A lot of conversations I have when reviewing online games is talking about comparisons – most commonly I talk about the ‘World of Warcraft problem’ – how do you compare a new game in the genre to other games in the same live service space that have been running for years? Do you compare the game to where their competitors are now, and thus have been through a lot of patches, content updates, and player feedback? Or, do you compare it to when their competitors were when they first launched, which means this game might have been able to learn from that game’s mistakes?
In both cases it is hard because, often the longer running title has better value for money proposition, regardless of the innovation in the new game.
I’m currently tapping on my NVA tank trying to ascertain if I have a point.
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam is a sequel to the unique war simulator Hell Let Loose. I wrote about my early impressions of that game here at Xbox Tavern and then listed it in a very important Top Ten list. It was a mess when it first launched, but when it worked it was some of the most sublime chaos available on PC and consoles.
The concept was that you chose a side in a 50vs50 war, then join a squad – there are specialised units from snipers, to engineers – and launch yourself into the First-Person tactical chaos. Yes, shooting people was important but not as relevant as locking down areas and controlling points.
Each team gets to control their smaller local spawn points as outposts, but must group together to build bigger, more durable spawn points called garrisons. Both can be placed in any controlled areas but can also be be dismantled by a tank shell or artillery strike, while outposts can be destroyed by an enemy troop just walking close to them.
Communication becomes vital as defence lines get broken, counter attacks occur, and there is a constant need for flanking. I’ve had some of the best experiences in online multiplayer later in Hell Let Loose’s life and the content was fantastic with the game adding more levels and factions. These factions added subtle differences – some loadouts, guns and vehicles added flavour to the burnt-out war-scapes – but nothing dramatic.
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam has changed developers from the original team at Black Matter as well as location and weapons. Predictably, there is less content with only the two sides and a smaller number of maps.
HLL:Vietnam is successful because it has made fundamental changes to how the two sides fight, the importance of terrain traversal, solid tutorials, and this time the launch stability is several fathoms advanced on its predecessor’s launch state on Xbox.
HLL: Vietnam really dials into its setting with the asymmetrical setup of the two armies. The US army gets helicopters and loadouts associated with their army at the time, while the NVA get tunnels and mobile mortar teams. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but it drastically changes how the teams have to think. The North Vietnamese Army can build tunnels that link to garrisons, as long as they are within range, this means that troops can quickly travel between spawn points and losing a tunnel is not as impactful as losing a garrison. Helicopters, when used properly, will dominate the air and are able to ferry troops and supplies rapidly across the map.
In the hands of the right people these systems can be really effective. Every time I heard the sound of the whirring of helicopter rotors, my heart would drop.
At the same time, trying to pin down the network of tunnels an enemy side had set up (and failing) made me appreciate the co-ordination going on.
This leads me to talking about the terrain difference. The more I played the original, the more I appreciated learning how to break the line of sight through inclines and disappearing into the trees. A lot of the time, being out in a flat area meant I was completely exposed and likely to be picked off by a good sniper. In HLL: Vietnam it is all about vegetation.
To illustrate my point there was one moment where my squad had split off and swam across a river to try and approach a village from a different angle and provide support, and disable some outposts on the way.
As we ran over a road, I heard the familiar crack of a sniper rifle. Scanning the horizon I saw a blue dot of a teammate go dull, indicating that they had just died. The sniper shot again and took out another blue dot .
From what I could gather this had to be an enemy recon team (sniper and spotter) set up near me and taking opportunity shots. I split off from my team and hunched down into the vegetation. The shots got louder and louder, until I knew I had to be maybe 10 feet away. I went prone and started to crawl towards where I thought the sniper was.
Just as I slid down an incline on my stomach, I heard a sound that stopped me mid-crawl. Someone was moving through the brush near me. I stopped still deadly still. I could hear the sniper was still taking shots, sounds of artillery, but nothing else. The lack of footsteps was threatening – that meant that the other person knew I was there too. I moved my camera a little, not enough for my body to move and make sound too, I could see nothing.
There was a pregnant few seconds that felt like minutes, while I waited to see/hear my opponent. Then there was movement and the spotter in the recon stood up inches in front of me.
I shot him point blank.
Apologies to anyone that did not need that long anecdote but I wanted to make it clear how much someone can be camouflaged during certain fights, and how important it can be. There were certainly reasons to go prone in HLL but often it just made you a slow moving target. In HLL:Vietnam it can make you a ghost – you aren’t in the trees, you are the trees.
The stability of this launch has made HLL: Vietnam a much easier sell to people curious about this theatre of war. It has been super stable across all the game modes, voice chat works this time without some of the awful bugs from the last game, and joining matches isn’t a coin toss as to whether it works.
Praise should be heaped on the tutorials too – they are short but necessary introductions to each of the classes and the vehicles. The developers have made it clear how and why squad leaders should be building spawn points, how the medic works etc. Another important point is that it has locked certain roles behind turorials meaning that you will get far fewer fools in positions of command.
If I was going to complain about something? The sound design is weaker than the previous title. The chilling head shot ‘clang’ from the first game feels muted, a lot of the war sounds don’t instill the same feeling of dread, for example: the napalm strikes do not cause a sense of awe in this version. This might seem like a minor complaint but the sound design was an intrinsic part of the HLL experience and having it feel lessened in this game is a shame.
With that said HLL: Vietnam is an excellent sequel that manages to find lots of new things to explore, it more than justifies its existence as a new entry due to its evolution of tactics and firefights.
Conclusion
HLL: Vietnam is an excellent sequel, with a thoughtful approach to asymmetrical warfare. More stable, more confident, I look to see what they add to this.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
