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Men of Valor the most realistic Vietnam game out there.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Now the plot in Men of Valor should not be explained because everybody knows about the Vietnam war, so I should at least say that you have to survive 16 missions from Hamburger hill to Hue. Now I rate games by its content, morals, etc. Some reviews do different, but if you don't like the following, don't read it. This is mostly for parents who want to buy this game. I am not forcing you to read the review, so do not expect it as a personal attack.

Positive:

Since in the single player, you always play on the American side which in certain games, I like playing on the American side usually. Also the game may be a lesson for certain gamers. Certain speeches during loading times could make some interested gamers stare at it to save loading times.

Negatives: As gunshots fire, f-bombs drop on Viet Cong troops. I heard lots of the uses of the f-word during combat, I felt like killing the American troops just to shut them up at least. Also the terms "white-boy" and "black-boy" is used and some racism is used (note that this is for historical accuracy since the Civil Rights movement was still struggling.) There is some blood which you can turn off, but you cannot turn off the profanity.

Conclusion: I have to say that Men of Valor is as real as it gets. But I will say that it is not a kid-friendly game due to the major f-bombs bombing the game. If you like the profanity, you may have a problem. Anyway, this game deserves the M rating and unlike Call of Duty, it has a some sort of realism effect. However, since this is M rated, kids, go play Battlefield Vietnam or keep the volume muted if you severly wanna play this game.

2/5 overall
4/5 for the fun of the game.

Wonderful realism, but very difficult

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: January 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing first person shooters since Doom was on the market. Men of Valor has wonderful graphics, story, and realism. The only aspect of the game I hate is the difficulty level. When the difficultly level is on easy I had to play some missions over 12 times! I pride myself on beating most games on medium to hard. If you like to play a mission over and over again this game is for you, but I like to progress through a game in a reasonable amount of time. Oh yeah, one more thing, there is one set number of enemies on a mission. For example, I was walking through the jungle with my squad and came upon a village of four to five huts; VC jumped out immediatly. I found cover behind a tree and picked then off with my M-14, but they never stoped comming. When I finished the mission I had killed 128(!) enemies in 4-5 huts. Overall the graphics, story, and weapons are great, but the difficulty level is like pushing a concrete block in the sand.

Good game but falls short in some aspects

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

NEGATIVES:
-On the first couple levels, enemies sometimes pop out right in front of you or behind you without even shooting.
-Enemies sometimes run around chaotically without direction.
-Team AI is mediocre throughout the game, you'll be killing the vast majority of the enemies.
-Enemies always yell. You'll always know that enemies are in the area because you'll hear them yelling slogans such as "F*** you GI" & "This is my country" in a stero-typical asian accent.
This happens WAY too much throughout the game.
-Some Enemies take too many hits. 5 bullets from an M-60 or any other gun should be more than enough to put down any VC or NVA soldier but not in this game.
-Directions for completing tasks are too brief. On about every other level, it seems like there are parts where you get stuck because the directions were too brief & you don't know what to do.
-Holding down the B-button to heal your wounds gets really annoying & hurts your thumb. (the developers should have made it so you just press it, not hold it down)
I've died sooo many deaths because of this annoyance!
-Long loading times
-No rewards for beating the game (no cheats, videos, nothing?)

POSITIVES:
-Guns (plenty of awesome firepower)
-Gameplay (for the most part it's usually real good)
-Some levels actually make you feel like your in Nam
-The gun turret parts of the game are really good. You'll be shooting out of a huey & some other helicopter.
-Most levels are well designed
-There are usually enough checkpoints in missions
-The story line is actually decent
-Graphics are pretty good
-Sound is also pretty good

Men of Valor is a good game but it also has it's share of annoyances which can hinder game play.
The main two annoyances being that you have to hold down the B-button when ever you get shot & that enemies take too much damage (usually in the 2nd half of the game)

Over all I would give the game a 7 out of 10.
It would have been nice if there were more game modes for single player.
I picked my copy up for $20 and it was worth it.
I wouldn't have paid more than $25 for it though.

Replay value isn't very high.

A Solid First Person Shooter.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: December 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Men Of Valor contains intense firefights in the jungle's,underground bunker's,foxhole's,and towards the end into the city.I felt I was able to see the enemy better in this game than the other Vietnam games,but in the very dense jungle parts it was hard too see the enemy,much like the real vietnam war.There's no commands to give either to your squadmates,they pretty much figure it out on there own,but sometimes I wish I could direct them because sometimes they weren't any help,but sometimes they saved my but many times as I was flanked to my side by an enemy.Sometimes your followed by 2 to 4 teammates .And one mission is solo in the underground bunker.(The whole game you just control your own man).It kinda works out because you have your hands full with the many tough enemy soldiers coming at you.I played it on next to hardest setting and it was just hard enough to keep me going.But you can't save on the fly,you have to make it to a checkpoint before game automatically saves.I guess it took me about 25 hours to finish ,it seems longer than the other games.When I finished game a total of 1,330 enemies I killed. This is not a tactical squad type command shooter where you give orders mostly all tactical orders are given to you. You do have squadmember's with you fighting along side you,sometimes they took point ,but mostly it's you who's up front.You can also pick up enemy weapons and health,but you better be quick because they dissapear after a while.You can also switch out weapons trade your's for there's.You have a total of 4 weapon slots. Whenever I got the chance I would pick up an AK47 or any enemies weapon because your own ammo supply will run short,then you just pick up enemies ammo,and health after youv'e blasted them because they only drop ammo that fits there guns not your supplied american weapon.This game also sticks to the facts of the vietnam war,your not gonna win,just like the real war,but you do save a life and win many small battles.I won't spoil who it is.It's no real big plot twist.Also the facts displayed during load times are interesting.The graphics are good,a little blocky,but still nice,some of the explosions were really kool,nice fire effects,also during the cutscenes you can look around in first person while they are playing. Keep in mind I am using an "S" cable which inhances graphics on all games.I like it when you get to the city parts ,you can see the enemy better.Lets face it the jungle's a tough place to fight an enemy with so many hiding places.This game gave me a respect for the vietnam war,the soldiers and the effects it had on our country.It makes you feel like your in it.In conclusion this is a solid shooter game.With a no brainer type game style,mostly linear with tactical commands for your soldier.Just shoot,take cover,shoot,run,rinse,repeat.All of the commands are directed (at you) such as "defend perimiter",or "take that turret",or "take out RPG & Sniper's",or "provide cover fire for squadmate so he can take out bunker",or "take out that tank.etc.etc."

How Many Dopes Are Out there?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 11
Date: October 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

To the dope that asks for any and all posts regarding this game to be submitted in this section of Amazon: Since this is a review portion of a web page, one would only post reviews on this game. There is no other reason to post here, unless of course, you are an idiot. I, along with many others, look to this site to see what people are saying about the products that interest us, even if we don't buy from here. That said, here is my review. The game is great. For me coming off of only a PS1, it is a great step up. I'm still experimenting, so I'll keep it brief. Thumbs up!!!

Follow up: I liked the game and it's ambiance. Cons are the AI in that the enemy runs right up next to you and shoots at a guy farther away. Just turn left, aim, and blow the poor slob away. If I were to unjustly compare it to Halo 2's AI, where if the aliens are shot at, they move like you and I would to avoid dying, this leaves you feeling pitied by the game developers. Overall it's another decent war shooter, but there are many to choose from, so have fun.

The Most Realistic Nam Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

My original review for this game was a lampoon of complaints. Now that I have actually beaten it on the normal difficulty setting and given it a second chance on the easy difficulty setting, I must say this game is probably the most accurate depiction of the war, realism being its primary principle. And I have played all the Nam games, with the exception of Purple Haze which I shall purchase sooner or later.

What I liked most about it was how it did not take a side. Meaning, no matter what your thoughts were about the war, you cannot disagree with the game. You see it through the eyes of a fictional soldier, who dose not question the right or wrong of the battle, but fights simply to survive. Your character, Dean, is developed mostly through letters he receives from his parents and the letters he writes home. Unfortunately, no attempt was made to bring the player closer to the other men. You do see them engage in tremendous acts of bravery, such as carrying a wounded comrade on their shoulders to safety under enemy fire. There was this one unforgettable scene where a soldier is weeping over the body of a dead commander, as napalm fire ignites forest in the background. This kind of humanism in fictional characters is what really brings a game like this home.

All the battles you engage are reenactments of actual battles during the real war, starting with simple patrols around the Da Nang airbase, followed by Operation Starlite, the first US military offensive in the war, and eventually taking you into the Hill Fights of Khe Sahn, the fight for Siagon, and the fight for Hue. The Tet Offensive, so to speak, where both sides agreed to a cease fire until the celebrations of the Vietnamese New Year was over (the truce broken by the NVA/VC). Let me tell you, your character, Dean Shepard, must be one tough motherfo to survive THAT long in-country! You will be immersed by jungle, by swamp, and by the tight walls of enemy trenches and underground tunnels. I just wish the game would have dedicated some disc space to Vietnam War life outside the battlefield, but...all is well.

In order to beat this game, you have to take every precaution in order not to get shot. You must spend the majority of your time taking cover behind trees and rocks in the jungle, shooting short bursts at enemies in the distance. You cannot advance without huddling behind every object you come across, even if there are no known enemies around, because the VC is constantly in wait, ready to ambush you and your squadron. This is really the only thing that makes the game so long, and it dose not fit into everyone's preference. A lot of the times, certain levels require you to beat it a *certain way, not just any way feasible. This, to me, is totally inexcusable. Especially when the level is so hard that it is impossible to sustain life for anymore than five minutes, but somehow you are expected to find the path the producers intended you to follow while you are under gunfire that is so heavy, if you stand up just for a second you will find yourself dead and starting the level all over again. Which brings me to the issue of there being no save feature. So, expect to play the same crap again, and again....and again.

Luckily, there is a difficulty setting where you can set it to easy which dose enhance the game dramatically. You will spend more time playing than dying on the easy level, except on those select few missions where you have to beat the mission a *certain way and spend hours dying while searching for that way. If there was no easy level, this game would not be worth a nickel because on the normal level I spent so much time dying on just one mission that I couldn't even follow the story and often forgot which battle I was in. The easy difficulty setting will provide a much more fluent gaming experience for those who are after *The Experience*. For those who are after a challenge and wish to die repeatedly (and you will, I don't care how good you think you are) then this game is right up your alley when set on normal. I don't even want to think what the hard setting is like. And you are reading a review from a person who thinks Doom 3 is easy on any difficulty setting, so I ain't no push over.

Men Of Valor XBOX Review

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: February 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is extremely realistic, but the difficulty is very hard even on easy mode. I got it for my bday on (...) I beat Hamburger Hill and part of the next level. I am stuck on the ville part. After I clear the hooches in the first ville, I go through the grass to the bridge. I usually get past it but when I go to the 2nd ville I get killed. Also, my checkpoint thing is messing up so when I turn it off and then on again later I have to do the first ville again. Other than the difficulty level, this game is very good and will probably give you an idea of what it was like in the intense firefights of Vietnam. Maybe Vivendi should have lightened up on the language?

best vietnam game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I REALLY ENJOY THIS game. it feels like your in the 'nam most of this time. the enemies are alittle eratic as far as they will just stand there sometimes 2 feet away and shoot and they still miss you. i play on the hardest difficulty and its challenging. you have to stay down behind rocks and trees for cover which makes it realistic.

Pretty intense

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: May 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you are into war games or shooters, then definitely try this game out. It's a blast to play. I am only several missions into the game so far but am having a great time. I do not recommend this game to children, though, due to the foul language used quite freqently so far in it. I put this game in and started playing it with my nephew and I had to turn it off b/c of the cursing in it. However, the multiplayer aspect was quite fun for my nephew and i due to the fact that there is no talking..only hunting each other to see who can take who out! lol You have absolutely no idea where each other are so it makes it quite fun trying to hide and stalk to find the other and it's really cool when they have no idea you have them in your sights and then "boom"! you got'em! lol cool!

Don't Play Without A SmartJoy Frag!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is tough. Even on the easy setting. There are no cheat codes to the XBox version of the game. I am not one of those people online who you can never touch in a DM or any other type of online match. In fact, I usually end up with the highest number of deaths before the round is over. I don't have good reflexes and being able to properly aim at someone moving and jumping around in a microsecond is near impossible for me. Shoot, I have a hard enough time as it is with the VC in this game who stand still and take a few rounds from me.

Although there are checkpoints in certain levels of the game, you cannot save your progress. When you turn your XBox console off after having saved a checkpoint in the game, you will have to restart the entire level all over again. This is annoying, and it can cause a novice player such as myself to become frustrated and give up easily. Sometimes you have to sit through an in-game video before you can play. But at least you can move your mouse to look around when the in-game video is playing, and it doesn't take away from the gameplay since most of the vids don't really last that long. The key word for this game is patience. I have to make sure I drink plenty of water and have enough protein in me before playing this game so I don't get frustrated with myself when I run out of respawns and have to start the level over from the beginning (the maximum number of times you can respawn your character from the most recent saved checkpoint is 12, so don't die too quickly if it can be helped). This game is hard, but it's worth trudging through. I also like the weapons. The storyline alone is worth it, not to mention the laugh-fest I have when I hear the things the Viet Cong yells out to me and my virtual squadmates. At first, I had to put the game on pause so I wouldn't get shot while laughing.

I have been playing computer games using a keyboard and mouse since 1997 with the release of Quake II, so I'm not at all accustomed to using a controller which is rather foreign to me. That being said, it is a lot easier (for me, anyway) to play Men of Valor with a PS/2 (Not Playstation 2) keyboard and mouse combo, which is where the SmartJoy Frag comes in. I am not an experienced console gamer, so when I use the SmartJoy Frag for the XBox, I actually forget that I'm playing this game on a console rather than a PC, and I spend my energy taking the enemy down and enjoying the game instead of re-training my brain to use a five year old controller that I have never wanted or needed in the first place. I'm sure that by this time most of the people who have an XBox are quite accustomed to using the XBox controller, even for first person shooter games like Men of Valor, but I am not one of those people, and I would not have been able to get through the first level were it not for the SJF. Just make sure your keyboard and mouse are both PS2, not USB. I will never go back to using a standard console controller (wired of wireless) for an FPS.

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