Vietcong is a tactical first-person shooter computer game, developed by Pterodon and Illusion Softworks, published by Gathering in March 2003, and set during the Vietnam War.
The sequel to Vietcong, Vietcong Fist Alpha, was released in early February 2004.
Story[ | ]
The player takes on the role, in the single-player campaign, of Sergeant First Class Steve R. Hawkins; born 13 October 1939, in Wilmington, North Carolina who has been assigned to the United States Special Forces camp at Nui Pek. Nui Pek is situated near where the Ho Chi Minh trail reenters Vietnam from Cambodia, so it is considered one of the most dangerous areas in all of Vietnam. Steve leads one of the special forces teams stationed at Nui Pek, each member of whom is a Sergeant in their own right, and has their own specialties:
- Thomas Bronson Sergeant First Class; born 19 January 1936, in New York City, New York, he is an African-American who chose Vietnam over jail. Bronson serves as the Combat engineering and demolitions expert on the team. When on your team, he restocks any U.S. weapon that the player carrying at the moment.
- Joe Crocker Staff Sergeant; born 17 May 1943 in San Francisco, California, he dropped out of Stanford University School of Medicine to join the Army. Crocker serves as the combat medic on the team.
- P.J Defort Sergeant; born 21 December 1944, in New York, a young and highly intelligent former United States Air Force|Air Force Cadet. Defort serves as the radio operator on the team.
- Le Duy Nhut (Nick) Sergeant, a Vietcong defector, with extensive knowledge of the area around Nui Pek. Nhut serves as the pointman and translator on the team.
- C.J. Hornster Sergeant First Class; born 16 January 1939, in Augusta, Maine. An all-round hardcase, eager (often too eager) to engage the enemy no matter the odds. Hornster serves as the machinegunner on the team.
Expansions and console version[ | ]
In addition to the original game, expansion pack Vietcong: Fist Alpha was released in February 2004, with some new features, and was bundled with Vietcong as Vietcong: Purple Haze for the PC. Vietcong: Purple Haze, was also released in October that year as an expanded version for PlayStation 2 and Xbox developed by Coyote Games.
Vietcong online multiplayer game modes[ | ]
In addition to the linear campaign, the game features several stand-alone single player maps and network and online multiplay. Multiplay game modes include capture the flag (CTF), Capture the flag with Bots, deathmatch (DM), team deathmatch (TDM), assault team game (ATG), cooperative game US(COOP), cooperative game VC (COOP_VC), Turn Table (TT), King of the Hill (KOTH), last man standing (LMS), and real war (RW). Nearly five years after the game's release, Vietcong as a multiplayer is still popular. There are still thousands of players from around the globe playing in numerous servers.
Descriptions of the popular game modes:
Capture the Flag(CTF) - players choose either US or VC side. Object is to capture the opponents flag and return to their flag while utilizing their combat skills. There are numerous clan sites dedicated to this particular game mode
Cooperative(COOP) - Players enter each mission amongst other cooperative players. Every map can hold 6-12 players simultaneously. In-game voice chat is utilized, or a alternate teamspeak program (Teamspeak or Ventrilo) is used amongst cooperative clans. The mission is to get the entire team through each map without losing a teammate.(This is a challenging feat). When a player perishes, they must watch the other players until the mission is won or lost.(No respawning - "One life..One mission"). One of the members of the team is elected (or chooses to be) the Teamleader. The teamleader sets mission objectives and gives orders. Orders are typically followed by the remaining teammates. If players run away from the group(ramboing), or fail to obey orders, they are kicked off the server. Since the game is now 5 years old, it has many custom cooperative maps (made by various cooperative communities (e.g. VET).
Deathmatch(DM) - Deathmatch is a free-for-all. Once the map loads, you start with a basic pistol, a knife and some grenades, but a better weapon can be quickly had at scattered preset locations or by killing another player who has a better weapon. Once the weapon is found, you hunt down (or ambush) and kill the other players. Players score points according to how many kills they get, and also how many kills they get from frags(grenades).
Team Death Match(TDM) - Same as Deathmatch, but in this game mode a player chooses to be on either team. The team then tries to eliminate all members of the opposing team within a time limit. Some time limits vary between 5 minutes per match or longer. Clan sites tend to stage wars with each other in this game mode.
Weapons[ | ]
All the projectile weapons (except the mounted M60 and M2HB machine guns) feature a secondary ironsight option (or a scope reticle view depending on the weapon) as well as "shoot from the hip" that features on most first-person shooter computer games. The weapons that feature in the game are:
United States / South Vietnam Weapons[ | ]
- Knife
Combat knifes are used to silently kill enemies and to defused booby-traps
- M1911 Colt pistol of the US since WWI and South Vietnamese military, fires .45s.
- Colt 38 Revolver
Alternative reliable sidearm of the US military six shot, fires .38s.
- Smith & Wesson Model 39 "Hush Puppy"
Silenced pistol used by Special Forces and Navy Seals to not alert enemies.
- M1 carbine (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
A cross between a sidearm and rifle preferred by LLDB as a rifle because of their stature.
- M1 Garand Sniper Rifle with scope
An older rifle used during WWII only ones in use are sniper rifles.
- Winchester Model 70 Sniper Rifle without scope
Powerful sniper rifle fires a .30-06
- M1A1 Thompson submachine gun
Modified from the classic WWII submachine gun, fires .45 caliber bullets. It was admire by French Foreign Legion because it was said to be well suited for the environment in the First Indochina War First Indochina War.
- M3A1 submachine gun"Grease Gun"
Made during WWII a cheap to produce and reliable sub-machinegun and favorite of paratroopers. Though the US military decommissioned most, some continued to be in circulation. Several decommissioned M3s were adopted by the LLDB.
- M16 rifle (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
A light and accurate assault rifle meant to replace the M-14 but has some reliability issue and the 20 round magazines have 18 to reduce the chance of jamming.
- Remington 870 Shotgun
Reliable pump shotgun and favored by LLDB that learned to hunt with a shotgun.
- M60 machine gun (General Purpose Machine Gun)
Common medium machine gun to the US and LLDB and used by support gunners.
- M79 grenade launcher (Only available in single player mode)
Grenade launcher that is breach loaded and used by grenadiers as a support weapon.
- M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine
A directional mine that is manually detonated by defenders setup prior to an attack.
- M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun(Mounted on UH-1 Huey helicopters)
A powerful American heavy machine gun used US and South Vietnamese forces, popular worldwide and commonly found mounted on aircraft and vehicles.
- M29 Mortar
A light Mortar that is much smaller than artillery and can be accommodated by small US and LLBD bases.
Viet Cong / North Vietnam Weapons[ | ]
- Knife
Combat knifes are used to silently kill enemies and to defused booby-traps.
- Makarov PM
originally deigned in the Soviet Union for police and officers. Chinese copy are found on NVA and some VC officers.
- TT-33
Soviet designed pistol from WWII to mimic the Colt M1911, standard issue to the NVA are made in China.
- .38 Revolver
Chinese copy of the Colt Official Police .38 Revolver Reliable pistol ideal for the harsh conditions of guerrilla fighters standard issue to VC rebels.
- SKS|SKS Simonov (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
Soviet designed Chinese made Standard issue NVA rifle and some sent to the VC.
- Dragunov Sniper Rifle (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
A semiautomatic sniper rifle based on the AK-47. Used by NVA and rarely VC snipers.
- Mosin-Nagant|Mosin Nagant (Cannot be fitted with a bayonet in Fist Alpha expansion pack, unlike its real life counterpart)
Standard issue to NVA reserves and weapons crews (such as NVA mortar teams) and shipped south were they became a favorite among VC snipers.
- PPSh-41
A Soviet WWII, durable submachine gun with high rate of fire and a 71 drum magazine, commonly used by VC and some NVA.
- PPS-43
Symbol of the Soviet victory at Siege of Leningrad this submachine gun is a kilogram lighter than the PPSh-41, easier to produce, and with the built-in Muzzle brake doubles as a compensator more accurate.
- AK-47 (Bayonet can be attached on Fist Alpha expansion pack)
The standard assault rifle made in China and sometimes the USSR effect at close and long range
- Baikal IZH-43
A Russian double-barrell shotgun that made their way to Vietnam. Mainly used by VC to be traded for food and supplies with local tribes and villages.
- RPD Degtarev Machinegun
Produced in small numbers by the Soviet Union during WWII. It became the standard issue machinegun to the NVA and some were used by VC but not preferred because it was not as reliable as the DP2.
- ZB-37
Heavy machinegun made in Czechoslovakia before WWII and exported to China from their, they made their way into the hands of the NVA encounter mounted Coaxial weapon|coaxial on NVA T-34 tanks.
- Model 24 grenade
Chinese made stick grenade imported to Vietnam and used by grenadiers to clear trenches and bunkers.
- Booby Traps
Improvised explosive devices/Grenades, Punji stick pits(whip and Trapping pit) used by VC to slowdown US and LLDB by making them more cautious and slow progress or to protects supplies and tunnels was well as kill or make an unfortunate soldiers miserable.
- Intel
Researching a body you can come across hints of what the communists are up to this can be metals, badges, maps, IDs and other hints of what to expect.
- 82-PM-41
A mortar designed and used in WWII by The USSR it was sent to Vietnam were is was easily transported, hidden, and setup by VC guerrilla fighters and was used by NVA to soften base defenses and support infantry attacks.
Vehicles[ | ]
Although only one vehicle in the games can be personally controlled by the player on a certain map (M151 MUTT), other different vehicles have a role in the games, as either parts of the game or present in cutscenes:
- GAZ-67
- M151 MUTT
- T-34
- UH-1 Iroquois
- ZIL-157
System Requirements and Other useful information[ | ]
Pentium III 700 MHz
256mb RAM
3D Accelerator w/ 32mb
16x CD-ROM
1.8gb Hard Drive Space
56k Modem for Online Play
Original Vietcong Game
Since the release of Microsofts "Vista OS", the game must be run in DirectX 9, and the player must join non-hradba enabled servers. Otherwise the game detects the player as using a hook cheat. If you still have Windows XP, then you are fine to play in any server. More information can be found at the Pterodon Official Forum. Vietcong runs smoothly on any computer...No need to upgrade your 8 year old computer. This game can be purchased online for typically $8–$25 USD.