Formerly known as Lost Boys Games, Guerrilla Games is slowly on the rise to becoming a very formidable developer in the gaming industry. Already known for their work with SCEA's Killzone, Guerrilla is now on board with Eidos Interactive for a bumpy ride towards exploiting Vietnam to console gamers in such a way as has never been done before. The recently announced ShellShock: Nam '67, promises to bring the gritty experience of Vietnam to the PS2, Xbox, and PC platforms.

When you start out in ShellShock, you're a greenhorn rookie, fresh out of basic training and on your first tour of duty in the service. Some fight for glory, honor, stars and bars. The only thing you'll be fighting for is survival, as you will quickly learn. Your Base Camp will act as your main hub in the game where you will receive your orders to carry out specific tasks. ShellShock offers about 12 unique missions, each one lasting about an hour and a half long. Early in the game you will be introduced to the faces of the enemy: the merciless Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. You will fight them in the jungle, in the tunnels, and in the countryside. Everything and anything can be a hiding spot for a Viet Cong Guerrilla man, as was the case in reality. A nice feature that has been incorporated into the game is rank increase. As you progress through the game, you will move through the ranks from a lowly private, to a Special Forces agent. Fortunately, the missions will parallel your class, as higher rank means higher risk operations. So rest assured you will be disciplined from performing in a gung-ho manner, to functioning in a more controlled and sometimes stealthy demeanor.

Guerilla pledges to stray away from what other game developers have been doing with recent war games, in that they are too clean. War is Hell, as they plan to emphasize in ShellShock. According to Guerrilla Games' commercial director, Martin De Ronde, not enough games on the market tell the truth about war. They plan to break that trend by giving gamers the cold hard and graphic truth about what happened in Vietnam, only stopping short of child homicide. If Guerrilla can stick to this concept, ShellShock may become one of the grittiest and graphic war games ever to grace a console. You will see everything that Vietnam veterans saw, such as the hanging corpses, disembodied limbs, and the faces of long deceased POWs, who were tortured to their demise.

ShellShock is also shooting for a hint of realism, as the unconventional warfare that made Vietnam so infamous will be present. Some of the more familiar tactics will be used such as the vicious booby traps, and jungle ambushes. This is cause for the player to be extra careful and play close attention to the environment around them as the AI in ShellShock is very commendable. Ambushes were frequent in the real war, and they will be frequent in the virtual one. So it is highly advised that you are always on your toes. You will also encounter militia women coming out of the woodwork who, nine out of ten times, have a bullet with your name on it. Adding to the chaotic experience of having Viet Cong piling out of the many tunnel systems, there will be frequent Napalm strikes setting villages and jungles aflame. As previously mentioned, the enemy and friendly AI is nothing to sleep on. You will not only see friendlies giving misdirected support fire, but, you will also witness friendly fire incidents were one may get shot in the buttocks, or even accidentally killed. If in the case a comrade or enemy is in fact shot and not vitally wounded, he will get back up and get right back into the action. This will help if you find you ad your squad vastly outnumbered and require as much stamina as possible, in order to survive. If you feel that your own M16 Assault Rifle isn't doing the job, you can simply pick up a Viet Cong's assault rifle and use it against them. Let's say that isn't good enough either. Let's say you're practically holding off the enemy by the skin of your teeth. You can call upon helicopter support to defend your position. If in the case you are on the offense, you have the ability to call in artillery and napalm air strikes. Those two features alone add for a whole new dimension of gameplay not previously available to console gamers.

Although with months of production still ahead, ShellShock Nam '67 looks and sounds to be a promising title worthy of Guerrilla's fast growing portfolio. Despite not supporting any kind of multiplayer, ShellShock looks to be a solid addition to any action gamer's library. Inside Gamer Online will keep you up to date with this ambitious title as its September 2004 release draws to a near.