OUR RATING: 6.2 GOOD About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 7 Visuals: 6 Audio: 5 Value: 5 Quality: 7

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 6.2 SUGGESTION: N/A

War is hell, and this game is no different. Published by Eidos Interactive, developed by up and coming Guerilla Games, ShellShock: Nam '67 is a one way ticket to chaos, soaked with your own blood. 58,000 American deaths, 304,000 wounded. It's not a dream; it's your new nightmare.

ShellShock is a third person single player action game. It starts out by letting you pick your main character, either an African-American or Caucasian male. Your greenhorn recruit is on his first tour of duty, and he'll be in for all out hell-on-earth warfare. It was one of the most controversial wars ever, and the American troops halfway around the world had no idea what they were in for.

The game progresses in a very linear fashion, which is both disappointing and challenging at the same time. Basically, you start out as a fresh rookie, barely able to handle the food in your stomach, much less an M-16 in your hands. But over the course of the game, you'll climb the ranks and eventually try out for Special Forces. Let it be said that the missions that you embark on once a Special Forces operative are not a joke. They can range from, but are not limited to: stealthily sneaking around a beach in pitch dark, slitting the throats of North Vietnamese officers, running into a decimated slum, with about 1000 bullets fastened to your back, trying to rescue your own Sergeant, and sweeping Viet Cong hideouts, taking out snipers and AA guns before the cavalry arrives with the napalm.

As you have probably figured, this game is rated Mature. And unlike many M rated titles, this one deserves it. Mangled bodies, hanging upside down from a VC sniper post, heads being blown off, limbs being scattered about, lots of cursing, and even some sexual themes and drug use thrown in for good measure. Guerilla Games set out to make this a no-holds-barred war game, and it's definitely reflected in the final product.

One aspect of the game that might surprise some military shooter fans is the fact that this game is neither tactical nor realistic in the combat areas. ShellShock is an action game through and through, and relies on fast paced trigger happy gameplay, and quickly solving puzzles or mission objectives. One nice little addition is the disarming of VC booby traps. You'll have to press the d-pad through a maze of directions before a bar on the right runs out. Some traps will only harm you if disarmed wrong; others will break you in half. Later on in the game, looking out for hidden snipers and booby traps becomes a necessity, as either one could kill you fast.

The health system in ShellShock is fairly creative, and encourages the player to take cover and stay out of clear sight. Basically, you have a rank patch in the top left corner, which starts out a healthy green, and slowly becomes a bloody red. You've taken damage when the screen flashes, sometimes accompanied by blood dripping down it. The creative part is that the three bars above the star gradually fill up red when your character is heavily maimed, but you can take cover and wait for the bars to deplete, go back into the battle, and try again.