By James Booth
Well, I'm back with our on-again, off-again gaming column. Military shooters have been the rage forever, and some of the more popular of late have carried a World War II theme. If you other gamers are anything at all like me, World War II has lost its novelty and you're ready to move on. In this enlistment, I bring you coverage of Men of Valor from Vivendi Universal and 2015.
Men of Valor is an FPS (First Person Shooter) set during the Vietnam War. Much like the current war in Iraq, the Vietnam War engendered a lot of powerful and passionate feelings both for and against, creating art, music and public policy that continue to influence our culture even today. Because of these passionate feelings, the Vietnam War has typically been a setting that seemed taboo in the game world.
"Perhaps the reason the Viet Cong were so successful in their campaigns was because their straw huts were bulletproof."
That taboo has been broken by several games in the last year though. Vivendi and 2015 have a done a pretty good job of maintaining neutrality in the presentation of Men of Valor, striving to bring the feel of what it was like to be a Marine deployed to the Vietnam Theater, without preaching politics.
You've been drafted!
One of the areas where Men of Valor differs from any other shooter I've played, well any game period to be honest, is in the protagonist (main character). You play the role of Dean Shepard, shown in Figure A, a Marine just out of boot at Paris Island and assigned to the 3rd Marine Battalion in Da Nang.
FIGURE A
You play the role of Dean Shepard, a cherry Marine stationed in Vietnam. (click for larger image)
Shepard is the first main character of any game I can recall that is black, and is an excellent tribute to all the black soldiers that have served, and continue to serve, in our military. It's about time the game industry began creating main characters that are other than Caucasian.
During his tour in the Nam, Shepard experiences his share of bush patrols, APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) rides, chopper deployments, and even a nighttime boat mission. Figure B shows one of those helicopter rides, somewhat reminiscent of a scene in Full Metal Jacket.
FIGURE B
Shepard takes a chopper ride. (click for larger image)
Later on in that helicopter ride, you'll have the opportunity to take over that gun, shown in Figure C.
FIGURE C
In Men of Valor, Shepard has the opportunity to use several different mounted guns. (click for larger image)
