History Videogame / Vietcong

* SequelDifficultyDrop: The console version of Purple Haze (Which, unlike the PC version which is just a collection of the first game and Fist Alpha is actually a remade version of the game for PS2.), reduces the difficutly of Fist Alpha's missions while removing some of the harder ones, since they're now the first levels in the game instead of being intended to be played after the original game.

* DummiedOut: There are some unused model and sound files in both games, such as a hi-res version of Rosenfield's model and Minh finding [[spoiler:Hornster's dogtags]] after killing him.

** Your AI Squadmates have significantly enhanced health, while they will eventually die (And can drop instantly drom explosions and headshots.), they will usually get KO'd on the ground, where the enemy will focus more on you/other still standing squad members, meaning you don't need to worry about them dying generally, though any other characters you need to escort generally don't have this enhanced durability.

* FakeDifficulty: There are certain sections with VC Enemy spawns that literally always know where you are and will rush your position even if you're hiding in a bush.

** Averted in the Main Campaign, the VC tend to use captured M3 Grease Guns, the .38 Revolver (Which is considered a US weapon.) and the M1 Carbine, in addition the NVA Officer in charge of some prisoners in one mission carries a captured M16.

** VC Untrained soldiers in Fist Alpha have better accuracy than the actual NVA in the finale of the original game.

** Fist Alpha is even harder than the original game, bordering on fake difficulty at times.

[[Characters/{{Vietcong}} Has a character sheet]]. Please place all character-specific tropes there.

!!Tropes present in the series

* HitScan: Painfully played straight for a realistic game franchise.

* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Some of the [=VCs=], [[TruthInTelevision quite]] [[CaptainObvious obviously]].

* AmericaSavesTheDay: This being a game that is [[TruthInTelevision true to history]], [[CaptainObvious you'll just instantly know]] that this trope is [[{{Averted}} averted]] big time.

* BoobyTrap: Of course. [[TruthInTelevision It's Vietnam]], [[CaptainObvious for crying out loud]]. On the plus side, the pointman will always spot them, and you can disarm them yourselves.

* ClassicCheatCode: "GIFTFROMPTERODON" and "[[GodMode CHTKOSTEJ]]".

* BadassArmy

* BiggerBad: Although they never made true appearances in any of the games, Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap can be seen as this for the Americans. For the VC, you have Lyndon B. Johnson and William Westmoreland.

It's quite notorious for its high difficulty, and it managed to capture the atmosphere of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. The games are notable for quite realistic portrayal of hardened soldiers and their environment as well as for including less popular themes, such as supporting the Montagnard tribes and urban combat during the Tet Offensive. With helicopters, plethora of military tropes and music from the '60s added for good measure.

* WarIsHell: The series doesn't really demonize war, but its hard difficulty, not to mention its focus on realism screams this trope at the top of its metaphorical lungs.

* NothingIsScarier: Subverted. Granted, this is Vietnam, where the NVA[=/VCs=] could be hiding ''everywhere'' in the jungles, ready to ambush any unwitting patrols. Fortunately, the pointman can give away their positions, slightly nullifying this trope.

* OneManArmy: Deconstructed. In any mission or quick fights where the player is alone, a stealthy approach is the only way to win it other than using GodMode.

* ArmorIsUseless: Some South Vietnamese and American troops wear flak jackets. Their effectiveness is completely questionable.

* TheCameo: Boone can talk with Hawkins and Rosenfield in the first and third US missions, respectively. Also, [[spoiler:Minh and his team encounters and kills a Green Beret advisor who, according to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen unused game files]], is none other than Hornster]].
* TheCavalry: At first, Rigley and his marines. Boone's team ends up becoming The Cavalry themselves late in the US campaign.
* ClimaxBoss: A high-ranking [[MoreDakka RPD]]-totting NVA officer at the end of the US campaign and an ''entire'' US marine platoon (complete with an [[AwesomePersonnelCarrier M113 APC]]) at the end of the VC campaign. All count as [[FinalBoss Final Bosses]].

* LateArrivalSpoiler: Boone's (player-determined) conversations with Hawkins and Rosenfield instantly gives away the ending of the first game.

-->'''Boone''': Well, commies never cared much about causalities. Tell it to the French at Dien Bien Phu.

* RespawningEnemies: Played straight in the last mission of ''Fist Alpha''. If Douglas gets detected after clearing the MG nests and AA guns and meeting up with Defort, the NVA[=/=]VC will scour the whole place for you, not to mention calling in reinforcements. Even if you manage to take down all of the enemies, excluding the colonel, there will always be at least one enemy in the base. Maybe [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything the developers thought that the player]] will try to clear the base before killing the colonel, gathering the intel, and blowing up the fuel tanks.

* MoreDakka: Many weapons. From [=M60s=], UsefulNotes/{{WWII}}-era [=BARs=], [=RPDs=], the list goes on.

'''''Vietcong''''' is a FirstPersonShooter series consisting of 2 video games and 3 [[ExpansionPack expansion packs]] (2 are [[{{Freeware}} free]]), developed by Illusion Softworks ([[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive 2K Czech]]).

* DirtyCommunists: Played with. The NVA and the [=VCs=] hardly ever commit any atrocity in the first game, except in the second game with the church massacre in Hue. Completely played straight for JosephStalin and MaoZedong, with Hawkins calling both of them mass murderers if he finds their photos.

* UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades: The First Indochina War is mentioned throughout the series, and there are signs of French presence in some missions, such as [[spoiler:the rusted armored cars]].

* UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: The series mainly takes place in 1967 and 1968. The only exception is the tutorial mode, which is set in 1960, five years before the American involvement in the war.
* UsefulNotes/VietnameseWithKalashnikovs

* UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks

* UsefulNotes/ChineseWithChopperSupport: Sometimes, Hawkins can find PLA weapons[=/=]supplies, usually from dead NVA[=/=]VC.

* UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery: Some ANZAC soldiers appear in the game. [[TheMedic Cobber]] is one of them.

It's quite notorious for its high difficulty, and it managed to capture the atmosphere of TheVietnamWar. The games are notable for quite realistic portrayal of hardened soldiers and their environment as well as for including less popular themes, such as supporting the Montagnard tribes and urban combat during the Tet Offensive. With helicopters, plethora of military tropes and music from the '60s added for good measure.

The first game puts players as US Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant Steve R. Hawkins, assigned to the SF camp in Nui Pek to replace the previous ([[PosthumousCharacter dead]]) intel sergeant, Douglas Warren, who is playable in the expansion pack, ''Fist Alpha''. Both the original game and ''Fist Alpha'' was bundled and ported to the PlayStation2 and {{XBox}} in 2004 as ''Purple Haze''.

* AmericaWinsTheWar: Averted for the Americans. Aside from the ARVN, the game makes a crystal-clear depiction of the [[UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery ANZAC]] involvement in the war. Played brutally and obviously straight for the NVA.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: Killing a Montagnard will result in mission failure.

* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Some of the [=VCs=], [[TruthInTelevision quiet]] [[CaptainObvious obviously]].

* ZergRush: [[spoiler:The NVA assault on Nui Pek]].

* AwesomeButPractical: The [=M60=] in both games (so much that it's become a GameBreaker) and the [=M16A1=][=/=][=XM148=] combo rifle from the second game. Think about a combination between an M16 and an M79.