NAM

The Good
NAM is a first-person shooter set in the Vietnam war. As such, you can use many true-to-war tactics to survive, such as set mines and call air-strikes. You can also use mounted machine-guns to eliminate VCs (your allies can too!). These kind of things are very interesting and amazing for a build game.

NAM also has mostly above-average level design. The jungles are covered with foliage and the occasional river, as well as APCs, trucks and other cool vehicles used in the war. You'll also experience napalm strikes and hear your friends screaming and yelling for help through their radios. This really makes you feel like you are an average grunt in the war.

The Bad
NAM feels like a cheesy Duke Nukem 3D TC, definitely. The HUD is practically the same, the enemies are all edited versions of Duke's sprite and the claymore is almost identical to the trip-mine. The mission briefings are also horribly recorded. But most of all, NAM is insanely difficult. Due to the foliage and bad AI the enemy can see you, but you can't see them. Snipers kill you almost instantly, mines are tiny and spread all over and you'll be pressing the quick-load button time after time. Also, if an ally encounters an obstacle he will fly over it - he seriously looks like he's jumping on the moon.

The Bottom Line
Most people get frustrated by NAM's difficulty and judge it as a horrible game - but look further, and NAM is actually half decent. If you can find NAM at a reasonable price get it, but if you absolutely refuse to use god mode occasionally then wait for another Vietnam shooter to come.

The Good
Unlike many other first-person shooters, the period weapons in Nam/Napalm are realistic, and in the higher skill levels you really have to manage their use and the amount of ammo effectively. Grenades -- which do not exist in games like Doom -- are very useful tools for getting the job done. Enemies are sometimes well hidden and very tenacious to kill. The jungle and mines make scouting difficult and hide enemies. Nam/Napalm is also cheap, you can find it in bargain-basement racks for less than $10.

The Bad
Set-up on my laptop was hard, I had to partially disable my soundcard to prevent crashes. Graphics are poor. Some items, like mortars and helicopter machine guns, are too hard to use. American soldiers who you can "command" are actually quite stupid, they can't follow you that well and apparently can't shoot. The first skill setting is too easy; too much ammo and too few enemies.

The Bottom Line
If you are looking for a first-person Vietnam War simulator, this is one of the only offerings out there. Graphics are adequate for people who are familiar with Doom, but seem primitive when compared to more modern games. Despite this, the game is entertaining and challenging at higher skill settings.

The Good
At first, releasing a DOS-based, Build engine game at a time when games like Quake II, Unreal, and Half-Life already came out seems like a really dumb decision. But developers like TNT Team need the money to buy graphically advanced engines like those used in the aforementioned games, and often release outdated games like NAM to make that money for developing a more graphically advanced game. Even if they could afford a more graphically advanced engine, though, isn't the gameplay what matters the most? Should we really bash a game if it's actually fun to play?

No, we shouldn't. But let's put that whole graphics thing aside for the moment.

NAM is a first-person shooter that takes place in the Vietnam War. Since first-person shooters have been known to immerse the player into the game thanks to their realistic first-person viewpoint, NAM is probably the first game to make the player truly feel like they're actually in the war. Although there are some arcade-ish elements, like running over items to pick them up, everything else is completely realistic. This isn't just a "go through the level, shoot everything that moves, and find the switch to the next level" Doom clone. Even with some fellow soldiers by your side, you actually have to take cover and avoid things like airstrikes, booby traps, and landmines, as running through the levels Doom-style will get you killed really easily. Like I said earlier, the graphics are a bit outdated, but they're actually pretty good for a Build engine game, especially in the SVGA modes.

The Bad
Nothing really. Since this game is actually fun to play, I'll ignore the outdated Build technology.

The Bottom Line
Just like you can't judge a book by it's cover, you can't judge a game by its graphics. Although NAM was released about a year or two too late, it's actually a fun and intense game that feels just like the Vietnam War.

The Good
Well, there were a lot of weapons, 34 missions, some cool audio, tough scenarios and lots of action. Some of the locations look okay considering it uses the BUILD engine (Duke Nukem 3D) and that also means you can use the Duke3D editor if you want... You could also take control of vehicle-mounted machine guns and have fellow soldiers follow you. At some points it was also possible to call in airstrikes... cool! Also the multiplayer is pretty good.

The Bad
Pointless missions, dumb AI (For example, if you set a fellow grunt to shoot enemies, then leave his line of sight then return, he'll shoot at you!) The graphics are dry and colorless, so the jungle looks more like a mish-mash of green pixels and not like trees and plants. Looks almost exactly the same as Duke3D except in a jungle. The music is all MIDI format so it sounds pretty bad and you'll probably want to turn it off.

The Bottom Line
Well, if you see it in a discount bin for really cheap you might want to pick it up for it's multiplayer- which has the potential to be fun because of the weapons. Or, if you like your war games then you might want to try it- some of the shootouts are semi-intense and can be quite fun. However, the emphasis in that sentence is on "Some", not all. Don't expect a great action game here because, well, it isn't!

The Good
I actually like nothing about this game. Only a madman would like this game.

The Bad
Everything, the gameplay is utterly dull, the graphics look insanely ugly, the sound effects are completely dull. The game feels like a very bad mod for the game Duke Nukem 3D, which is indirectly true, since before the game was released the game was a half-completed TC for Duke3D with the name Platoon, the irony is that the original TC was actually better. Which had fine hand-drawn graphics (replaced with the awful pre-rendered 3D sprites in the commercial game), and the TC actually had good fun levels (of course, for the commercial game, they made new horrible levels). How they managed to ruin everything in the commerical game is completely bizarre.

The Bottom Line
Run away if you see it... no, burn any copies you may see of it. The game's a sin. If you want a good Build (the Duke3D engine) game, try out Shadow Warrior or the fantastic Blood. Do not play this game. Never ever even look in the same direction.

The bizarre thing is that the game did actually spawn a sequel (WW2GI), how the authors got permission to do that is a big mystery, but the sequel is actually worse.

The Good
When I first got it, I had alot of fun, and thought it was the best, so to say, but that was three years ago.

The Bad
The graphics reek, after playing Duken Nukem, which still stands up today, I'm surprised at just how bad the graphics are in this game, besides that the enemy and friendly AI is stupid, the friendly soldiers just walk around untill they get shot, pathetic. Also multi-player has never worked.

The Bottom Line
You walk from point A to point B, on the way shoot soldier pick up weapons, and do the basic things of a shooter, occaisionaly you have to do something interesting, like saving a POW, but not usually. In effect boring. (Though it was once exciting to me.)

The Good
Nothing what-so-ever. It uses the same engine as Duke Nukem 3D, and does so horribly.

The Bad

• Horrible graphics, some taken directly from Duke3D and others are just terribly bad.

• Worst sound effects in a game yet.
• Crappy gameplay
• Raycasting in 1998?!?!?!?!?!?!

**The Bottom Line**
In short, this game should have never seen the light of day.