|
|
After extensive examination, my medical opinion is that Operation Flashpoint suffers from a multiple-personality disorder, and a series of control issues. From having characteristics of being an arcade-style vehicle-based shooter one minute, it jumps to super-realistic first-person tactical combat the next. Also, this patient has proven most uncooperative at times and refuses to let you save your game more than once. In this report, I will delve deep into the psyche of Operation Flashpoint and find out how such a promising and ambitious game became the confused product we see in front of us.
Let us begin with some background information. Operation Flashpoint puts you in the role of multiple NATO soldiers training in Eastern Europe in the year 1985. The first persona you take is that of a common grunt. In the first few missions you’ll learn the basics of ground combat, such as marksmanship and navigating from point A to point B. These skills are put to good use when a war suddenly erupts with Russia, and you find yourself caught in the center.
As the story progresses, you’ll assume the roles of other soldiers, such as a tank commander, a helicopter pilot, and a field officer. Many of the scenarios play out like a Tom Clancy novel, and the mix of mission objectives is enough to whet any action gamer’s appetite. You’ll take part in tank-column ambushes, defensive operations where you must hold a port at all costs, black-ops missions where you have to sabotage enemy strongholds, and even assassination attempts.
Fans of military hardware will go nuts, as you’ll have access to historically accurate and realistically modeled weapons such as the Dragunov sniper rifle and M-60 machine gun. Both NATO and Warsaw Pact hardware is available. The list of playable vehicles includes T-72 tanks, BMP troop transports, and Cobra attack helicopters.
As in Rainbow Six, one good shot to the head will end your game. A leg shot will prevent you from walking, and flesh wounds affect your aim by causing your reticule to wobble. Cover and concealment are vital if you want to live through your first firefight. Even weapons ballistics is figured in. Bullets drop over distance and are affected by wind, so sniping is now a true challenge, especially if your target is moving.
In terms of realism, Operation Flashpoint is the closest you’ll get to a real ground war on your PC. But that doesn’t necessarily make a good game. There are two difficulty levels, Cadet and Veteran, but they should be renamed Hard and Near Impossible. As in real combat, firefights are confusing and disorienting. It’s hard to tell where shots are coming from, and your small squad of soldiers can be cut to pieces in seconds. Also, most missions are very long, with multiple objectives, and you’re typically outnumbered and outgunned. You’ll need the dedication of a hardcore sim nut to play through this entire game.
Physically, to the naked eye, this patient is healthy and attractive. The levels reaching 100 square kilometers in size are beautiful when viewed from far away, and the vehicles are exactingly realistic. However, up close, the blocky models with nominal textures don’t come close to those in Counter-Strike, and the foliage becomes very pixelated. Also, you’ll notice overall low-polygon counts on most of the houses and structures. Understandably, the designers probably did this to keep the levels large and expansive.
A considerably weaker part of this game is its sound. Almost every effect seems
muffled and generic. Rifle shots, machinegun chatter, and even cannon blasts
sound flat and cheap. There’s horrible voice acting during
in-game cutscenes and the monotone audible orders given during missions quickly
grow repetitious. However, these are small issues compared to the core problem
with Flashpoint: control.
The most noticeable control issue is with the aiming reticule, or cursor. For some reason, it has a certain window of movement before the direction in which you’re pointing actually changes. It’s a bit like having an auto-aim function on, and pulling your sight away from the target it’s attached to can be very disorienting.
Our patient also displays some frustrating inconsistencies. While you play as an infantry soldier, the game is almost unmatched in realism, but the second you hop into a helicopter, the game plays like an arcade-style shooter. True, this makes it more accessible (flying a helicopter is far more difficult than running around with a rifle), but the transition is jarring. Also, we found a few collision-detection bugs. Sometimes we could run over an enemy soldier with a tank and crush him; other times we’d roll over him with no effect at all. There were even times when our character got run over with no effect.
But Flashpoint is not a lost cause. Commanding a platoon through its interface is simple. The orders you can give are very detailed, telling troops to find cover, who or what to attack, which waypoint to head to, which vehicles to board, and what position to take (gunner, driver, passenger). This is an important tool in completing some of the later missions. However, commanding your own soldier can be frustrating. You have to navigate through action menus to do everything from picking up ammo to climbing a ladder. And if you don’t have a wheel mouse, you’ll have to do all this using the keyboard.
The multiplayer modes have much to offer. Many scenarios let you play with all the weapons and vehicles in the game. One terrific multiplayer level has two sides fighting it out over a city using tanks and patrol boats. But the menus to set up a game are not the least bit intuitive, and it takes a lot of fussing to get a game going.
More ambitious gamers will appreciate the very powerful mission editor, which gives you as much control as the game designers in creating new detailed missions. But it comes with scant documentation, and is not easy to use.
In conclusion, I believe Operation Flashpoint is, ultimately, a victim of bad usability and poor execution. True, few games let you play as a soldier, tank commander, and pilot in the same sitting, but in order to enjoy yourself you must be able to feel comfortable with your controls and navigate the in-game menus intuitively. Also, being able to save only once during a mission is a huge misstep, especially for such a tough game. Gung-ho infantry wannabes may be incited by all the options, but they’ll probably be better off waiting for Ghost Recon.