Vietnam Med + Evac

Sam man-handles his chopper into some seriously tight spots.

Have you ever played Gunship or Apache and wished that you could do away with all those nasty guns and just concentrate on flying a chopper in a combat zone without having to bother yourself with actually shooting at anything? Have you ever watched the end of Platoon and thought that you'd like to be the pilot that lifts Charlie Sheen away from the horror of that jungle conflict? Or have you ever wondered how on earth flight-sims continue to be classified as computer games? If the last applies to you then you hold at least one opinion that is the same as mine. On the other hand, if the first two possibilities fondle your collective then you might be the kind of person to get some enjoyment from Medevac.

This is the third title in the Search and Rescue series and it's a big departure from the previous incarnations of the rescue-em-up. As opposed to ferrying around fire and car crash victims this time you are entrusted with the theoretically more exciting duty of airlifting the wounded from fields of battle and spiriting them away to hospital. You and your UH-1 will travel all around the battlefields of the Vietnam war, taking in all the differing scenery of Southern Vietnam while you try not to get shot down by small arms or rocket fire and get the wounded G.I.s to safety before they bleed so much over your chopper that you'll miss happy hour at the bar as you hose clean your 'copter. You can order your crew around via the command console and every once in a while you'll even be given the option of manning the door gun to keep the press of VC back at a reasonable distance. But in no way is this a combat simulator. It's all about the flying.

There are two different difficulty settings. Easy is fine if you have nothing but a keyboard whereas those of you who are into this kind of stuff (or if you are into simulations of flying vehicles that kill) and have a joystick lying around there's the realistic option. Neither method will ever give convincing control of a helicopter, the most fiendishly awkward machine to control in the air. However, both methods allow budding angles to get to grips with the flight model easily enough. Flying with the keyboard brought back fond memories of playing Gunship on the C64 (without the fun shooty bits mind) whereas the joystick offered a more tactile control method, something that made smooth manoeuvring considerably easier. In fact although the keyboard is adequate, if you are going to purchase this game after reading the rest of the review in all probability have at least a stick, and maybe some pedals too.

The game's graphics are actually quite good, with the rolling terrain of the area finely recreated in bold green colours. Obviously each tree isn't modelled but I did get a good feeling of flying around Vietnam. There's a good smattering of ground objects, from villages to firebases to tiny little soldiers running around like disturbed ants. The graphics are a lot better looking than those of the previous games. The sound too does its minimal job well enough not to be noticeably deficient. No, the area where this game falls down for anyone not interested in counter-rotation and cyclic control is the utter lack of gameplay. There are plenty of challenges to be had here, 100 missions to complete and a free-fly mode for those wishing to just chop about the countryside of river, mountain, urban areas, coast and paddy fields. The problem is if you are a gamer because this isn't a game in any sense that you would be familiar with. This title feels like it should be an expansion pack for MS Flight-Sim rather then a standalone package which might fool people into thinking there was some action-packed fun to be had. It's better made than the last two attempts from the same developers and will no doubt offer enjoyment to people who like flying for the sake of it. If, on the other hand, you like flying to shoot things down and blow stuff up, you'll be putting this onto eBay faster than a soldier can bring an opium pipe to his lips.

75%

By Sam Gibson