While the first part defended a fairly realistic vision of the Vietnam War, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails takes side roads and injects a devastating virus into the scenario, capable of transforming US soldiers and Asian fighters into pure zombies. This fantastic element will certainly put off the most history buffs, but we must recognize that in terms of atmosphere, we can only rejoice. It's the Kiss Goule double effect: to the daily horror of war is added a good dose of tension and gore, survival-horror style. The gameplay also gains from it since once zombified, the soldiers no longer adopt the same behavior and no longer use the same armament. Hand-to-hand combat is naturally favored, and movements alternate between good-natured apathy and sudden awakening, synonymous with rapid running and throat-jumping. Something to slightly spice up a recipe that is quite execrable by the way...
War sucks...
Let's quickly go over the poor performance of the 3D engine, which displays dated graphics, fairly unremarkable textures, and even occasionally allows itself some unwelcome slowdowns. Some faces show enough detail to look good, but that's about all there is to salvage aesthetically. In the same vein, the design of the levels is singularly lacking in genius. While some linear FPS make you forget the hallway effect inherent in the genre thanks to a few architectural tricks and a certain sense of staging, the Rebellion team is tripping over the carpet. The paths to take are too obvious, the surprise effects fall flat (except for one or two impromptu emergences of zombies), the cutscenes do not link well with the action of the player, we sometimes find ourselves too long running out of ammunition, it is not possible to carry more than one rifle at a time... You don't need to be a member of the La Nouvelle Star jury to detect major rhythm problems! As my friend André would say: "The swing was a swing from I-don't-know-what country, but not from the country of swing". Under these conditions, it is not even surprising to have to do with approximate maneuverability, handicapped in addition by the impossibility of jumping. Admittedly, the absence of Bunny Jumping could be justified in the name of a certain realism. But when we find ourselves in the jungle facing a Vietnamese foot-triggered trap, without even the possibility of stepping over it, our pride as heroes takes a big hit. Our zenitude also, since it is then necessary to resolve to pass the test "with the help" of Quick Time Events, also used to simulate certain melee. Passable on consoles, the process becomes truly unbearable on PC since it requires repeating a sequence based on the Z, Q, S, and D keys. It is much more difficult than one might imagine at first sight, and symptomatic of the lack of professionalism of the developers: it would have sufficed with a signage based on arrows (↑, ←, ↓, →) for the player to instinctively press the right letters. For the anecdote, let's finish by evoking the poverty of the sound environment, so starving at times that certain sounds seem to be downright missing. Or the misuse of wild enemy spawns in inconsistent waves. Result of the races: we sincerely welcome the absence of any multiplayer mode, as it would certainly have been difficult to see against the standards of the genre. There remains a rather pitiful solo mode, which still has the good taste not to torture the player for too long since it is completed in less than 8 hours. A time that we can use to better effect by replaying Apocalypse Now, Good Morning, Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon.
