Vietcong is a 2003 tactical

Tactical shooter

A tactical shooter is a subgenre of shooter game that includes both first-person shooters and third-person shooters. These games typically simulate realistic combat, thus making tactics and caution more important than quick reflexes in other action games...

 first-person shooter

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

 video game developed by Pterodon

Pterodon

Pterodon is a game developer located in the Czech Republic. In the year of 2006 they joined Illusion Softworks. Pterodon was founded in 1997 by Jarek Kolář and Michal Janáček.The logo of this company is a pterosaur, presumably a Pteranodon...

 and 2K Czech, published by Gathering of Developers

Gathering of Developers

Gathering of Developers was a Texas-based PC and video games publishing company, founded in January 1998 with the mission to bridge the gap between publishers and independent game developers, allowing independent developers creative control over their projects, ownership of their IP, and...

. It is set during the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 in 1967.

The expansion pack

Expansion pack

An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...

 Vietcong: Fist Alpha

Vietcong: Fist Alpha

Vietcong: Fist Alpha is an expansion pack for the computer game Vietcong. It was released in February 2004.It is a prequel to Vietcong, occurring three months before the events of that game. In Fist Alpha you play the main character of Sergeant First Class Douglas Warren...

was released in 2004 and was bundled with Vietcong as Vietcong: Purple Haze for the PC. Vietcong: Purple Haze was also also released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

 and Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

, ported by Coyote Games. An official add-on "Red Dawn" was released as a free downloadable content

Downloadable content

Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...

. A sequel to the game, Vietcong 2

Vietcong 2

Vietcong 2 is a tactical shooter PC game, developed by Pterodon and Illusion Softworks, published by 2K Games in October 2005, and set during the Vietnam War. It is the direct sequel to Vietcong.- Gameplay :...

, was released in 2005.

Story

The player takes on the role of Sergeant First Class

Sergeant First Class

Sergeant First Class is the seventh enlisted rank in the U.S. Army, above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant and First Sergeant, and is the first senior non-commissioned officer rank...

 Steve R. Hawkins, assigned to the United States Special Forces ("Green Berets") camp at a strategic location of Nui Pek in South Vietnam

South Vietnam

South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...

, a few miles near the Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

n border. Hawkins and his A-Team (an LLDB

Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces were the elite military units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Following the establishment of the Republic of Vietnam in October 1955, the Special Forces were formed at Nha Trang in February 1956...

 guide Le Duy Nhut, the medic Joe Crocker, the demolition specialist Thomas Bronson, the radioman C.J. Defort and the team's machine gunner Hornster) carry out a series of various missions against the Vietcong and North Vietnam

North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

ese forces. The game ends in a massive North Vietnamese attack on the team's base camp.

Reception

The PC version of the game received generally favorable reviews, garnering a 77/100 score on the review aggregation site Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

. GameSpot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 gave it the award of the Game of the Month for April 2003.

The Xbox and PS2 versions of the game were not as well-received, with the Xbox port scoring 57/100 and the PS2 scoring a 48/100 on Metacritic.

External links

• Pterodon and Vietcong official website
• Vietcong at MobyGames
  MobyGames
  -Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...