The action mode in Elite Warriors is by no means a standard shoot-'em-up. There's a huge amount of stealth involved, as you can crawl around the jungle to avoid an enemy patrol or sneak up on your target. You have control over your squad simply by calling up a radial menu by holding down the Q key and selecting from the many options, such as "hold fire," "prone," and "fire at will." There's also the ability to jump from squad member to squad member simply by hitting the corresponding function key. It's a very easy system to pick up and learn, and before too long we had our squad sneaking up on a North Vietnamese camp, with each man getting in separate positions to provide different fields of fire.

Elite Warriors: Vietnam Has Gone Gold!
[Mar 14, 2005]

Our next game, Elite Warriors: Vietnam, has gone gold! Expect to see a demo in a week or two and the game on store shelves shortly after that.

The demo will contain one level that can be played single player and coop as well as a deathmatch level.

Q: Does this game recount your exploits solely, or does it put gamers into similar situations and allows them the ability to determine their own course? Is this a linear game?

Maj. Plaster: I should emphasize that this game is not linear – it’s about as free-play as current technology allows. When your team lands in southern Laos (on any of a variety of landing zones), you can go in any direction. And (hats off to Jeff and nFusion), you won't be impeded by the typical "maze" style obstacles that steer you in a particular direction. That was one of my pet peeves from evaluating other games – that most of them were elaborate mazes that "steered" you in restricted directions until you made line-of-sight contact with bad guys, and had to shoot. The setting may be dressed up in beautiful graphics, but it's still just a maze – and where's the tactical judgment in that? Further, in "Elite Warriors" the fact that each time you play, the enemy is shifted about, means that (by structure) it's dramatically non-linear.