Lost Patrol

If you're expecting a violent action game, like so many of Ocean's war releases, then forget it. This is one of the new breed of Ocean products. Following on from F-29 Retaliator, The Lost Patrol falls very firmly into the strategy mould. Still, action freaks will have their hands full.

All the individual sections are good fun to play. The graphics are tidy but unfortunately are not as impressive as the early demos led us to believe. A weak sounding, but catchy, semi-techno tune plays throughout, only interrupted by bursts of gunfire and the occasional scream. Lost Patrol is not what I had originally expected. Instead of a really absorbing, well plotted strategy it’s turned just a string of arcade sequences. Despite this disappointment Lost Patrol is a pretty good excuse for a romp through the Vietnamese countryside, and it does provide some genuine entertainment.

Disappointing foldout instruction sheet and no disk save option, but animation sequences and static screens are good. Disk accessing reasonable. A very high standard of artwork. The colours are not always convincing and hand-to-hand combat is jerky, but graphics are very good overall. A good, if somewhat dull ’un-Vietnamese’ soundtrack with the odd good spot FX. Not that difficult to get into and the desire to see the arcade sequences is compulsive... ...but it is not that big a quest and the high difficulty means repeated trudging through that first twenty miles. Interesting and unusual but not outstanding.

Das Schönste am Lost Patrol ist zweifelsfrei die Grafik. Nach jedem Spielzug erscheint eines der über 20 stimmungsvollen Zwischenbilder, zum Teil sogar mit eingeblendeten Filmsequenzen! Über die Begleitmusik läßt sich hingegen wenig Gutes berichten, außer vielleicht, daß man sie abschalten kann. Bleibt die Frage, ob sich die ausgedehnte Wartezeit auf dieses Spiel gelohnt hat. Nun, der Taktikteil ist sehr abwechslungsreich, jede Sitzung verläuft etwas anders. Hätten die Programmierer bei den Action-sequenzen nicht gar so sehr geschlampt und auf einen logischen Spielablauf geachtet, dann hätte das Game sicher der erhoffte Hit werden können. Aber so?

This game could be so, so much better. The concept of "Lost Patrol" could be developed into a legend. Although action scenes in the game are very interesting, something is missing. Better graphics and music would probably create a better feeling of war in Vietnam and it's not just about make-up of the game. There are elements that will really pop the feeling, but the more you play and the more skilled you become, the game just gets repetitive. Everyone who played this game on Amiga will probably be disappointed. Still, you should try this one because it might be interesting (especially some parts) and you probably never played something like this before.

Graphics are nothing short of stunning. Unfortunately the game itself is incredibly tedious (if you can actually find any in there). Atmospheric, but lacking any playability. One for Vietnam obsessives only.