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Operation Flashpoint
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Author : Ravish Soni Date : 18th December 2001
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Part One: Introduction
It's the year 2001, the year that has been seeing a flurry
of game developments, advances and of course some of the most
anticipated titles ever released in gaming history. Announcements
of Unreal Warfare (the Unreal II engine), Max Payne and now
more recently Quake 4 has kept the anticipations high for
the future as well.
One of those games that missed the speculation but yet turned
out to be a piece of "must-have" proportions is
Operation Flashpoint or OF in short. Although early indication
by Codemasters was made to show their upcoming product was
in fact something that the world has never experienced before,
they didn't market as aggressively as they could've.
Part Two: Meet Operation Flashpoint
This game is set in the Cold War, the war between United
States and Russia. The game blends itself into the story very
well, taking a normal soldier's perspective and then continuing
the story in a linear format. You are David Armstrong, a cadet,
been trained from scratch - you're a rookie and you're getting
the first cold feel of war.
The game itself is one huge map. I mean HUGE. It is in a
world of complete freedom but then you have little time to
stop and look around to admire the minute details. As the
game goes on you are promoted higher up in the military ranks.
The game mainly focuses on bringing the PC users the feel
of a war like environment. You are a person in the game, no
more - no less. You can't just go around berserk getting out
that M16 shooting the crap out of all and sundry like you
do in Serious Sam. This game has heavy emphasis on other squad
members who help you stay and fight against the scums
errr I mean the Russians (no pun intended). The use of the
environment is absolutely essential, the terrain, the landscape
or even the trees matter a lot in this game. You can't run
but you can hide. That's the mentality of this game.
Part Three: Realism Factor
This is most realistic shooter game that I've ever played.
It's very realistic. In the game, you cannot go around
running for ages as though you're on good self-recharging
Energizers that keep powered up indefinitely. As an ultimate
war simulator, you have to be a real soldier. No buts. Keep
running for ages, you tire down and then your heartrate rises
and it beats harder. Once you do regain your breath again
you start running around merrily again till you lose your
strength once more, this happens on a regular basis. It can
be regarded as a resource. A scarce one, sometimes you need
to zip around the slightest of places to steer your head out
of an AK47's range. Another thing you can do is drive literally
any vehicle that existed in the war, from jeeps to tanks,
although don't expect you'll get a flurry of controls to play
with once you are in a vehicle, the game is just trying to
get you a basic feeling of what war is like. Oh yeah, while
driving those contraptions don't run into a squad of enemy
LAW soldiers.
Getting shot on your leg means nothing but a mission long
handicap. In the game, I got injured on the leg and I couldn't
stand up. Whenever I did try to, there was a quick red flash
on the screen and "Owwwww" scream, now this is a
severe disadvantage. The only way you can regain strength
is by visiting the medic, and yes they are rare too just like
in real world - you won't see masses of them lying around.
Go to your fortified base and you should see one there.
The guns behave the way they should, they recoil
- affect your accuracy. You can get daggers for quiet stalking
to massive LAW launchers to take down tanks. The enemy sides,
i.e. Soviets have the popular AK47s while NATO have M16s.
You don't really have options in which weapon you want. Sometimes
you are lucky to pick up a machine gun or sniper rifle from
a dead fellow squadron member.
The most interesting part of the game is that you are a human
and you act, behave and live like one. The step that you are
about to take may well be your last in OF, you'll never know
what happened, who shot you - where did he shoot you from.
Although when you die, there is a cut scene showing the enemy
whereabouts and then the camera moving around your dead body
to your killer. But what fascinates me the most is the random
quotes that show up whenever you die. They are rather interesting
and have a very good relevance to the war fought in the game.
>>>
Next Page
System Requirements, the game and conclusion
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