Metacritic Games

Conflict: Vietnam (Xbox)

Conflict: Vietnam follows the progress of four US soldiers, Ragman, Junior, Hoss and Cherry, cut off from their unit during the 1968 Tet Offensive and tasked with fighting their way back to friendly lines. A third person shooter where the player takes full control of all four squad members, Conflict: Vietnam does not set out to depict the course of the war; instead we witness four men struggling for survival in the hostile Vietnam jungle against a ruthless terrain and seemingly ever-present "invisible" enemy. With 14 missions spanning a variety of environments you must lead your squad down Vietnamese rivers manning the guns on a heavily armoured river boat, into local villages (with friendly and non-friendly fire) to rescue hostages, through ruined temples and the claustrophobic jungle and into the ancient Vietnamese capital of Hue. Armed with an array of heavy artillery your squad must also use make use of transportation abandoned by the Viet-Cong or discarded by captured US troops such as tanks, boats and helicopters, in addition to any surplus weaponry you acquire including gun placements and two-manned mortar sites. Lastly, and by no means least, keep a watchful eye out for the Viet-Cong booby traps, from grenade trip wires and water mines to the punji stake pit trap and the "Bouncing Betty" anti-personnel mine. [SCi Games]

Gathering / SCi Games
Third-Person Shooter, Action
Players: 4
M (Mature)
Developer: Pivotal Games
Released October 5, 2004

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

60 / 100

Critic Reviews

90 Gamezilla!
Conflict Vietnam is both the best among the conflict games and one of the best among the Vietnam shooters today. That isn’t to say it’s a superb game, but it has its moments and can make for a pretty intense ride at times.
90 AceGamez
SCi have done a marvellous job with the high detail, which comes across well in both the audio and visuals. In fact it's so detailed that it feels real.
80 PGNx Media
If there is one thing I did notice is that many of the game’s textures are a bit blurry and bland which contrasts the excellent jungle architecture.
79 Kombo
The games controls are horrible, but other than that and the low replay value its a pretty fun game.
79 Next Level Gaming
It’s the coolest Nam game of 2004.
77 Gaming Nexus
The Viet Cong are everywhere in this game, and they just keep popping up out of the bushes, just like the war movies and stories I know we’ve all read about the Vietnam War.
75 eToychest
It is sort of sad when a game bests its nearest competition simply by virtue of the fact that the average player can stand to play it the whole way through without smashing it with a hammer, but that’s really the best way to sell Conflict: Vietnam. Sure it has awkward controls, occasionally unclear mission objectives, and obtuse friendly AI, but it all boils down to player satisfaction.
75 GameZone
Conflict manages to go the extra mile by bringing us a realistic and enjoyable action game. It has its share of problems that occasionally get in the way but it never gets too bad that you won’t have fun.
72 RealGamer
Replay value in Conflict: Vietnam is pretty much non existent, largely due to the game not been Live enabled.
72 GamingTrend
This game is long...and the ability to save is minimal.
71 Game Chronicles
The controls are cramped, the AI questionable, and the pacing and gameplay seems more geared toward an action-shooter than a stealthy military sim.
70 TotalGames.net
The tight and sometimes confused battles may be bad for the gameplay but great for the overall 'Nam experience.
70 Official Xbox Magazine
Fighting tanks, getting ambushed, and creeping through jungles provide enough variety to keep armchair generals satisfied. [Nov 2004, p.85]
70 Game Over Online
There are some great elements and firefight sequences in Conflict: Vietnam but you just don’t see them enough. And when you do, it’s sometimes offset by other factors that ultimately mire Conflict: Vietnam’s better traits into gameplay quagmire. Instead of an exciting battle, you find yourself slogging through the game.
70 Game Informer
The action does get intense, and if anything else, having to keep your eye on your comrades in a way highlights the grim fight for survival and tight-knit nature that all soldiers need in battle. [Oct 2004, p.129]
69 Team Xbox
The lack of online support, weak multiplayer options, horrendous teammate A.I., and some buggy gameplay mechanics keep this title at strictly an above average level.
67 IGN
Amazingly, all of this still qualifies the game as the best Vietnam game this year (so far) and if you have a hankering for some Nam action, then this is the best way to go, but make sure you go for the rental first.
65 Gaming Target
Just another squad-based shooter that will really only serve to pad the lower-middle ranks of the Xbox game library.
61 GameSpot
It's a solidly average game whose few original ideas are compromised by screwy controls, some pacing problems, and a punishing save-game system.
60 Game Power Australia
Given your dim-witted team mates and the haphazard aiming, you're going to die quite often (mostly because of incoming grenades), and replaying such huge chunks of the levels is really frustrating.
60 GamerArchive
The graphics are average at best, and at worst are no better than some of the later PS1 titles with some very rudimentary texture’s. The levels themselves, right from the off seem to be needing another few months work to give them a much more paced feeling.
60 Adrenaline Vault
It may control like a three-wheeled dump truck on ice, but that’s only scratching the surface of the problems in Conflict: Vietnam.
60 Maxim Online
Unfortunately, figuring out how to work the controller is absolutely infuriating, meaning you go into firefights against stealthy Charlie with no knowledge of your environment, opponent, or weapon.
60 MS Xbox World
The fluidity of character movement is absolutely horrid as the character you control moves in a sluggish and exaggerated manner.
60 EuroGamer
With only split screen to service your multiplayer needs, all you're left with is a solid, unspectacular single-player campaign that frustrates more than it entertains.
60 Worth Playing
A very average shooter – as was its predecessor, "Conflict: Desert Storm" – that will receive attention only because of its setting.
60 DarkStation
The ideas behind Conflict: Vietnam are there, the execution of the game just is not.
58 Play Magazine
If only the targetting system weren't so imprecise and the enemies weren't so overly hidden and prone to outmoded respawn, the fine level design and entertaining scenarios could have commanded much stronger impact. [Nov 2004, p.76]
58 Electronic Gaming Monthly
Fight the war with friends instead: Co-op mode minimizes casualties and lets the otherwise captivating "oh sh***!" moments shine. [Dec 2004, p.156]
50 Edge Magazine
The pacing, thanks to a combination of necessary haste and the weakness of your divided squad members, feels more akin to a corridor shooter; there’s a constant sensation of feeling harried and hemmed in. [Oct 2004, p.107]
50 Sydney Morning Herald
Squeezing the Desert Storm games into the currently fashionable Vietnam setting was a mistake. Open landscapes are replaced by claustrophobic jungle, eliminating tactical freedom. Players edge along narrow paths, progressing from one firefight to the next.
50 Xbox Nation Magazine
Once again, it's the series' fun two-to-four-player splitscreen mode that sets it apart from other fog-of-war games. [Nov 2004, p.92]
50 Thunderbolt
Conflict: Vietnam earns another medal for a split-screen co-operative mode for up to four players. When your friends are controlling each person in your squad the game becomes much, much more enjoyable.
50 GamePro
The mediocre graphics do an adequate job of rendering believable jungle environments, but the unattractive artistic style tends to jar with the hardboiled atmosphere. [Dec 2004, p.114]
50 GamerFeed
Though there are some neat ideas like a very slick presentation and skill points that allow you to customize your characters, the gameplay is bogged down by sloppy controls, and the game has a horrible save system and poor AI.
50 GameSpy
Another problem comes in how Conflict: Vietnam handles aiming. Whenever I drew my weapon in first-person view, a bulky rifle sight popped up and took over a good chunk of my screen. Making matters worse, the sight proved to be completely ineffective.
42 Gaming Age
Despite Conflict Vietnam’s faithful, regurgitated depiction of the reality of war in Vietnam, the mechanics of the game are far too poor to make it recommendable to any but the most hardcore fans of gritty war games.
40 games(TM)
Switching from an open threat such as the desert to the enclosed dangers of the Vietnamese jungle has caused Conflict: Vietnam to effectively cut out much of the need for having a squad in the first place; instead of having more freedom and creativity in taking down your enemies, your team become more like fish trapped in a jungle-shaped barrel. [Oct 2004, p.108]
40 G4 TV
Replay is a non-factor with no Xbox Live support, and the only way to enjoy it is to get your mates to enlist with you. But in the end, this one’s as much of a mess as the real Vietnam. Aim to avoid it.
30 1UP
The looseness of Conflict: Vietnam, from the lack of comfortable and immediate controls to the boring progression of the game, just doesn't cut it. While the idea of squad-driven combat set in the tense, emotionally-charged setting of Vietnam has potential, Conflict: Vietnam falls short in execution.

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