NAM-1975 (MAME, 1990)
If I would have ever come across NAM-1975 in the arcade back in the day, the title screen alone would have reeled me in, and isn't that the way any good story begins. In writing they call that an attention-getter and it got mine. It starts off with a nameless G.I., let's call him Joe, lying in his bunk and he says "Summer, 1975". The words summer and 'NAM make me think of a hot jungle, and the cut-scene on the screen actually looks uncomfortably hot. He says "A nightmare awaits me. I am being called back to Natorm headquarters." The next part that Joe speaks proves that the developer (SNK) hired a great voice actor for the bit, you get a close up on just his eyes and he says despairingly "Do I have to go back to that hell again?". The close up and the way the actor delivers the line makes me think that he's reliving terrible memories, full of blood-curdling screams and blown off body parts. In the last part of this cut-scene you see Joe, firing his gun and screaming a tortured battle cry. So, I plopped in about 40 tokens and got ready for the nightmare hell that I was just promised. 

You've been given a mission to find a kidnapped scientist named Dr. Muckley, who looks an awful lot like Dr. Wily from the Megaman series, and his daughter. Now, In my personal video game dictionary (No, I don't have an ACTUAL dictionary), there are 2 definitions of nightmare hell: either the game's game-play and addictiveness combination are in perfect harmony with an almost never-ending onslaught of enemies or one of the aforementioned traits is fundamentally flawed creating a frustrating feeling that generates increasing anger. There is an almost never-ending onslaught of enemies but unfortunately, the game-play does have some problems. The first problem is that you start off with only 10 grenades. Wait, you've been called to Natorm headquarters and sent on a mission with only 10 grenades??? The second problem is that it is likely that you will run out of grenades long before an enemy actually drops more grenades for you to pick up and you have to kill an enemy in order for them to drop a weapon. This leaves you running back and forth on the screen dodging enemy fire with no way to get more firepower. The only real way to re-supply in this situation is to sacrifice one of your 3 lives because you're re-spawned with another 10 grenades. The third and probably most frustrating problem is that every once in a great while an enemy will drop a machine gun with 25 rounds. Sounds cool, but the machine gun is only a backup weapon. In other words, you have to use up all of the grenades before you can use the gun. Perhaps the developer thought that if the game had these kinds of limitations it would generate more token inserts. However, (in my humble opinion) if these problems were corrected the game would still be a token black hole that would have generated above average revenue for the arcades of the era.

On each level, Joe can run side to side facing the enemy, while the screen constantly creeps to the right. There is a cross-hairs that moves along with him and it has its bad and good points. The bad thing is that the cross-hairs move slightly slower than Joe does when moving left to right and that other than making Joe go all the way to the left or right edge of the screen there is no way to center the cross-hairs and move it back the other way. The good thing is, Since Joe can only move left or right and not forward or backward, the cross-hairs can be moved up and down on the screen with no problems. Overall, the targeting of enemies is only slightly frustrating.

Joe, starts with three lives and loses them very quickly unless you use the "special control of hero", which is shown to you at the beginning of the game. Using the C button, you can make Joe run or do a cartwheel to dodge enemy fire. The cartwheel is actually really important in extending token life. When Joe is doing a cartwheel he is virtually invincible to enemy attack but sometimes he will do this special move right into the middle of a barrage of explosions, so you must use it with caution. The A button controls the grenade throwing and machine gun usage and the B button is supposed to control a special weapon. I guess I must have missed this special weapon somewhere along the way because every time I pushed that button nothing would happen. That screen also showed a D button that was unused!? I can think of some pretty good uses for that button. How about when you press it, Joe calls in an air strike and bombers drop napalm on all the enemies on screen? How about pressing the D button to crawl down a hole with a knife and a flashlight for a Vietnamese killing mini-game? 

There is one more thing that MUST be acknowledged before I explain my ratings and that is the cut-scenes. Earlier I mentioned the great voice acting of the guy playing Joe. But there are at least 5 other supporting characters (that I can think of) and they all do an excellent job. There is one cut-scene right before the final level that I was really amused by. Joe just saved Dr. Muckley's daughter and he's holding this nameless enemy soldier by the collar of his uniform. Joe says something like "Tell me how you know about our plans!" The soldier says "I don't know anything!" and then slowly a handgun raises up to enemies head. Wait, Joe had a handgun the entire time? Where was that when I ran out of grenades? Anyway, The soldier says "OK, I'll tell you! The reason is..." and then he gets killed by a sniper.  Another cut-scene shows Joe radioing headquarters surrounded by some of the other guys in his platoon. Wait, where the heck are those guys during all of this fighting that's going on? Maybe the D button that I mentioned before could call in bravo company to throw down some cover fire!

Overall: 8 
You should check out the ending.

Graphics: 9
Compared to other graphics in the arcade at the time (1990). This was 3 years after the release of  Contra and I don't see much improvement in the details, if any.

Sound: 10
The voice acting alone awards this one with the highest rating possible. 

Addictiveness: 5 
This would've been much lower if not for the game's ending, which I didn't talk about on purpose. Otherwise, one time through is enough.

Story: 10
There is a major plot twist near the end which I will not reveal. 

Depth: 6
This would've been much lower if not for the game's ending, which I didn't talk about on purpose. Otherwise, you can play it straight through by simply dumping tokens into it.

Difficulty: 8
Rated high because of the irritating weapon problems and the ending, which I still refuse to spoil. 
  Graphics 9   Sound 10   Addictive 5   Depth 6   Story 10   Difficulty 8

NAM-1975 -- SUMMER.

The roar of the helicopters overhead snaps us back into reality.

Will never forget the nightmare of that summer.

Overall 8.8    Graphics 9    Sound 10    Addictive 5    Story 10    Depth 6    Difficulty 8

NAM-1975 (MAME, 1990)   thephantombrain
If I would have ever come across NAM-1975 in the arcade back in the day, the title screen alone woul...
  Graphics 9   Sound 10   Addictive 5   Story 10   Depth 6   Difficulty 8
      Review Rating: 4.8/5     Submitted: 08-05-13     Review Replies: 0

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