While I enjoyed the original
Vietcong, released in 2003, the follow-up two
years later was very lacklustre. It almost felt
more like an expansion pack than a sequel.
The graphics were exactly the
same and hadn't upgraded at all in two years.
This definitely wasn't helped by the majority
of the game being set in urban environments
and towns. What made the original so great was
it's lush jungle atmosphere, but that's missing
here until the last 1/4 of the game.
The game is split into two
parts (in theory), which a US campaign which
is all urban based, followed by a VC campaign
where your now a Vietnamese Soldier. Unfortunately
the VC campain only takes a couple of hours,
while the US campaign is around 5-6 hours. It
all adds up to a well under 10 hour game, which
feels like the developed pushed it out in an
unfinished state.
The final battle at the end
of the VC campaign was just another battle,
no epic finale at all. The game just suddenly
ends. I wouldn't be surprised if the VC campaign
was supposed to be much longer but, for whatever
reason, it was never finished.
Gameplay is similar to the
original Vietcong except this time you have
limited saves and some of the enemies can be
very frustrating. There are countless times
you'll see the enemies' head sticking out behind
something, but your hopeless weapons just aren't
capable of an accurate headshot. He'll hop up
and somehow you still can't hit him. Your spray
of bullets seem to be so inaccurate. The best
line of attack is to sprint up to your targets
or flank around and catch them face-to-face
rather than trying to pick them off from a distance.
Overall, graphics that are
dated for late 2005, ho-hum level designs and
unpolished gameplay make Vietcong 2 are very
average game. Perhaps it's a good thing that
it's so short; that way you can play through
it all on a rainy Sunday.
