In the midst of the Vietnam War a helicopter crashed in the enemy zone. Short on ammo and barely having a thing to eat, seven soldiers must cross 58 miles of enemy territory to survive. And that’s just the good news.
They must sneak, fight, hide and never give up. They will avoid and fight VC patrols, they will be caught in sniper-fire, they will stumble through mine-fields, watch for traps, fight enemy soldiers... and the price of failure is life.
As you might have guessed by now, Lost Patrol is a simulation of the war in Vietnam. You lead a group of soldiers through the enemy zone. A map of the territory will be shown in the main view along with many options in the bottom of the screen. It would be too much describing them all, just try each one of them once and you'll figure them out (lowering the food rations right at the start is highly recommended). The map is divided into sectors, so you lead your group from sector to sector. Will the next step bring more trouble? Should you rest instead? Or maybe send a scout to check it out first, while your men are starving?
Every conflict is a little game with a different style from other ones, like one-on-one bare-hands fight or very interesting sniper fire, where you have to take down the enemy sniper before he shoots you. When some sort of an encounter happens, you must deal with this new danger. If you fail, someone from your group will surely be wounded, maybe even killed. If you were successful, search the area for food and ammo. The map you see is always same, but with different occasions every time you play. You will surely realize that the game is hard at the very beginning. Well, it gets only harder. A rescue of the lost patrol in a situation like this is a nearly impossible mission and you can't really expect it to be a walk in the park.
There are several cut scenes before a certain occasion. Well, after you've seen them a few times, they might become irritating, especially that machine gun. Cut scenes can't be interrupted, so you are forced to watch them over and over again and they can last more than just a few seconds. Not too long, but enough to start going on your nerves. Also, you may see some raw animations of a soldier or pictures of the surrounding area when moving through the sectors. They are very good and just might give you the feeling like you're inside a Vietnam War movie.
Use the numpad (or cursor keys) to move your group on the map. Buttons O,P,Q, A and SPACE are left for the in game. Use those buttons to select options on the map screen and when dealing with enemy.
This game could be so, so much better. The concept of "Lost Patrol" could be developed into a legend. Although action scenes in the game are very interesting, something is missing. Better graphics and music would probably create a better feeling of war in Vietnam and it's not just about make-up of the game. There are elements that will really pop the feeling, but the more you play and the more skilled you become, the game just gets repetitive. Everyone who played this game on Amiga will probably be disappointed. Still, you should try this one because it might be interesting (especially some parts) and you probably never played something like this before.
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