Operation Flashpoint Review

"War is not nice" - Barbara Bush

I start this review with these immortal words of eternal wisdom from Barbara Bush: "War is not nice." Err, ice cream is cold and sweet, and turd smells awful - Uros Jojic. Maybe you're not cut out for war. Maybe you're a couch potato looking for some action from the comfort of your home? You're too fat to run, and you know it. And when the bullets start flying, you could be the first to catch one, because: "War is not nice."

In that case, the solution lies in bites and pixels, buddy. It's called Operation Flashpoint and it is hands down the best war shooter sim I have ever played. Delta Force doesn't even come close, and in terms or "realism" (which is a very relative term when applied to PC gaming) you simply cannot compare Flashpoint to any of the other games on the market -- the R6, CS, or Project IGI. Finally, playing games is all about fun, and sometimes I have more fun with some games than with others. And that is the only criteria in my mind when awarding a game the editor's choice badge. Although Operation Flashpoint has its faults, the way it is designed and conceived led me to believe that Bohemia Interactive are definitely one of the most talented European game designers of today. The way that the players are immersed into the game, and the way BI has created an interactive war movie goes way beyond anything we have seen in this sub-genre so far. Bohemia are an ambitious bunch too, because the novelties don't end there. Besides fighting on foot, you get to command a squad, manhandle a tank, take control of a Special Forces unit and more... You really get to do a whole lot of things that give you a different perspective on war and the way it's fought.

The game's plot is rather unique as well. Instead of going for the usual world's hotspots (downtown Detroit, Wall Street on a market crash day), Bohemia has decided to create a highly fictional "Apocalypse Now" scenario, set in the parallel 1985. The Soviet Union is going up against the U.S.

Strange things are going on on a distant (fictional) island of Everet. It appears that the Soviets have decided to engage in an open conflict against NATO troops. The conflict is rather limited in terms of geography, but it is certainly threatening enough in terms of its possible implications, which could even lead to WWIII. The player starts out as David Armstrong - a green grunt in the US Army who is bossed around by his CO's, and basically kept in the dark about what's going on. Instead of revealing the story through the eyes of a single character, Bohemia has decided to let us put the pieces together by taking the role of various characters, like the demolition squad commander Gustavski, or Lt. tank commander Robert Hammer.

As you progress further in the game, you start to realize that things are not as obvious as they seem, and that these "reds" are rather mysterious, and well, too unconventional in their methods of warfare.

Bohemia has done an excellent job at immersing the player in the Flashpoint scenario. The quality of "world making" is dare I say on a par with the likes of Half-Life and No One Lives Forever. It's just great -- a classic wartime action movie. In fact, that is the biggest advantage that the game has over the demo. For those of you who've already played the demo, you know that Operation Flashpoint holds some neat tricks in the "realism" department, but what you don't know is that... Well, Czechs are famous for their movie directing "mad skillz" (Milosh Forman anybody), and Bohemia certainly proved that, at least on a PC gaming level. Operation Flashpoint takes no shallow approach to plot development and plot build up. None of the games in this sub-genre had come anywhere close this level of cinematic quality before. Flashpoint is as much about action as it is about scenes, shots, and camera angles; and of course, the "quiet period" (i.e. build up) that comes in between the heavy action scenes. Not only is the game highly realistic in terms of weapon handling, soldier movement, range and ballistics physics, etc. (read our demo review), but it also adds a Private Ryan dimension by creating the perfect wartime tone that will literally make you feel like you're an important piece in the puzzle and an active participant in the conflict.