Team17 did a great job with its version of Hell Let Loose, a multiplayer combat game set in World War II. And now it’s back with Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.
It’s hard for first-person shooter games like this to go up against stalwarts like Call of Duty and Battlefield, but this game focuses on a historically accurate niche: 50 vs. 50 human multiplayer games that feel like big, coordinated battles. It’s also got a historical focus in the Vietnam War that is relatively rare in the shooter genre. And it aims to carry on the legacy of realism from the WWII game, Hell Let Loose, which sold more than $100 million.
This game is set in the Vietnam War and it pits the North Vietnamese Army against U.S. forces with technological superiority. In that respect, it’s a highly assymmetric conflict. The Americans have advantages like attack helicopters, armor, artillery and heavy machine guns. And the Vietnamese can use unconventional warfare such as mortars and tunnels that take them behind enemy lines.
But it’s not meant to depict the U.S. against Viet Cong guerillas, who blended with the civilian population. That’s probably a good thing, considering the dark history of civilian deaths in the war.
The closed beta test for the game is starting today, but I was able to play for a brief time in a press event where we got to fight a couple of battles. The battle map focused on the struggle for an island called the Dragon’s Teeth in the middle of a river near a bridge. There were five different victory points to take on either side.
In this battle, the commanders, speaking to the team with microphones, made a real difference in directing the battle. You never knew which way the enemy was coming from. The Americans could fly behind enemy lines in helicopters, which the North Vietnamese could shoot from the sky. And, as noted, the North Vietnamese could infiltrate U.S. lines.
This was reflected in the combat on the ground. I was shot numerous times and I had no idea which direction the shot came from. By contrast, I was able to get a couple of kills, but only by inadvertently coming up directly behind some enemies. The odds of that in a vast map were pretty low. I took to crouching or crawling my way toward hot spots.
Both times, the enemy seemed more organized. Our commander had a real strategy and flew squads to the bridge and then resupplied those squads with ammo. But both times, the enemy pushed into the victory points and took the strongholds. We could not push them back. The pace was fast, and the battle lines moved quicker than I thought. Even so, every time I tried to move fast, someone picked me off.
I felt like there was something I was missing because the basic assault rifle that I used most of the time was highly inaccurate. It bounced when I fired and it was hard to get a bead on a target from a distance for anything except the first bullet. Somehow I think they need to get a better handle on the gun accuracy, unless it really is just my bad aim.
The game looks great, and while there is some foliage “popping” into the background, I felt more immersed in the jungle. The graphics weren’t super high-quality, but they did the job of making you feel like you were either in cover, protected by ferns from view, or vulnerable in the open. The use of Unreal Engine 5 seemed like it paid off with a mix of quality and fast performance.
I tried out the tutorial and it was useful, but I wasn’t able to effectively swim underwater with my Xbox controller. Not sure why. But I was just grateful to have controller support in a shooter before it went to open beta. One of the things the game does well is convey the terror of fighting in the jungle up close, as you can fight with knives or small arms in a death struggle with an enemy a few feet away.
Developer comments
The developers at Expression Games, the developer for publisher Team17, said they worked on improving edges and friction points in the experience compared to the first game.
Getting into vehicles is easier than in the first game, as an example, though I noticed delays in boarding helicopters. One thing that worked well was directly selecting the seat you wanted from a menu wheel, so you could go directly to being a pilot or a gunner before your favorite spot got taken.
The devs have also worked on equalizing the play among the PC and console players across all platforms. Now it’s a more level playing field. This game also has clans, or a battalion system where players can build communities.
The game is also focusing on local voice over IP to communicate with teammates. But the team chose not to allow proximity voice chat between opponents, largely because there is already so much chatter among commanders, squad leaders and unit leaders.
The devs are fine tuning the durability of vehicles and what it takes to bring them down. I saw a couple of choppers go down in a match, and that was of course an exceedingly rare thing in the real war. Now, parts like the hull have to be damaged for the whole vehicle goes up in smoke. The team is also making sure the vehicles are not overpowered.
The team reviewed a lot of real-world battles from the war, in addition to literature, film and music. The developers took a cross-discipline team to visit the Royal Armouries in Leeds, United Kingdom, to gather real-world reference material.
That included high-resolution weapon references, as well as hands-on sessions to understand how they were used, giving the animation team accurate reference points. The team also worked closely with the experts there to deepen understanding of the equipment and context. The aim was authenticity. Matt White, the game director on the original Hell Let Loose, also helped make sure the research was accurate.
Compared to World War II, the pace of the game was different. To me, it felt faster, with a lot of the difference being the flanking made possible by vehicles, helicopters and the tunnels. It’s a pretty harsh and intense environment, where survivability seems low.
There is some progression that allows you to carry more weapons, utility, and lethal equipment. But you’re not handicapped at the beginning. The game will launch with six maps and it will have live service plans. I wasn’t able to capture video in this playtest.
Overall, it’s a great experience. I think the team may want to consider more visual aids that can help players congregate at different points on the map, but that might make fighting and surviving in a war seem far to easy.