NAM (video game)

NAM, sold under the name Napalm in Walmart retail outlets, is a first-person shooter set during the Vietnam War. It was developed for MS-DOS by TNT Team and published by GT Interactive in 1998. A direct sequel, World War II GI, was released in 1999.

Not to be confused with NAM-1975.

NAM
North American cover art
Developer(s)TNT Team
Publisher(s)GT Interactive
Director(s)Dante Anderson
Producer(s)
  • Dante Anderson
  • Nicolas Lavroff
  • Greg Williams
Designer(s)
  • Lado Crnologar
  • Heikki Korva
  • Tuomo Korva
Programmer(s)Matt Saettler
Artist(s)
  • Lado Crnologar
  • Heikki Korva
  • Tuomo Korva
Writer(s)
  • Lado Crnologar
  • Heikki Korva
  • Tuomo Korva
Composer(s)Atom Ellis
EngineBuild
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Release
  • NA: July 31, 1998
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

NAM was re-released on Steam on November 6, 2014, with Retroism and Night Dive Studios as the publishers.[1] It was released on GOG.com on March 20, 2020.[2]

Gameplay

The game is very similar to Duke Nukem 3D. The game consists of 34 levels divided into four episodes; there are two single player episodes with fifteen levels and two multiplayer episodes with nineteen levels. Very little was changed in regards to controls, movement rate, physics, and CON (control file) language. The only immediately noticeable change in the game code was the removal of the remote detonator for weapon 6, the grenade, which was a pipebomb in Duke Nukem 3D. In the game, there are AI marines which will help the player in some levels, each with different classes and specialties. Mines are present in most levels, requiring players to activate his mine detector.[3]

Plot

The player assumes the role of Alan "The Bear" Westmoreland, a United States Marine Corps Sergeant. The story begins with a deadly Viet Cong raid, where Westmoreland is left to survive of his own accord. The player must deal with various firefights, ambushes, booby traps, snipers, air strikes, anti-personnel mines, and more in order to finish their way to the end of each level.[3]

The player is placed in the center of the Vietnam War in 1966, playing as Westmoreland, who is a very deadly and highly trained U.S. Marine. Westmoreland is under the command of the Central Intelligence Agency and has undergone genetic engineering to become a super human war machine. He is given standard military orders, and is usually placed alone or with small teams, pitted against overwhelming odds. To prove himself a successful experiment, he must survive several tours of duty in order to show that the side effects of the serum can be overcome.[3]

Development

It originated from the creation of TNT Team's 1997 total conversion mod for Duke Nukem 3D titled Platoon. It was picked up by Infogrames, who put them to work on a remake with more professional art and some custom source code modifications by Matt Saettler, product manager for Blood, which resulted in NAM. The game was released on July 31, 1998. U.S. Marine Sergeant Dan Snyder, who helped pioneer computer simulation training for American troops with a Doom army mod, was a consultant on the project.[3]

Reception

The game received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[4] Next Generation said, "This horrendous Duke Nukem 3D conversion should have stayed on the Net as freeware. The GT logo on the box certainly doesn't warrant its $20 price tag, nor does the game's heavily hyped claim to fame: 'Created with the developer of the Doom conversion for the Marine Corps.' We certainly feel sorry for the Marines."[9]

The game was nominated for GameSpot's "Worst Game of the Year" award in its Best & Worst of 1998 Awards, which went to Trespasser.[14]

References
  1. "NAM". Steam. Valve Corporation.
  2. "5 classic games from Ziggurat Interactive join GOG.COM today". GOG.com. CD Projekt. March 20, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  3. Gregson, Chris (August 5, 1998). "NAM Review". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
  4. "NAM for PC". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  5. Smith, Nick. "Nam [sic] - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  6. D'Aprile, Jason (October 7, 1998). "Nam". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Strategy Plus, Inc. Archived from the original on May 23, 2003. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  7. Carter, Tim (November 1998). "Spittoon Platoon (NAM Review)" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 172. Ziff Davis. p. 280. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  8. Bates, Jason (August 12, 1998). "Nam [sic]". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  9. "NAM". Next Generation. No. 47. Imagine Media. November 1998. p. 160. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  10. Egger, Dan (October 1998). "Nam [sic]". PC Accelerator. No. 2. Imagine Media. p. 109. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  11. Donald, Mark (December 1998). "Nam [sic]". PC Gamer UK. No. 63. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on May 4, 2001. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  12. Poole, Stephen (October 1998). "Nam [sic]". PC Gamer. Vol. 5, no. 10. Imagine Media. p. 225a. Archived from the original on March 6, 2000. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  13. Shoemaker, Richie (October 1998). "NAM". PC Zone. No. 68. Dennis Publishing. p. 107. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  14. "Best & Worst of 1998 (Worst Game of the Year)". GameSpot. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on October 25, 2000. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
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