So we have a curious problem here. The content is actually really very good; the new models are great, the new forces have, er... pretty uniforms and funny accents, most of the six (six!) maps are excellent, and of course there are the bayonets - cool. The single player game, with the addition of the extra missions, feels a little fuller than before, but is it worth the money for an expansion that doesn’t particularly, well, expand?

The typical mission has you trawling through the dense jungle, guided by a South Vietnamese soldier (that's the non-communist side, for all you history drop-outs) who knows exactly where to go and can spot enemies and traps better than anyone. You have a medic to heal your wounds (although each time he can fix you up a bit less), a radioman so you can keep in constant contact with HQ, as well as a machine gunner and an engineer.

The new on-the-fly order system seems to be function pretty good. Especially with the significantly enhanced AI, which in this case never appeared to falter. Terrorists are usually well-armed and prepared for anything. They are always on full alert and will come in groups if they hear even the slightest whisper. On top of that, the friendly AI has also shown its worth in a number of tight spots. So yeah, your squad is also fully-equipped and well-trained to handle those pesky terrorists. After seeing them in action, you won't regret you have them by your side. Because of their skills and capabilities, issuing orders is a truly satisfying experience. They will always get the appointed job done in a quick and well-organized manner. In fact, in some situations you can easily rely on your R6 compadres to carry out a task completely by themselves; indeed without any directives whatsoever.

I got to use the MP5A3 sub-machine gun and the G-17 SD sidearm, I could also use Makarov and the MAC10 but I decided to keep my original guns as they had the silencers and "stealth" is supposed to be kept. The Handguns seem to be to far into the center, guess I am used to guns being to the right more. The MP5A3 does look rather nice, I found that the G-17 looked way to square and to high up on the screen, in ways it blocks visibility, but only a minimal amount. The Makarov hand gun looks nice, does not seem to get in the way as much and has a nice bang to it.

Enter Vietcong, a first-person shooter with strong squad-based tactical elements, set primarily in the jungles of 1967 Vietnam. Being created by Czech developer Pterodon in association with Illusion Softworks (creators of Hidden and Dangerous and last year's excellent Mafia), the game will offer a single-player campaign spanning roughly 20 missions, as well as several multiplayer modes.

The storyline follows the player through the major actions in the conflict, from search and destroy missions around Danang airbase to the Tet offensive and the counterattack on Hue. A cast of AI controlled characters accompanies the player through the missions, and he learns their value and mourns their loss as the war progresses. The game will support a cooperative mode that allows the player to experience the entire tour of duty with his friends, and various multiplayer modes allow the player to experience the war from the perspective of North Vietnamese Army or Viet Cong guerillas as well as US Forces.

Controlling your teams through the user-friendly interface “Wind Rose” you can order your teams to breach and enter, and throw flash bangs, tear gas and smoke, before entering. You can control each team, depending upon your preferred tactics. The development team went to a lot of trouble to make sure Raven Shield was tactically realistic visiting Fort Bragg home of the US Special Forces. Where lead game designer Mike McCoy, and technical adviser, Mike Grasso experienced the effects of teargas and flashbang grenades. Ensuring the special effects for the teargas, smoke and flashbang are spectacular. Deploying the flashbang into a room whites out the screen, a ringing in the ears, and creates frozen frame images which are slowly reconciled into the emerging existing picture. The teargas causes a harsh sustained visual disorientation effect.

Version 1.2 Fixes
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- Fixed high capacity magazine cheat
- Fixed thermal scope cheat
- Added more error messages for unsupported video card features

The biggest change is the move to Italy. Digital Illusions chose the often overlooked theater of war as the focus of its expansion pack because it compressed all of the intense action in which Battlefield 1942 specializes into narrow spaces. This, plus the ability to add the distinctive terrain of the boot-shaped peninsula, was what attracted the development team to the new region. Well, that and the desire to depict a few of the Second World War's more dramatic set-piece battles.

Although Pacific Theater plays pretty much like the first Deadly Dozen, the mission goals are pulled from a standard set of objectives, and it seems that you're always sent in to rescue somebody, assassinate somebody else, or blow something up, there is many more options during a mission, especially drivable vehicles, multiplayer modes (the original Deadly Dozen has no multiplayer option) and ability to play through the single-player levels cooperatively makes this game really enjoyable. Some missions are pretty good, such as the Tarawa level in which you start off on the beach with dead marines littering the beach, you have to drive tanks and kick'em ass Yeah, Pacific Theater is surprisingly good for a budget title and you get more bang for your buck than with many action games that sell for more than twice the price. I recommend this game to anyone who likes tactical shooters.

Road to Rome covers one of the more overlooked campaigns in popular media. Italy was a big turning point in the war, removing one of the Axis points and clearing the path for a southern advance into Germany. The six new maps cover some of the major points of this campaign and offer some awesome gaming opportunities. Each of the maps has definitely been shown the same amount of care that draped onto the first set.

HomeLAN - What other gameplay elements in Vietcong do you consider to be important?

Jarek Kolar - We were extremely careful to make the weapons look as realistic as possible allowing players to experience, what it actually feels like to hold and fire a weapon. We also took into consideration the recoil, accuracy, and authenticity for each weapon.

We have put a lot of focus on the level of detail put into the environment. We were fortunate enough to spend many weeks in Vietnam, traveling through various areas where the war took place. The trip gave us the chance to photograph and film landscapes, flora, fauna, architecture and means of transportation. All of this helped us to create realistic jungle environments.

The four levels in the new beta code were clearly chosen to show off the diversity of action Novalogic has crammed into the game this time round, and they do so with considerable aplomb. Rather than splitting different types of action up into different levels, each mission is a carefully scripted blend of styles, broken up into several short, pacey, objective-led bursts. It's a strictly linear approach and at times completely on-rails, but it does make for an exciting pseudo squad-based romp.

Peter was smart, maybe too smart for his own good, because he was also quite arrogant and liked to pick on others. His mouth got him into quite a lot of fights in high school. Peter James always thought himself the best around the block and he was partially right. His father always said, that to be fighter pilot you must be the best and Peter always wanted to be best. He wanted others know he is best. So he chose Air Force Academy instead of MIT as his father suggested.