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> Results: Operation: Vietnam
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The ESRB Says
Blood: GamerDad saw small, pixilated blood fly as we dispatched loads of VC enemies. Mild Language: There was occasional use of words like 'hell' and 'damn' sprinkled in the dialogue. Mild Violence: This is a combat-based war game, and you command a squad of soldiers. There comes a fun little game by a small team that isn't particularly high-concept, not so grand in scale, yet it just works and is loads of fun to the point of being a complete surprise. Operation Vietnam is such a game. The game plays much like a squad-based version of the classic arcade game Commando in many ways, but with a slower pace due to the increased use of tactics. The overall experience manages to fuse the arcade experience with some challenging tactical action, sprinkled with bits of fun and humor along the way. You are in charge of a squad whose chopper is shot down, and your squad is scattered in the jungle. You need to reunite your team, each member with different skills, and then start out working your way through the jungle. There are mine-fields, wire-traps, napalm strafing runs, and more to avoid - as well as plenty of VC enemies out to take you and your squad out. The gameplay is simple yet offers surprising depth - you can change leaders at will, and certain skills become more useful depending on who is leading. For example, health kits are more effective when Doc (medic) is running the squad, you get a longer view when Scopes (sniper) is leading, and explosives are more effective for Hopper (heavy weapons). And despite having to make use of all buttons as well as the D-pad and stylus, the game never becomes overwhelming. Operation Vietnam isn't a huge epic war tale, but neither does it aim for that. It is small in scope and knows what it is trying to do - and it accomplishes that with style. It won't win any awards for technical merit or originality, but it is a good solid fun game and well worth the budget purchase.  
While the presentation of Operation Vietnam is a fairly low-resolution top-down shooter that looks more like a mid-range GBA game than anything that might push the limits of the DS, this is still a very violent war game and as such you are in constant peril as you move through the jungle. As you are working your way through the game slowly and carefully, you will be involved in tense and visceral firefights where you struggle to keep your squad alive against overwhelming odds. The thing that makes this a GamerDad Age Seal 14+ game for me is the ability to 'tag' areas with smoke grenades and call in Napalm strikes. The explosions looks like big blasts, but as someone who watched the end of the Vietnam war on TV the effect is chilling - you don't see people burning, but they are dying and I couldn't get the pictures of what would really be happening out of my head. Again, it isn't gory or terribly graphic, but it is a violent war game intended for teens and adults.
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