Atari ST/STEPC (Microsoft Windows)DOSAmiga1990

Lost Patrol

Lost Patrol is a survival action role-playing game with strategy elements. "We’re fit, we’re alive, but we’re not back home." In this classic multi-genre DOS game, take command of the seven survivors of a U.S. helicopter crash in Vietnam, desperately trekking across 57 miles of harsh terrain infested with booby traps and enemy soldiers.

Storyline

We 're fit, We 're alive but we're not back home. Our chopped tailed-out after taking a hit...the pilot won't be leaving the ground again. Now I have to lead my weary platoon back to our lines through the jungles and paddy fields. Entering what appears to be a friendly village, only to find it is a cover for a guerrilla faction, is just one of the things that helps our insomnia...that and the elusive psycho in my squad - I gotta figure out who he is before the morale factor becomes our worst enemy. Jeez, will this stupid war never end!

Screenshots

Mostly Negative

10 Steam reviews

Review History

Reviews

10 total

≥h

Steam User 5552STEAMRecommended

Ocean <3

Mar 24, 2024·1·Verified

Steam User 2929STEAMRecommended

Alguien me puede informar por favor de las teclas para jugar a este juego pues no aparecen por ninguna parte, o instrucciones al menos básicas ya que lo he comprado en steam, y no las proporcionan. Gracias.

Feb 16, 2024·1h·Verified

Steam User 9458STEAMNot recommended

Lost Patrol is an awesome game, but unfortunately the DOS version is pretty dreadful.

The Amiga version is a real good time, so I advise players try that out instead. If Pixel Games UK could get that version and add it to another branch, that would be amazing.

Jul 15, 2023·13·Verified

Steam User 1525STEAMNot recommended

Considering that I have something of an admiration for the games of old, particularly those in the DOS era where I wasn't old enough to really experience gaming as a whole until around the fifth generation of gaming, I was naturally attracted to such a title as Lost Patrol here, whereby it's premise is fairly unique in a war setting that isn't akin to your typical Call of Duty style of gameplay, which only added to my intrigue of finally getting to explore this old game now that it was offered on Steam here.

An absolute shame then that the port of this game, being based on the original AMIGA version from way back in 1991, is a rather poor translation of what should be a good return to form that is at least serviceable on more modern platforms.

Getting down into the nitty and gritty here though, Lost Patrol focuses on a team of seven American soldiers, one who is a Sergeant going by the name of Weaver and six other members who are all Private class, as the goal is to ensure the safety of each member of the team as you make your way across the hazardous and dangerous terrain of 1960's Vietnam which, in this time period, takes place during the Vietnam War when the Viet Cong was actively fighting both the South Vietnam and United States around that point in time.

To achieve victory here, one has to slowly make their way from the western end of the map all the way over to the east to reach the safety of the city Duhok in neighboring Iraq, carefully managing the limited resources of food to keep the team in good health and spirits whilst keeping an eye on both ammunition and grenades, the likes of which can only be resupplied in villages that are sparse and in great distances from one another. (And, even then, may not hold anything of value or even the right resources that you may be in dire need of!)

No doubt it is why it is crucial to looking after your fellow soldiers here, as each of them will help to reaching to Duhok that much of a better chance if they are alive and well, ensuring that the right person is taking the lead as well as a scout to keep an eye out for nearby VC that can be avoided with prior knowledge, although injuries sustained from previous battles will impact individual soldiers that, without enough food and rest, may lead to them being a burden on the team and eventually die to their injuries. (Restricting rations and pushing them too hard may also reduce their morale to an all-time low and possibly have them force Weaver out of a leading position or, worse yet, have him prematurely killed through means of 'fragging' as it were)

Since this actively takes place during the Vietnam War, combat encounters are frequent and are to be expected, since you will inevitably run into the Viet Cong one way or another, be it as a smaller-scale machine-gun ambush or a sniper shoot-out or on a much larger scale patrol conflict or, assuming you decide to use a scout to keep an eye on nearby VC activity, have a one-on-one battle with a Viet Cong scout in unarmed combat, the results of each battle determining whether you go by without issue or suffer casualties as a result of incompetence on the battlefield.

I should note that, for personal record, seeing as this port has issues relating to no sounds or music being played whatsoever alongside a more serious issue pertaining to a lack of mouse support that doesn't sound too bad until you realize the interface used in Lost Patrol largely relies on one being able to use a mouse since navigating the menu with just the keyboard and other situations is less than ideal but, for those who are curious, I will lay down the buttons below used and what they are used for:

O P Q A = Left, Right, Up, Down (Absolutely stupid way of designating buttons for directional movement, I know)
Enter/Space Bar = Select/Shoot
Esc = Exit
Numerical Pad (Far-right side of keyboard) = Directional movements on map

It should be noted that there is no way of rebinding these keys to something more logical, making the lack of mouse support that much more frustrating to deal with, especially in today's modern gaming era of 2023 where these are all very much common place things that PC gamers expect although, back 30 years ago, this was sadly not so much the case.

Obviously it is a pity that this port does not do the original game justice, as I would have very much liked to have experienced this game properly, plus it doesn't help that two of the three graphics modes, EGA and Tandy (16 Colour), do not function properly as the former has some UI display problems that make navigating the map tricky whilst the latter is, for lack of better words, completely broken and essentially makes the game unplayable at that!

A damn shame then that I couldn't refund this as, although I'm very fair when it comes to games that I've spent money and time on here, this is one title that I wish I could've refunded but, having bought this game months before eventually giving it a shot, it appears that I am down almost £5 that could've went towards a better indie title on Steam here.

Avoid Lost Patrol on Steam at all costs and only play if you REALLY are willing to accept the serious flaws that come with this poor excuse of a port!

TLDR Version:

• A title brought back from the early 90's that would be inaccessible to the vast majority of gamers today otherwise (+)
• Unique gameplay in a war setting that distinguishes itself from typical Call of Duty games by focusing on escaping from a hostile Vietnam ridden with Viet Cong during the 1960's with limited supplies as opposed to fighting them head-on (+)
• The VGA graphics does a serviceable job in showcasing the uneasy and warlike environment that you find yourself in whilst struggling to reach the safety of Duhok (+)

• No mouse support or key rebindings making playing through this game a chore at best and an absolute mind-numbing exercise at worst for modern gamers (-)
• Two of the three graphics options provided by Lost Patrol do not work as intended, with EGA suffering some UI display issues whilst Tandy (16 Colour) is completely broken and is unusable (-)
• Gameplay is likely to not appeal to those looking for an experience similar to that of Call of Duty or for FPS fans in general (-)
• The RNG nature of how often you encounter dangerous combat encounters may irk those who are looking for something skill-based with more direct control over one's chances at victory (-)
• No guide provided by the game, which makes figuring out the controls less than desirable without the aforementioned mouse support to alleviate this problem somewhat (-)

May 2, 2023·2h·16·Verified

Steam User 6070STEAMNot recommended

NASTY VERSION! The dos version is unplayable!

GET THE AMIGA VERSION OF THIS GREAT GREAT GAME!!

Mar 22, 2022·13·Verified

Steam User 5921STEAMNot recommended

Weiß jemand wie man in dem Spiel die Maus zum laufen bekommt? Nur mit Tastatur wird es nichts (kein Joystick vorhanden).

Dec 30, 2021·1h·5·Verified

Steam User 8970STEAMNot recommended

Lost Patrol...
ein grandioses Spiel...zu mindestens auf dem Amiga, sagen wir mal vor 20 Jahren. Die PC Version die hier angeboten wird ist echt enttäuschend. Der Sound funktioniert nicht und die Steuerung ist mit der Tastatur bzw den Joystick so gut wie nicht möglich...wirklich schade, dass ein so toller Klassiker in der Art und Weise angeboten wird. Ich kann es leider nicht empfehlen.

Dec 4, 2021·3h·16·Verified

Steam User 6938STEAMNot recommended

läuft leider nicht gut. ein update wäre hier dringend notwendig, damit es spielbar ist. maus fehlt , die musik, und die alte bedienoberfläche. tastatur und maus

Nov 22, 2021·1h·7·Verified

Steam User 3575STEAMNot recommended

As a kid, I used to play this game on the Commodore Amiga when it first came out....it was frustratingly hard, but had a good story and was really atmospheric (including the music).
When I saw it on Steam, I was really excited and looked forward to trying out an 'old classic' again.
Unfortunately, the game has no sound and the controls (after figuring them out) can only be described as horrendous, at best. No mouse, no instruction, no music, and I'm sure a couple of the features don't work. Such a shame - not a good version of the game.
Hopefully an update will be provided at some point, but until that happens save yourself the money - don't bother with it. :-(

Jul 11, 2021·3h·30·Verified

Steam User 9859STEAMRecommended

Игра берёт за основу событие 1965 года, когда во время боевых действий пропал вертолёт и его экипаж пытался выбраться из не дружелюбного Вьетнама на свою территорию. Не знаю правда это или вымысел, но такой сюжет мне по душе. Игровой процесс просто до безобразия. Внизу панель активных команд: иди, стреляй, кидай гранату, отдыхай. Продвигаешься по карте слева на право до финальной точки Do Hoc. По дороге открываются мини игры: расстрелять всех из пулемёта или закидать кусты гранатами и т. д. Игра мне прям понравилась.

Oct 6, 2020·2h·9·Verified