Operation Flashpoint
Preview - a hands-on look at the ambitious Cold War combat game from Bohemia and Codemasters
A few months ago we got our first look at Bohemia Interactive's "Operation Flashpoint", which at the time had just been picked up by British publisher Codemasters and undergone a name change from the rather unfortunate former title "Flashpoint 1985 : Status Quo". We were happy to report that the game had nothing to do with the dodgy rock outfit after all, and was instead an ambitous all-arms combat game set during a fictitious outbreak of hostilities between east and west at the tail end of the Cold War.
Imagine our joy then to discover on our doorstep one cold winter's morning a plain brown envelope containing preview code for the game...
Hop In
Operation Flashpoint offers players a mixture of both on-foot and in-vehicle action with tanks, jeeps, trucks and even helicopters at your disposal. You may find yourself sat in the back of a truck at the beginning of a mission, before being dropped off near your target and then cautiously advancing on foot through forests, fields, valleys and villages. Then, after a nasty firefight with the Red Army, you may be asked to withdraw to a nearby beach and await extraction by boat or helicopter.
The beauty of the game is that you can hop in and out of these vehicles at will, and in many cases can choose from a range of positions such as pilot, gunner or commander (unless you are under specific orders of course). And unlike previous abortive attempts at mixing sim and shooter, in Operation Flashpoint these vehicles can all be controlled using a humble mouse and keyboard setup. They might not be modelled to the frankly ridiculous degree of realism that hardcore sim fanatics expect, but then that really isn't the point of this game.
That's not to say that Operation Flashpoint is merely another lightweight with delusions of grandeur though; far from it. Approach the game as if it is Quake in combat fatigues and you will find yourself dead in a hurry. Combat is lethal, and even on the Cadet difficulty setting a couple of well-placed bullets are enough to send you home in a body bag. Firing a gun while moving is hit and miss (mostly miss) and for the best results you will need to stop and steady yourself before opening fire, or preferably lie "prone". This is a serious combat game which owes more to the likes of "Rainbow Six" and "Hidden & Dangerous" than the first person shooter genre.
Command & Conquer
Although Operation Flashpoint includes several "lone wolf" missions where you must take on the Red Army single-handed, usually you will be working as part of a team, either under the direction of another officer or as the leader of your own squad.
Commanding AI troops takes a little getting used to, but once you know what you're doing it soon becomes second nature. Orders can be given to individual soldiers or to the entire group, and your men can be spread amongst anything up to half a dozen different colour-coded groups to make co-ordinating your forces as easy as possible. Basic orders can be given with a simple mouse click - just select the troops you want and click on a piece of scenery to order them to move there, or an enemy soldier of vehicle to order them to attack it.
More complex orders are accessed via a well-organised radio menu which is navigated entirely using the number keys, bringing back fond memories of "SWAT 3". Once you have memorised the most important orders (such as telling your men to go prone or enter stealth mode) the system is fast and effective. For example, selecting green squad is simply a case of tapping 9-2, while assigning soldiers to that squad involves selecting them and then tapping 9-9-2.
Flash Bang
The intuitive gameplay is backed up by an impressive game engine, which gives you entire islands to roam over, complete with villages, dirt tracks, forests and mountains. At first the photographic textures can be rather jarring, and the good old fashioned bitmapped trees look a little of place, but before long you won't even notice.
Overall the effect is highly immersive, with vast draw distances, detailed terrain and vehicles, impressive lighting effects and a true day and night cycle. Animations are mostly very good, and the soldiers move, shoot and die in a believable way. Even the menu features impressive real-time rendered scenery in the background, complete with rusting burnt out trucks, marching soldiers and glorious sunsets.
The sound also has its moments, and the sound of your own heavy breathing as you lumber across the hills carrying assault rifles, grenades and radio sets is particularly good. The more you exert yourself the louder and deeper the sound of your breathing, until it becomes a deafening roar in your ears that drowns out most other sounds, signalling that it is probably time that you stopped running and calmed down. When all of this is happening as you make your way through a dark forest chased by Soviet troops, the result is tense to say the least...
Almost There
Although we were certainly very impressed by this alpha version of the game, some work remains to be done. Top of the list is helicopters, which at the moment are very difficult to pilot. While most of the vehicles are utterly intuitive, trying to control a helicopter is a frustrating and complicated experience, and luckily the notes that came with the preview copy admitted as much and promised that things should be better in the final release version.
The control system isn't really configurable enough yet either, with some keys restricted and others simply not working. Compared to your average sim it's certainly a step in the right direction, but for those of us used to the joys of first person shooters where almost every button and key can be easily re-assigned it is rather limiting. This was particularly a problem for me, as I play left-handed. The standard config was therefore useless for me, and my usual setup wouldn't work as half the keys that I would normally use were already taken up by other commands which I couldn't adjust.
There was also no sign of multiplayer or campaign modes in the alpha version, and we will have to wait to see how these turn out. Certainly things sound highly promising though, with the prospect of dozens of players being able to battle it out online with tanks, infantry and air support particularly enticing. Assuming that everything turns out as planned and these few minor niggles are solved before the game is shipped, Operation Flashpoint might just prove to be the first truly successful virtual battlefield for gamers. It's shaping up to be one of the best action games of the year, and we are looking forward to getting hold of a more complete version closer to its release.
-
Operation Flashpoint preview (November 2000)
Operation Flashpoint screenshots