Why no Vietman War shooters?

[CaptJimboJones]

I reading some of the threads about the new COD: WAW game, it struck me that FPS games seem to be almost entirely in three eras - World War II, the present day, or the future.

The Vietnam War seems to be a gaping omission. Am I unaware of any major Vietnam FPS games out there? It seems that the jungle setting would be a natural for COD-type game.

 

[Trekker4747]

I reading some of the threads about the new COD: WAW game, it struck me that FPS games seem to be almost entirely in three eras - World War II, the present day, or the future.

The Vietnam War seems to be a gaping omission. Am I unaware of any major Vietnam FPS games out there? It seems that the jungle setting would be a natural for COD-type game.

I've wondered this too, the sheer number of WW2 shooters is mind-blowingly depressing and out of line.

I suspect the lack of Vietnam shooters could be because we lost Vietnam so it'd be hard to build around a game where ultimately you're going to loose (even if that "loss" is beyond the scope out of the game.)

But I think that certainly other wars could be done, the Civil War, WW1, Korea.

 

[unimatrix7]

But I think that certainly other wars could be done, the Civil War, WW1, Korea.

There was a game based on the American Civil War. I call it that because I'm pretty sure the world has seen other civil wars. Anyhow, it took like 2 minutes to reload your one-shot weapon. Oh what fun.

As for WW1, I'm not sure trench warfare would translate very well into a game

 

[Twilight]

Men of Valor (from the makers of MoH) came out a few (many?) years ago - it was apparently pretty lousy

http://pc.ign.com/objects/498/498649.html

But yeah, there really haven't been any high profile Vietnam FPS games.

 

[unimatrix7]

Wasn't there a Vietnam expansion for Battlefield 1942?

I seem to remember that.


Edit: Just wanted to clarify that, yes, I am aware that the Vietnam War did not take place in 1942.

 

[Tyre]

Wasn't there a Vietnam expansion for Battlefield 1942?

I seem to remember that.


Edit: Just wanted to clarify that, yes, I am aware that the Vietnam War did not take place in 1942.

It wasn't an expansion, it was a seperate game

http://pc.ign.com/objects/568/568737.html

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

FPS games based in the Vietnam War that I know of:

Men of Valor

Vietcong

Vietcong 2

Vietcong: Purple Haze

 

[Rÿcher]

maybe and this is just me throwing out ideas here but I think it might have something do do with the fact that a lot of baby boomers are into gaming (believe it or not) and if they were to be subjected to uber-realistic gameplay in a Vietnam environment, they'd surely be have flashbacks and try to take out the mailman mistaking him for a Vietcong soldier.

But we all know that the target demographic for such games are 17-30. Imagine if you will, a dimension not of sight but of sound. A 30 year old nobody is playing a Vietnam FPS in his aged parent's attic. His war-hardened, shell-shocked father wakes to the 5.1 surround sound of men calling out orders amongst chaos in the trees, huey rotors beating off in the distance, Vietnamese women screaming something incomprehensible as some GI is shouting at her to get back inside her hut...

The results are...tragic.

 

[JonathonWally]

But we all know that the target demographic for such games are 17-30.

No it's not, target demo for most shooter, especially war shooters has no upper limit. More people over 35 played Battlefiel 1942 than under 35

 

[zakkrusz]

Why? Probabally, because we lost that one. Notice how Korean War games aren't that prolific either.

 

[Samurai8472]

There was that Vietnam game where you got play John Kerry

 

[firehawk12]

There were LOTS of Vietnam based FPSes around 2004-2005.
The only one even worth playing was the Battlefield spinoff... and even then, it's a poor version of the game.

 

[JonathonWally]

There were LOTS of Vietnam based FPSes around 2004-2005.
The only one even worth playing was the Battlefield spinoff... and even then, it's a poor version of the game.

They spent more money securing the soundtrack then developing that game IMO

 

[Good Will Riker]

Wasn't there a controversy a few years ago where there was a Vietnam War era console game where an American soldier stabs, mutilates, and kills a Vietnamese local prostitute and the protests from real life Vietnam War veterans in regards to that game's content?

 

[Brent]

Well there was Battlefield: Vietnam, so um, yeah

 

[firehawk12]

There were LOTS of Vietnam based FPSes around 2004-2005.
The only one even worth playing was the Battlefield spinoff... and even then, it's a poor version of the game.

They spent more money securing the soundtrack then developing that game IMO

Well, it really was just a stop-gap game until BF2 came out anyway.

 

[Hicks]

I remember and liked Battlefield: Vietnam

I'd like to see a COD game from Infinity Ward set in that war.

 

[Rii]

World War II was a "good" war, Vietnam wasn't. Not much more to it than that.

 

[Aragorn]

How about a caveman shooter where you throw rocks at first put experience points allows you to invent the slingshot?

 

[Harvey]

Vietcong was a very solid shooter.

But I think the reason there aren't more Vietnam shooters should be obvious. Our culture has found it a lot easier to glorify the conflict in World War II, including an historical view that has constructed a clear dichotomy of good and evil. Our historical view of Vietnam is as a morally ambiguous (if that) conflict, and one that we lost, no less.