Made for a select few platforms (the Amiga, Atari ST, and home computer bearing the DOS operating system), The Lost Patrol is a single player action role playing game combination. It was developed by Shadow Development and was published by Ocean Software Limited in the very early nineties. The MS-DOS version was released a few years later by Astros Productions, seeing a market for the semi-popular game. If the goal of the game had to be summed up in a single word, it would be “survival.
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The Lost Patrol does not feature a standard fictitious setting or unrealistic ideas. Instead, the game centers around the Vietnam War. A United States helicopter crashes behind enemy lines on June 7, 1966 and seven of the soldiers aboard the chopper survive the crash. They will have to cross precisely fifty-eight miles of horrid terrain, dotted with enemy soldiers, booby traps and natural obstacles as they make their way to Du Hoc, the nearest U.S. military base. As if the challenge were not large enough, the team has managed to scavenge little food or ammunition from the wreckage and will be quite vulnerable as they move through hostile country.
The gamer will play as Sergeant Weaver, the leader of
the surviving crew. One of the most important things you will have to do as Weaver is learn the strengths and weaknesses of the other six members of the team in order to best outfit missions and move through the territory quickly. There will be several different types of combat sequences: hand to hand; fire fights; machine gun nests; and sniper fire. The user and his party will also occasionally encounter civilians and these will present a range of options. Information can be extracted from a parser driven, simple set of commands, the area can be searched and looted for valuable provisions, or the locals may simply be killed. It will be up to you to determine what is most beneficial from each group.
The action scenes and missions in this game are quite interesting and reasonable well done. While the Lost Patrol will likely never make the Top Ten Games of All Times list, it is still a worthwhile play with a fresh theme that is sort of like a really beefed up Commando or Contra, a classic favorite. The ability to gain statistics as you play is very cool, and the action is fast paced, furious and fun. The fact that you will have to make so many choices, ranging from which soldier to use for a certain job to interrogating or killing civilians also is a great way to add depth to the game.
