Review shoma 2/5 · May 17, 2025
Vietcong 1 was a comfy little shooter that wasn't doing anything special gameplay-wise but it had a nice story with some memorable characters and a unique atmosphere. Fist Alpha expansion never reaches the heights of the original, but is decent, but Vietcong 2 is just a worse game in almost every way. Nothing has been improved. Even adding ragdolls made …
Vietcong 1 was a comfy little shooter that wasn't doing anything special gameplay-wise but it had a nice story with some memorable characters and a unique atmosphere. Fist Alpha expansion never reaches the heights of the original, but is decent, but Vietcong 2 is just a worse game in almost every way. Nothing has been improved. Even adding ragdolls made enemies fly around like actual ragdols, whereas the original had animations that would play out but felt more real and visceral. The character's personality are their accents. The graphics, while upgraded, in retrospect look more dated compared to contemporaries. I can't force anything else out of myself in regards to the gameplay or presentation.
Despite the fact that, almost a century later we still remember Vietnam as a sad, needless, pointless war, Vietcong 1 and its expansion attempted to make the campaigns feel like the war you're fighting is just. In V2, the devs attempt to I guess adress that somewhat by ending both US and VC campaigns (yes, you get to play as a vietnamese soldier killing south vietnamese and americans) on a sad note but it doesn't work at all. "War is bad" is about as deep as it goes.
This game sadly killed the developer, Pterodon, which is sad. Some of the original team would go on to work on Crime Boss: Rockay City. I'll let you decide if it's a professional upgrade or downgrade.