Shellshock Nam '67

Does Guerrilla's take on Vietnam bode well for Killzone?

War. Huh. What is it good for? Well, death I suppose, and ratings for the 10 O'clock News. And video games. War is bad though, let's not forget. I'm a staunch pacifist, yet I don't see the harm in slaughtering a few virtual enemies from time to time. It always alarms me when you hear tabloids condemning video game violence whilst failing to question the real slaughter of thousands that goes on every day in the real world. I mean, what's the more damaging? Anyhow, war has always been a popular theme on which to base a game and never more so than at the moment. It seems as if every other title to hit the shelves at the moment is a World War II FPS or strategy title. No longer however, as WWII has made way for latest in fashionable warfare - Vietnam. The first week of September alone sees the release of three Vietnam themed shooters, so Shellshock Nam '67 certainly has its work cut out if it wishes to get noticed.

If there's one thing that makes Shellshock stand out from the Viet Cong massacring crowd it's one word that features on the front cover - Guerrilla. For those of you not in the know this is not a hint that the game has added an unexpected simian twist to the usual Vietnam formula; Guerrilla is the Dutch developer behind the long awaited "Halo beater" Killzone, due out shortly on the PS2. With a tremendous weight resting on their shoulders, you can bet a camp of rotting villagers on the fact that Guerrilla wants to prove that they're the right folk for the job. Does Shellshock paint a pretty picture? Erm, well, no, not really.

Keen to sell the game on it's own merits, the angle Guerrilla is taking with Shellshock is that it deals with the true brutality of the conflict. Indeed, the opening sequence quotes various statistics concerning the huge numbers of troops killed in the conflict, on both sides. The cut-scenes more often than not contain VC executions at the hands of US troops, or else picture the rotting corpses of tortured GI's. Yes, they are a little grim, and yes, they justify the 18 certificate sitting proudly on the sleeve. However, when you consider the fact that these scenes are interspersed with levels that generally task you with slaughtering hundreds of Vietnamese enemies, they do somewhat lose their impact.

Perhaps the decision to make the game in 3rd person was also related to the desire for the player to empathise with the characters. Perhaps it was to distance itself from Killzone. Either way, it was a mistake. The more you play the game the more you can't escape from the feeling that the whole thing would have worked better as an FPS. Positioning the camera a few metres behind and above the player means that you'll spend nearly as much time lining up the camera as you will aiming at the enemy. A quick press of R3 puts you into "beading mode", a close up view just behind the players shoulder, much like that used in Splinter Cell. However, whilst this helps orientate the camera, your character then occupies about a third of the screen. Frustrating.

Some of the missions will see you venturing out with your unit, but rarely will you feel part of a larger battle. On occasions teammates will offer support and help dispense with the enemy, but they're just as likely to stick firmly rooted to the spot awaiting your lead. This is all the more frustrating when your primary objective is to follow your commanding officer. When he refuses to take the lead, it is sometimes not clear where or what you should be doing next. There's also no reason given for the times when you're asked to go on ahead alone - "Destroy that bunker" or "Clear out the fort". Well, cheers lads, I'll just go and do the dirty work whilst you hang around behind this tree. When you die for the third time, your squad's unwillingness to help becomes quite infuriating.

Missions themselves are reasonably assorted without ever presenting anything especially memorable. At least there's more variety than simply progressing along a pre-determined path shooting every VC unfortunate enough to confront you. You'll be searching for hidden enemies in haystacks, rounding up villagers, manning stationary machine guns and creeping silently through the undergrowth - there's nothing really original, but at least the variety keeps you interested. In between some of the levels you'll be returned to base camp where you're free to wander around, talk to people... and wander around some more. At least if you manage to collect enough currency from performing well in the missions there's scope for a little "boom-boom" from the local ladies, but that's about as exciting as it gets.

The scenery itself is quite nicely rendered and whilst the resolution of the textures is high (especially in 60hz) the frame rate frequently drops, making things a little choppy. As well as a patchy draw distance, animation is questionable throughout as well. The backgrounds may look nice, but when the populace all walk as if they have a bayonet up the rectum the effect is somewhat diminished. Enemies will often respawn in identical patterns, so it's often possible to keep your cursor stationary for lengthy periods and wait for (identical) enemies to walk into your line of sight. Unfortunately this will also highlight the terrible recoil effects when shooting down the scope - they're simply nowhere near convincing. Most infuriating though is your inability to tackle even shin-high scenery, resulting in your character being channelled down shallow grooves in the landscape, seemingly unable to climb a one-foot verge. Add to that some poorly placed checkpoints and frustration is almost as inevitable as the next VC massacre.

As for the shock factor, yes, it's present. Stumbling across a burning pile of female villagers that you've just grenaded from a distance is quite unsettling the first time you see it, as is an order to shoot a villager running amuck, especially when the first shot only grounds them - a second is required to silence them. However, considering that for every moral dilemma crudely thrust in your face there is the memory of hundreds of victims from the level before, the two don't sit convincingly together. Shellshock is not bad at all - just very very average, and certainly not what you'd expect from a developer about to release an FPS hoped to be better than the greatest console shooter ever made. It's got some nice touches, like the tiny d-pad mini-games used when tackling booby traps and the authentic 1967 soundtrack, but with the likes of Call of Duty and Day of Defeat out there, Shellshock is simply too easily forgotten.

60%

By Ben Parfitt