7554 - Vietnam's Finest Call of Duty

The trend of First-Person-Shooter Military inspired prominent Vietnam game developer - Emobi Games to launch Vietnamese Call of Duty.

Nov 29, 2024

Ever since it was established by Maze War and then popularized by ID Software’s Wolfestein franchise, FPS or First-person Shooter become the staple genre and hardcore fans to immerse themselves in fictional world where everything is viewed through your own perspective. The father of all genre - first-person shooter is one of the most popular video game genre and it has never died out. In fact FPS genre become more popular each year with countless of entries from indies to AAA game. I myself is an avid FPS players like i’ve played numerous FPS games from Ashen, Red Faction, to Call of Duty 2.

Call of Duty 2 is one of the most influence game for First Person Shooter set in historical setting. Even though this franchise has been in ups and downs, many game developers directly stated that their games is inspired by the series and even wanting to make a military FPS game that takes place in their own country. A video game with high quality visuals, atmosphere, and gameplay wouldn’t be possible for Southeast Asia game developers right? WRONG. In 2011, a vietnamese game developer create a Call of Duty-alike game set in alternative history in the battle of Điện Biên Phủ.

What is 7554?

7554 is a first person shooter game that takes place in and made by Vietnam. Much like every game is as an entertainment, this game is an alternative history inspired by the battle of Điện Biên Phủ. One thing for certain is people curious why Emobi Games put random numbers as the game title but I guess that what makes it stands out from all games because you have no idea there’s a game based on numbers. Do not underestimate by the numbers tho, as this game is very popular in Vietnam and a lot of people says it’s the Vietnamese version of Call of Duty. Luckily the game released during the golden age of CoD and Battlefield which around 2011-2014.

This game was considered lost media because the official website where you usually download the game - Hiker Games (formerly Emobi Games) website is offline. Thankfully it was found in 2021 and the game was able to archived in MyAbandonware and Archive.org. I have test the game myself in modern hardware and it still works although you may need to run it in compability mode.

Story of The Game

The story of the game set in multiple perspective of Vietnam soldiers participated in Franco-Vietnam war in 1946. The whole story explained in details through their cutscene as how it all began and what happens before we dive in action. 7554 contains four chapters that can be play and conclude the story. In the first chapter, players take the role of Viet soldier named Hoàng Đăng Bình. Bình along with other soldier stays in Metropole Hanoi as temporary bunker during the war. The bunker and Hanoi plays important role during the war as it contains vital information and the main capital of Vietnam. Unfortunately French came and assaults the building. Bình and the surviving soldier have to fall back as the French soldiers has occupied the building. In the end of the chapter, they were trapped in the court and time will tell if they survived the invasion or not.

In the second chapter, we play as a new character called Nguyễn Thế Vinh. Through the orders of general Võ Nguyên Giáp, they launched an attack to one of the village that has been occupied by the opposing. Operation Castor is what they call them. The purpose of the operation is to exterminate all communication and military equipments from French. Long story short, they able to get rid of the tools and they can see the light once again. And then the game gives you a plot twist that Binh (the one trapped in Metropole Hanoi) is survived and resides in military hospital.

The third chapter begins in 1954 where we get to see peak of the story and how the game based on the historical point from Vietnam. Điện Biên Phủ siege is one of the moments in Franco-Vietnam war where the vietnamese soldiers breaking through French bunker and destroy all artillery. Through courage and bloodshed, they able to rid of French under few hours.

To close the story, we get to see the battle of Điện Biên Phủ once again. In this chapter we’ll take control of Bình again in traversing through the bunker. Bình along with his soldier in command must find the commander which was last seen in the bunker. They were able to detain one of French soldiers and ordered him to take to their commander’s bunker. Truth to be told the soldieres were brought into a fly trap and they were gunned down by French soldiers. The scene ends with one of the soldiers raising Vietnam flag under the bunker.

Starting From Zero

This game is too detailed compare to any games from Vietnam in 2011 or 2012. In my opinion the visual direction makes 7554 distinguished and aged very well. What’s more amusing is the game used Havok Vision Engine 8 and intergrated with Nvidia PhysX engine. As you know Havok Vision Engine 8 is not a cheap game engine because you have to pay much amount of money to get the engine and their license. Not only that but they really went all in with the cutscene, voice acting, and as I previously stated - visuals. I kinda feel like they copied a lot of action from Call of Duty so I guess the game being Call of Duty but in Vietnam is impressive compliment.

Emobi Games developed the game because they wanted to give the benefit of the doubt 7554 can hoist the Vietnam gaming industry and beyond. The director of Emobi Games Nguyen Tuan Huy discussed that there are no Vietnam games that has large scope as this and it can be a sense of proud to serve for your own country. Additionally, 7554 is a game that inspired by the key moment in Vietnam history but at the end of the day this is just a game that they want to entertain people. The team also does not want to cause any misunderstanding in presenting the history so they collaborate with Vietnam government for extended research.

On April 1st 2010, Emobi Games released the trailer of 7554. But since the trailer was published in untiming date as possible, a lot of people thought this game isn’t real. A month later on May 6th 2010 a second trailer to 7554 has been released. Ultimately the game fully released as exclusive game for Vietnam players only on 16th December 2011 and followed by the international release which on 20th July 2012.

Receptions

The release of 7554 sparks people to give a taste of Vietnamese-made game. Many of them gives a positive reaction and of course some gives negative reaction. Based on the forum that I’ve read, a lot of people interested with the game because it’s literally 1:1 with Call of Duty. Another opinion from discuss that the game lacks of original structure because many of its ideas are too much of dependant on Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty - a big leading market in America compare to small market in Southeast Asia. Contrary to the statement, some user said this is a tribute or a respect for the franchise.

Game Area during Âm vang Điện Biên Festival Features 7554

Vietnamese perspective-wise, this game hits like a bomb because it is almost nearing its quality with AAA standard back in the days. Additionally, the game appeared on special occassion like Âm vang Điện Biên festival or local gaming convention. Even with the massive hype, the game did not sold very well and only 5,000 copies were sold. The reason is and always been piracy. It’s a huge problem for Southeast Asia and even Thailand game developers aknowledge the problem after the market crash in 1998 which caused many of games from Thailand are region-locked. Majority of Vietnam players rather play the game by getting them in cheaper copy and off the internet. The tagline “Made in Vietnam” seems not as effective for sales that they were expecting. What makes it worse is Emobi Games almost bankrupt because the rampant of piracy.

The Battle Continues

The lack of expectation sales cannot be express in a words from Emobi Games and almost makes them bankrupt. To fix this, they made a sci-fi strategy game inspired by Starcraft titled 2112 (I swear they need better name for their game) but that didn’t generate enough revenue. Second attempt to fix it is they went all in for mobile games. Based on the experience they learn a lesson that they should’ve gone for local market and not chasing the international market. Thus one of Hiker Games (formerly Emobi Games) - Epic Odyssey change its title to Tân Minh Chủ.

Once again all hope was not yet lost and they claim the victory again. In 2021, Hiker Games proposed another games as the successor to 7554. 300475 (you already know what’s gonna happens next) is another fps game set in Vietnam where you fight the invaders once and for all. The game was announced on YouTube and several local medias covered the game as a come back of 7554. Let’s say compare 300475 to Rising Storm Vietnam I think you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference - that’s a compliment too by the way. As call to action they announced kickstarter page for 300475.

Sadly they did not meet the Kickstarter expectation as they did not reach the goal. Up until this article has been publihsed on 2024, the glimpse of 300475 still remains a mystery and no one knows if they really all in or rug it under the carpet. However, people said that Hiker Games refunds all backers money because the goals did not reached what they expecting. As for the developers, Hiker Games is still very active in the industry and recently become members in Vietnam Game Developer Association and released a game in 2023 called Pixel of Memory.

The Southeast Asia Game Compendium

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