Source: Electronic Game Player – September 1988
Platoon was released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and various other computer platforms including the Amiga and Atari. Slightly later, it was ported to the NES by Sunsoft. It is based on the 1986 Oliver Stone movie of the same name. As a licensed game, this one is actually pretty decent (at least on some platforms) which is unusual. This is an action game though it doesn’t really fit into one genre as it has different stages which play like different games. This sort of multi-format game used to be more common and in that sense it reminds me a bit of older games like Beach-Head.
The movie follows a squad of five soldiers during the Vietnam war. The game has four distinct stages that generally follow the movie. Each of these stages is almost like a completely separate game though each one is a progression in the same story line.
The first stage plays like a fairly typical side-scrolling action game. In addition to enemies on the ground, you will face obstacles like booby traps and air strikes. Each stage has one or more goals and in this stage you must destroy a bridge and find a village in which you must locate various items.
The second stage plays somewhat like a first-person shooter. In this stage you navigate a network of tunnels in order to find flares and a compass. Of course there are enemies to battle here as well. After all, it wouldn’t be much of an FPS without things to shoot.
Once you escape the tunnels, you take cover in a bunker for the third stage where you must use the items you located in the previous stage. You have a limited number of flares which must be used to locate attacking enemies before they can shoot you. This part plays somewhat like a light gun shooter similar to Operation Wolf, only using the game pad instead. Afterwards, you have to use the compass you found to navigate to a position safe from an incoming airstrike. To add to the challenge, you have a limited amount of time in which to do this.
In the final stage, you navigate through the jungle in a 3rd person point of view while continuing to battle enemies. At the end, you’ll face Sergeant Barnes who is hiding in his own bunker. This stage is relatively simple but that doesn’t mean easy. You have to kill Barnes by successfully landing five grenades in his bunker.
Licensed games are almost always abysmal. Compared to that benchmark, Platoon is an excellent game. However, the computer releases seemed to have been much better than the port Sunsoft did for the NES. While the computer versions have some quite excellent reviews, most reviews for the NES version complain about the difficulty and endless mazes. Platoon hasn’t been re-released as far as I know so you will have to track down an original or use emulation to play it. Screen shots above are from the NES version. The NES version will have among the best graphics but for playability I would recommend the Commodore 64 or Amiga versions.
The ad above is from the September 1988 issue of Electronic Game Player.
