Vietnam, a war that lasted years, ended with the deaths of millions and saw the withdrawal of the United States after they went in to try and end the conflict. It wasn't a popular war and for the US not a very successful one but despite this there's always been an appeal towards it either a fascination with historical battles or from watching the countless Nam based movies that followed.

It was only a matter of time before the Vietnam war was finally brought to game form, seeing as reliving some of the most important battles in our recent history seems to be so popular these days. This is where Vietcong comes in; it's the first and undoubtedly last game based in the Vietnam war, bringing all the jungles based, napalm soaked action with it.

The game is set in 1967, you play Sergeant John Hawking sent to the Nui Pek base camp for his tour of duty and you are given command of a small squad of troops to lead on daring and extremely hazardous missions. While there's not much of a story to follow here, there are some great scripted sequences that do a good job of making you feel like a part of a living gaming world, although it's not so much the interaction with other characters, more so the environment.

Basing a game in Vietnam or any other dense jungle environment hasn't exactly been represented well in game form in the past. Often jungles turn out to be nothing more than linear corridors that guide you to your destination with invisible walls in place of the vast openness you'd expect from such environments, but thankfully Vietcong has broken that mould with some of the most lush looking, wide open jungles you'll ever see in a game of this type. It's obviously one of the high points of this game, as well as being one of the most important features.

It doesn't start off that spectacular though; some of the earlier levels do feel a little too much like the jungle covered corridors of the types of games I've just mentioned and at one point I did come up across the dreaded invisible wall barrier, which has always been something I detest discovering in games. Still, while the level design is at first a little bit too restrictive, the game does eventually show off what it capable of doing. Massive wide open plains where you can literally see for miles, mist covered jungles where sunlight gently breaks through the dense canopy and shines down, huge areas of swamp where it's constantly raining; this is impressive stuff despite it's slow beginnings.

This jungle isn't just for show however, it plays a huge part in the actual gameplay. The game itself is a tactical shooter of sorts, heavy on realism but slightly more forgiving than most games in this genre. That's not to say it doesn't challenge as much as it's competitors but it is easier to get into for those not as familiar with these types of games. One thing that really stands out, besides the great jungle environment, is the amazing AI. I've played a lot of games recently that come with reasonably intelligent enemies and some games with quite inept ones, but Vietcong again brings something new to gaming with some of the most impressive AI I've seen in a game for years. It does have a tendency to slip up now and again - your teammates sometimes unintentionally block your path and enemies occasionally can spot you before you even make a noise - but on a whole these small faults are easily forgivable.

Teammate AI is particularly impressive and it's actually nice to see a game where friendly computer-controlled characters play a much more important role in the action than just being there to take the first hit. Your group consists of five other soldiers, each with their own skill and ability that is vital to the success of each mission. Le Duy Nhut is your Pointman and it's his job to guide you to your waypoints and spot any traps left behind by the Vietcong; J Crocker is the Medic and essential part of the team as he heals anyone who may get injured; T Bronson is the Engineer, a demolition's expert and provider of ammunition should you or anyone else run out; P.J. Defort is the Radioman who updates you on mission objectives and is needed for when you want to call in air strikes; and finally Hornster provides support as Machine Gunner and is the hot-headed one of the bunch. Each have their own personalities and each are as important to the missions as you are.

Seeing this group of soldiers in action though is where the game really excels. Your team of soldiers actually act like a team, which for a game like this is a first. Recent action titles haven't really been that impressive when it comes to the AI. Raven Shield and Black Hawk Down have only gone as far as providing functional team AI that can at times be just as bothersome as the enemies you had to come up against, another reason to appreciate just how good such a feature it is in this game. In combat your teammates will effectively dodge bullets by peaking around trees and taking cover when reloading, they'll also use suppressing fire while their buddies attack from the side and if anyone of them gets hit a quick cry to Crocker and he will come rushing from fighting and heal them - the same goes for Bronson and ammo.

You can give orders to your team in this game but for the most part you won't actually need to. Enemies are just as formidable though and since they don't have the same high-powered weaponry and equipment, they tend to stick with the territory they know. The Vietcong always stick to hiding in the foliage, peeking out now and again to take pot shots before ducking back down again. They use the terrain to quite an effect and actually provide the game with much more intelligent and quite challenging foes, as opposed to the usual dumb enemies you get in games who just stand there waiting to get shot.

Obviously these features would be pretty pointless if there wasn't any driving force behind them, but luckily the missions here are yet another thing Vietcong does well. Like the environment, the initial missions are good but not overly impressive. The objectives are simple enough; going on patrols, hunting down enemy encampments even trekking through some narrow and often maze like tunnel systems, nothing too strenuous. These early missions, while not overly exciting or challenging do ease you into the game gently and it's good preparation for some of the later levels, because when this game gets going, boy does it get going. One mission you'll be trampling through rain soaked swamps calling in air strikes against enemy positions, the next you'll be flow in to defend a communications outpost on top of a hill against hundreds of Vietcong troops, although my favourite has to be the mission where you have to attack an enemy base on top of a hill, picking up friendly soldiers on the way and fighting through trenches and past downed Huey helicopters. This is as cinematic a gaming experience as you can get, the relentless action, great AI and amazing environments make for some of the most exciting, face paced gameplay I've experienced for long time.

Any one who's every enjoyed watching Vietnam films like Platoon and Hamburger Hill will also spot the many influences this game has used to create some of it's missions. It even borrows the harsh training scene from Full Metal Jacket for the game tutorial, where you are guided through the game's controls by one of the most brutal and foul mouthed training instructors in gaming history, which actually makes the tutorial in this game much more interesting and funny than in most other action games.

While the single player is the main draw to this game, Vietcong also comes with quite an addictive multiplayer mode. The standard multiplayer game modes are here, Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and so on, but where the multiplayer really stands out is again with those great jungle environments. The maps available are vastly different from other online games; it's not often you get to fight through dense forests or murky swamps against other people on the Internet, but like the single player it's not just for show.

Multiplayer is generally slower than other action games, not so slow that the overall pace of the game slows down to point where it's just no fun, but it's slow enough to prevent people using the headless chicken approach (run around mindlessly, shooting at anything that moves and hope you hit something) strategy that gets used so often in online games (yes, I'm talking about you, Unreal!) People use the environment to camouflage themselves and get a good defensive position, because being out in the open is an almost automatic death sentence. Different strategies have to be used and teamwork needs to be implemented well enough for your side to win the match, which makes for some much more entertaining multiplayer gaming than other recent titles.

Vietcong, while slow to begin with, builds up to become a cinematic, action packed game with some of the most impressive game environments and AI in recent gaming history. It manages to deliver on almost everything you'd want from an action game and is a must have for any action fan looking for something a bit more exciting and out of the ordinary.

Reviewed by Kieron Giacopazzi for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).