Men of Valour Preview

Sweat dripped from my chin and splashed onto my rifle as we stood watching the crouching figure of our pointsman, surveying the road ahead of us. Our offensive manoeuvre had gone awry – not enough information, not enough time to plan ahead – and we were desperate, creeping through the jungle on a prayer hoping every rustle, every sunbeam didn’t turn into a bullet from the VC and a letter to mom and dad.

Six hours we’d sweated through the jungle, arcing around in a widened circle to reach our extraction point. We thought we were safe when we saw the road, we thought we were almost there. That’s when we heard the rumbling. A creaking sound, closer than we were ready for, heading round the corner before we could escape the expanse of short brush we had been moving through to cross to the other side. All we could do was lie there still and hope that they didn’t spot us.

But it was too late, man. They’d rounded the corner; a heavy vehicular mass silhouetted by the sun that stopped parallel of our position for God knows what reason and stared in our direction. A lone figure stepped out and walked carefully towards our makeshift hiding place. I readied my hand on my weapon, determined to make the first move. As soon as I could smell what he’d had for breakfast he’d be dead.

He was right there in front of me. I gripped the trigger. He looked down. The sun dimmed behind a sparse cloud and I saw him properly for the first time.

He was a long-haired young man with a goatee beard wearing a Metallica T-shirt and clutching a bottle of Jolt Cola. He jerked a thumb back at his bandwagon, heavily laden with uniforms just like mine.

“Hop on,” he gestured.

And thus we did.

Conflict: Vietnam Games

In other words: ooh, aren’t there a lot of Vietnam games coming out at the moment? Whether through sheer coincidence, cultural zeitgeist, or the more likely fact that it’s a scenario ripe for the unimaginative (and with the technology to do it justice), a flux of them have made their presence known lately.

It’s not a surprise to hear, then, that 2015’s Unreal engine-based first-person shooter is on that roster as well. They’re the team responsible for Medal of Honour: Allied Assault, the acclaimed WWII shooter that made a great game out of storming the beach at Normandy a la Saving Private Ryan. The Medal of Honour series in all its various guises has largely been responsible for turning that brutal harrowing conflict into ever-more elaborate money shot gaming moments, making sure-fire thrills out of the whole experience. Its war is one trivialised into set pieces, but it’s also a war that’s for the most part linear, the drama ebbing and flowing as you follow a set course from one action bottleneck to the next.

Purple Hearts

No wonder they choose Vietnam. It’s a war that’s near fictionalised itself in the various novels and films that have made it a choice location for coming of age yarns and American values metaphors for a good long time. Indeed, a session of the game at Game Stars Live proved just that: it’s the glorified, Spielberg-ian account of war we’re naturally expecting from these developers. From riding atop transports into vicious ambushes, surviving base assaults, battling Charlie in paddy fields, manning gunboats and creeping through the jungle, it’s a wealth of ‘Nam clichés all bound together to provide a game that’s all-out entertainment. It even contains that contrived sentimental bonhomie that lets you identify with your team-mates, even going so far as to read mawkish letters home at the start of the levels to trigger an emotional response.

It sounds bad, but that might prove to be its best point. Where Shellshock: ‘Nam ’67 tried for emotion through stark portrayal and didn’t quite make it, Valour may do otherwise. Providing it can balance the blockbuster bangs with the quiet bits it may just work. It’s tough, sure. It’s got video footage, poignant voiceovers; it even has a bit of gritty swearing. Yet it’s got that cinematic popcorn feel and that’s what made the MoH series such a winner.

Apocalypse Slightly Soon

However, doing that does seem to require the same level of linearity as before, and from what we played a lot of the game does same to be the usual self-contained levels where you’re pushed ahead into fulfilling your objectives in the way it wants you to. You fight in a squad but can’t control them directly and it’s up to you to stick with them while developing your own tactics. Whether this opens up afterwards is questionable. Nevertheless, it’s a good tool to shepherd you to the choicest moments the developers have in store. Variety is the key in this game and keeping you busy with the best set-pieces ‘Nam has to offer is a must. It’ll be good to see how it gets marked for atmosphere when it’s released come October.

Two things we’re not quite sure about, though. First, the health system: in order to come across as slightly more realistic, when you take a hit you start to bleed. This takes a steady shade off your health bar which can only be replenished by holding down a button or key. Fail to do so and your life steadily drains away. It’s a good method to stop conflicts turning into bullish rampages.

On the other hand, it seems unnecessary in a game that doesn’t really need to hide its arcade sentiments. Second, the need to search bodies and pick up items with another button press: more realistic presumably but also frustratingly time-consuming. What happened to just walking over things?

Whatever, we’re looking forward to it, even though it’s not by the same 2015 that went off to make Call of Duty as Infinity Ward. There’s multiplayer included as well, but it’s a strong single-player game we desire. We’re just left wondering: does Realistic mode stop you from finishing the game properly, leaving you shuffling back home to a life of flashbacks and Agent Orange poisoning?