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What a title - you can almost smell the early morning napalm! Once again you're whisked into the land of 'Nam for some vocational violence at the expense of the Viet Cong. The boys in black pyjamas have been and captured your CO and taken him deep inside the DMZ. As the NCO you must ensure his "evac" ASAP before he spills all manner of CIA secrets. OK?

Armed with your ever-faithful M16, your mission is simply one of rescue. You walk through a horizontally-scrolling city and junglescape blowing NVA and VC away until you're KIA. You've grenades and almost limitless ammo but they know the territory and have set ambushes and traps along the way. It ain't gonna be easy, but what kind of work did you expect joining an outfit like the Saigon Combat Unit. KP? [YF! - Ed]

The graphics are bright and solid, the shooting slow but sure. All the action centres on keeping your GI Joe alive as long as possible and collecting as much dosh as possible from the bodies of the dead - pretty morally unsound, but that's 'Nam. The money is necessary because every now and then you meet an arms dealer who lets you upgrade your weapons system. If there's one thing that you can be sure of, it's that the USMC is never out-gunned!

The game plays well, but so it should as it follows in a long line of horizontal shoot-outs and adds nothing new. The nice look of the product will help its popularity but the game fails to capture that necessary spark of individuality to make it memorable. Its title alludes to the peculiar madness that was the Vietnam, but the lunacy is not translated into gameplay, leaving a rather run-of-the-mill, if thoroughly competent, war game. And one where senseless violence is not only fun but lucrative.

Personally, I found the whole thing so ideologically dubious I hardly wanted to play at all. Competent enough, but dull.

A-OK.

10,026 points.

Graphics 64%
P. Jolly little sprites.

Sonics 40%
P. The usual effects.

Grab Factor 67%
P. You get to kill things easily and quickly...
N. ...but that's it!

Staying Power 52%
P. There's a lot to kill.
N. Little variety.

Overall 60%
P. Reasonable combat fun at a good price.