"Vietcong" has the player take part in military operations against the Viet Cong and later also the North Vietnamese Army. Some levels are highly linear, while others take place in more open outdoor environments, allowing for more tactical freedom. Missions typically require the player to sabotage weapons caches or simply clear areas of enemies - usually not all objectives need to be achieved in order to complete a mission. Gameplay mostly revolves around open combat in the jungle, tunnels and other locations typical for the setting but the player occasionally also has to traverse longer passages without encountering enemies during which punji pits and other traps pose the main threat.