Vietcong: Fist Alpha is an expansion pack to the popular Vietnam-based shooter, Vietcong. For those who haven't played the original game, Vietcong is a first person shooter with tactical elements set during the Vietnam War (1964 - 1972). The squad you lead consist of five other men: a radioman, machine gunner, pointman, an engineer, and spectacled medic who will keep you alive during missions. As team leader, you issue orders to the other soldiers to determine the way in which your missions will proceed.

What you can expect from this expansion? The plot of Fist Alpha takes place in the Nui Pek base before the action of Vietcong, so you'll play a part in the squad of the same name during the earlier days of the Vietnam conflict. In terms of gameplay, Fist Alpha mainly gives you more of the same, except that this time you're controlling SFC Warren Douglas. Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on your expectation. Fist Alpha adds seven new single-player missions and eight new multiplayer maps, as well as a campaign editor for those interested in creating their own maps and mods. As I mentioned, Fist Alpha introduces Warren Douglas SFC and Ngueyn Nham, who appear alongside five members of the original special forces unit. New squad based weapons include M14s, M60 machine gun mounted, .50 Caliber mounted, Sten SGM, Tokarev svt 38, and Scorpion Machine Pistol. Also, rifles now have bayonets. Fist Alpha also brings the ubiquitous B52 Bomber and F-105 Thunderchief and F4 Phantom fighters into play.

The new maps are very well made and the attention to detail is excellent. As in Vietcong, the combat in Fist Alpha is complicated by the fact that the enemy soldiers are difficult to spot. Not only do they use cover to their advantage, but they also use branches as camouflage to disguise themselves in their surroundings. It's sometime extremely difficult to see the very well camouflaged enemies. They also use booby traps and set up ambushes. Needless to say this game is just not arcade shooter, where the fun is to shoot dozens of enemies in a row without a break. While there's a seven new single player maps, the real strength of the game is the multiplayer mode, which offers eight new maps and some new weapons.

Is it worth the money? I say, "maybe." I definitely enjoyed enough of it to recommend it for hard-core Vietcong fans (don't expect much though) It's also definitely worth it if you don't already have Vietcong (also available is Vietcong:Purple Haze which is the original game with the expansion pack for $29.99). Otherwise, I'd knock off five bucks (the expansion costs $19.99) since there's only seven single-player missions and bugs.

Links: MP demo, homepage, movie1 (4.24MB), movie2 (4.54MB)

System Requirements: Intel Pentium III processor 700MHz, 256MB RAM, 1GB HDD space, DirectX 8.1-compatible 3D accelerator with 32MB RAM, DirectX 8.1-compatible sound card, CD-ROM 8x, Copy of the original Vietcong