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Bohemia Interactive

Codemasters

Operation Flashpoint

Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000
Pentium II 400 CPU
64MB RAM
16 bit DirectX compatible Soundcard
DirectX 8.0 compatible 3D graphics card with 16Mb RAM (or 8mb VooDoo2)
4x CD-ROM
300Mb Hard Drive space (after installation)

Graphics: The graphics are not the best out there. One of the things that Bohemia Interactive had to keep in mind while making the graphics engine of the game was that this game was supposed to be a simulator and will be rendering many outdoor scenes that means there will be a lot of polygonal overdraw. In order to rectify this, they made an engine with a medium quality graphics engine in order to support those huge outdoor scenes relatively well on older hardware such as on TNT2.

Right out of the box, the game supports 3 graphic modes, namely Glide 3, Direct 3D and Direct 3D with Hardware T&L. I went with the T&L option as my hardware isn't exactly very cutting edge. Having a Creative 3d Blaster GeForce2 GTS, I had an option of using the "Unified" drivers which allowed me to use the Glide mode. Although it worked, the drivers aren't perfected so I began noticing awkward textures after half and hour of play. Like I mentioned before, the graphics aren't cutting edge like you would expect from games like Max Payne and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but there is a reason behind this as I also mentioned earlier. As I also mentioned earlier, there is a bug in 16-bit where the shadows start looking blocky transparent black textures overlapping. There are also a lot of facial models, and although they are blocky - they still have an amazing amount of texture detail, the facial expressions is visible and they indeed look quite realistic.

Last but not the least, the outdoor scenes. They are simply huge. Really speaking it should be dubbed that the scenes are actually a "scene" because the campaign game runs off one huge map. The amazing detail paid to the game is quite fascinating, especially the varying textures used on the ground.

Audio: I can't really comment here because I don't have really have acoustic ears like some of you out there have, maybe I just can't tell a difference between 96Kbps WMA and a normal CD track. Still, the music in the games plays during the crucial events of the game and the music itself is pretty good as a whole. But the real kick comes in is that actual sound effects. The explosions, the sound of a gun shooting from a distance, the guy behind you talking to the squad leader about the war and many more. They're are all there and they sound magnificent. Although the cut scenes have good voice acting within the actual game the leader's orders sound a bit (*cough*) flat. It just sounds as if he has a low quality Walkman attached to loud speakers on infinite loops. Nonetheless, you'll begin to get used to it.

Game Play: This game has a story, a purpose and a very nicely put together linear plot. One event follows another over the basis of the past event. The game has a very aural feeling which sends your spine tingling after all the action you see. David Armstrong, in the game is a normal civilized soldier, as you progress through the game you'll make diary entries to mark events. You have a freedom of going wherever you wish just like in a real war, but you can't do that. Try to do that and you'll get shot , that's the simple alternative. You'll have to think tactics to see which enemy you're going to take down first. Don't see this game as one of those last men standing bouillabaisse; this game requires thinking tactically along with other team members. All I can say is this game is just marvelous.

Value: 50 long hours of game play if you get everything right the first time is pretty good. But since you're not perfect and you will make mistakes, this time scale extends a lot further unless you have no appreciation of hard earned money and just decide to cheat and feel all happy about it. Every border in this world is a potential flashpoint and that's why there are so many mods out there to do just that. You can play in some of the world's most brutal conflicts like Kashmir, East Timor, Middle East, etc. The first official mod to the game, i.e. Operation Vietnam is yet to be released. It can be seen that a game of this genre has a huge longevity. All this plus multiplayer campaigns (ASDL strongly recommended) and all the goodies out there give you enough to stay busy until Bohemia releases the sequel, Operation Flashpoint 2.