looks likely to capture the sheer chaotic nature of the Vietnam conflict wonderfully; one moment everything can be quiet and calm, the nest youâll find yourself ambushed by dozens of Vietcong and all hell breaking loose â“ literally! Bullets cuts across the environments from all directions, and it can be a hard task just to work out whatâs going on, let alone begin to make tactical decisions about how to complete the objectives laid out before you.
Itâs not long before the importance of cover becomes painfully aware, this isnât any old shooter where you can charge in Rambo style and take more bullets then a ; pretty much if you take one serious wound then youâll find the odds stacked heavily against you. Soon youâll work out that itâs all about your stance and using the environment to your advantage. As a result the actual game gives you a good degree of manoeuvres, whilst the health system has to be one of the best weâve seen in a war-based first-person-shooter to date.
Utilising the traditional dual thumbstick control system for moving and looking; Men of Valor allows you to shoot with the right shoulder trigger, whilst the left trigger slightly zooms in one the action and allows you to lean slightly to the left or right â“ essential if you want to survive throughout the conflict. By tapping on the right thumbstick you can cycle through three different stances, which again is essential to mix between them if you donât want to become a sitting duck for the Vietcong; whilst the game allows you to bring up a menu in a similar style to Rainbow Six 3, to select between four different weapons that you can carry at any one time.
If we had one complaint with regards to the control system at this stage, itâs that the setup can feel a little twitchy at times and doesnât currently have muck kick behind it. Most people can tell the difference between a good first-person-shooter control setup and a bad one; and whilst Men of Valor: Vietnam has nothing particularly wrong, it doesnât leave a lasting memory on you in the way that titles such as Halo have done.
As we said previously the health system has to be one of the finest weâve seen in a war game to date, with two different types of damage that affect the player. The game notices the difference between serious wounds and bleeding wounds, with a gauge that uses Dark Red to depict serious wounds and Flashing Red to portray bleeding wounds; if youâve got your hands on a bandage youâll want to use it to heal the bleeding wounds as these slowly diminish over time into Dark Red. Healing yourself with bandages is carried out by holding onto B, and whilst you can heal yourself on the move and will likely have to do so, youâll find that you can get the job done quicker if you take a minute to find some cover and stand still until youâve finished.
As weâve said before and will say again, the game captures the atmosphere of war perfectly. 2015 have recorded literally hundreds of lines of dialogue, so when everything goes crazy as it has a habit of doing, youâll hear profanities from your team mates, unrecognisable and often curdling screams from the Vietnamese people, along with classic lines such as
The AI throughout the game appears to be strong at this stage, genuinely it doesnât feel like nothing is played by numbers; the Vietcong are smart and use their knowledge of the environment to their advantage along with the surprise factor, whilst your squad will do their best to progress in a tactful manner without any commands from the player. You get a sensation that your squad and the enemy is constantly assessing the changing situation, and making tactical decisions on the spur of the moment. Sadly in the current build itâs impossible to notch up friendly fire; whilst this isnât just a gripe to satisfy our macabre nature, it just feels slightly silly when such effort has been placed into everything else to create a highly believable gaming experience â“ when everything turns to chaos and bullets are piercing the air in every direction, you want the element of risk associated to the guns-blaring approach needed during these sections.
Using the latest evolution of the Unreal Warfare engine, Men of Valor: Vietnam is shaping up to be an impressive Xbox title in the visual stakes. Although the game lacks the sheen of titles such as Halo or The Chronicles of Riddick and features an adequate level of detail, 2015 have done a marvellous job of creating the dense jungle locations of Vietnam. Thereâs enough vegetation onscreen to make Alan Titschmarsh green with envy, which also has an impact on the game as youâll need to use it to your advantage; whilst birds flocking from branches whenever somebody disturbs them is a nice touch that heightens to the overall atmosphere. Thereâs constantly a lot occurring on-screen; back in your base camp for example youâll notice soldiers performing chin-ups, helicopters and jets flying overhead, whilst other soldiers take time to chill out and listen to California Dreaming by The Mamas & The Papas on the radio.
Of particular note are the wonderful explosions that often occur throughout the game, 2015 have excelled themselves in creating a particle system that results in the most realistic and completely instance explosions that weâve ever seen in a videogame â“ in all honestly we nearly crapped ourselves the moment a rocket explosion thundered behind us.
As mentioned above, the game includes a suitable selection of licensed music from the era, which as any Vietnam movie fan will attest to is crucial in setting the right mood for the game; whilst sound effects, dialogue and the original musical score are all of high quality.
