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- PS2
(Gathering)
A constant disappointment on the PS2 platform is that it rarely lives up to the standard of PC games. Vietcong: Purple Haze is nothing different. Not the same number of polygons by my eye, ludicrous loading times for each level… there’s no excuse these day for a game taking several minutes to load a level of gameplay – to me that represents a fatal flaw. The controls are dicky and inaccurate, which is even more frustrating having played the PC version, in which headshots are deadly accurate.
Purple Haze is the follow up to Vietcong, and as far as I can tell, it’s pretty much more of the same. The best thing this sucker has going for it is the sound; streams running by, insects buzzing around, truly entertaining stereotypical accents (terribly patronising stuff that would only come out of the US).
The introduction at the start of the game, is brilliant – Iggy Pop waling in the background is much more entertaining than the game itself – the Vietnamese footage of choppers baring down on villages surrounded by rice fields, all very provocative. If only the action drew the same sense of sentiment. And I don’t think that it’s an unrealistic expectation these days.
A game has the potential to have an effect on someone the some way a movie does – potentially moreso. Vietcong should tell a story and make you feel a part of it – instead, it’s just another jungle based first-person shooter.
Another irritation – single player only. All the good two player games tend to be in sci-fi games these days. Why not have a combat mode where you go head to head, splitscreen, in the jungle, in a temple or in a rice field. There’s an abundance of environments out there – loads of potential if you ask me – but a distinct lack of vision.
Throw in a multiplayer option, beef up the performance and the graphics and you’d have yourself a game worthy of the current market. Until then, there are loads of games like this.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
