Vietcong (video game)

Vietcong
File:Vc box.jpg
Developer(s)	Pterodon Illusion Softworks
Engine	Ptero-Engine II
Platform(s)	PC (Windows)
Release	Template:Country data World April 2003 (Windows)
Genre(s)	Tactical first-person shooter
Mode(s)	Singleplayer, Multiplayer

Vietcong is a tactical first-person shooter computer game, developed by Pterodon and Illusion Softworks, published by Gathering in April 2003, and set during the Vietnam War.

The sequel to Vietcong, Vietcong 2, was released in late October 2005.

Story

The player takes on the role, in the single-player campaign, of Sergeant First Class Steve R. Hawkins; born 13th October 1939, in Wilmington North Carolina, who has been assigned to the Special Forces camp at Nui Pek. Nui Pek is situated near where the Ho Chi Minh trail reenters Vietnam from Cambodia, so it is considered one of the most dangerous areas in all of Vietnam. Steve leads the rest of the Special Forces stationed at Nui Pek, each of whom is a Sergeant in their own right, and has their own specialties:

• Thomas Bronson Sergeant First Class; born 19th January 1936, in New York City, New York, he is an African-American who chose Vietnam over jail. Bronson serves as the combat engineer and demolitions expert on the team. When on your team, he restocks any US weapon that you are carrying at the moment.
• Joe Crocker Staff Sergeant; born 17th May 1943 in San Francisco, California, he dropped out of Stanford to join the Army. Crocker serves as the combat medic on the team.
• P.J Defort Sergeant; born 21st December 1944, in New York, a young and highly intelligent former Air Force Cadet. Defort serves as the radio operator on the team.
• Le Duy Nhut (Nhut) Sergeant, a Vietcong defector, with extensive knowledge of the area around Nui Pek. Nhut serves as the pointman and translator on the team.
• C.J. Hornster Sergeant First Class; born 16th January 1939, in Augusta, Maine. An all-round hardcase, eager (often too eager) to engage the enemy no matter the odds. Hornster serves as the machinegunner on the team.

In addition to the linear campaign, the game features several stand-alone single player maps and network and online multiplay. Multiplay game modes include capture the flag (CTF), deathmatch (DM), team deathmatch (TDM), assault team game (ATG), cooperative game (COOP), last man standing (LMS) and real war (RW). Nearly five years after the game's release, Vietcong as a multiplayer is still extremely popular.

Expansions and console version

In addition to the original game, expansion pack Vietcong: First Alpha was released in February 2004, with some new features, and was bundled with Vietcong as Vietcong: Purple Haze for the PC. Vietcong: Purple Haze, was also released in October that year as an expanded version for PlayStation 2 and Xbox developed by Coyote Games.

Weapons In Vietcong

All the projectile weapons (except the mounted M60 and M2HB machine guns) feature a secondary ironsight option (or a scope reticle view depending on the weapon) as well as "shoot from the hip" that features on most first-person shooter computer games. The weapons that feature in the game are:

United States / South Vietnam

• Knife
• Colt M1911A1
• .38 Revolver
• Smith & Wesson Model.39 "Hush Puppy"
• M1 Carbine (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
• M1D Garand
• Winchester Model 70 Rifle
• M1A1 Thompson
• M3A1 "Grease Gun"
• M16 (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
• Remington 870 Shotgun
• M60 GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun)
• M79 (Only available in single player mode)
• M67 Hand Grenade
• M18A1 Claymore AP (Anti-Personnel) Mine
• Browning M2HB .50 caliber Machine Gun (Mounted on UH-1 Huey helicopters)

North Vietnamese

• Knife
• Makarov PM
• TT-33
• .38 Revolver
• SKS Simonov (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
• Dragunov SVD (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
• Mosin Nagant (Cannot be fitted with a bayonet in Fist Alpha expansion pack, unlike its real life counterpart)
• PPSh-41
• PPS-43
• AK-47 (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
• Baikal IZH-43
• RPD Degtarev
• Stick Hand Grenade
• Booby Trap (Grenade)

Vehicles In Vietcong & Vietcong: Fist Alpha

Although only one vehicle in the games can be personally controlled by the player on a certain map; (M151), other different vehicles have a role in the games, as either parts of the game or present in cutscenes:

United States / South Vietnam

• Ford M151 MUTT (Military Unit Tactical Truck)

North Vietnamese

• GAZ-67 "Chapayou"
• ZIL-157 2.5 Ton Truck
• Type 59 Field Gun (M46 Field Gun)

External links

• Pterodon and Vietcong official site
• AusCong - Australian - Fan Site