Summary
Interesting game ruined by insane difficulty
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.
