Some initial impressions. This is not a review, as I did not play full missions or look at every single weapon, unit or map locations.
Map
Very huge map. It was an interesting idea to scale the whole Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam location into one map. The positives: you can have a mission in any part of the theater. The negatives: each location is a miniature of itself. Hanoi, Haiphong, Hue and Saigon are appropriately city size, but small. Mekong Delta which is synonymous with Swift boat/water ops is pretty much impassible with large boats due to narrow and shallow channel.
Many areas of interest. I spent over 1.5 hours visiting locations in the editor and I havenât flown by every location. Rice paddies, tall rock formations and hills are nice. Villages vary in size. There are a few bridges as target locations. There are some rock structures where the player can traverse.
Negatives of the map: It is definitely true that there some custom buildings and many of them are nice. Particularly the Hue Citadel where you can go inside. However, there are many, many, many buildings from Arma 3 Altis, Tanoa and Livonia. They are sometimes retextured and sometimes not. I mean, itâs okay, but itâs a bit of a let down to see a Livonian brick building in a Vietnamese city. Building modelling is very difficult, otherwise we would have a lot of more custom buildings in the A3 workshop, but it was a negative.
Vehicles
Vehicles are nicely modeled and have detailed interiors. In some vehicles you can change textures and configurations. I did not check every vehicle. The amount of actual vehicles is small. The number of configurations in the editor make it seem larger.
Uniforms
I only selected a few uniforms, particularly on the US side. The kit and texturing was very good. Iâm really impressed how they look. Iâll need to check more of them out.
Weapons
I did not look at them extensively.
Positive: I liked the models for the m16, m14, SKS, PPSH, AK47, MP40, which I saw in-game. The texturing was detailed. The M16 actually has 4 optics (irons, 3x, 3-9 and Starlight). Iâm impressed by that. I was fearing long distance engagements with only limited sight options.
Negative: In the rifles/pistols that I viewed, when you looked down the sights, the textures were a let down and less detailed. I donât know if itâs my graphics options or less detailed textures in game.
Missions
This is primarily a multiplayer DLC. If you were looking for extensive options for single player, you may want to pass on this or wait until single player missions become available in the workshop. The co-op missions that come with the can only be played co-op or literally single player. You cannot have AI teammates to assist in the mission. I think the only single player modes are for training purposes.
There is an âEscape the Islandâ mission, which is similar other ARMA 3 âEscape the Islandâ missions. You can do that in single player, but itâs not that exciting, to be honest, when played with single player.
However, if you like the Vietnam experience and play single player only, then the Zeus mode would be beneficial to you, until SP missions come out. I ran a couple Zeus engagements by myself that I made. It was pretty fun and lasted around 10-15 mins each. So you can keep yourself occupied in this theater if you learn how to make Zeus scenarios.
Recommendation
I donât know know if I can recommend for or against it. For me, itâll be worth it, as I intend to use it in a small team co-op environment, using custom made missions.
I invite you to visit their website for a full listing of weapons, vehicles and screenshots.
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