To be honest I wasn't sure what to expect of the single player missions. They could well have just been a series of uninspired "Kill the Rebel Russians" type affairs, but thankfully Bohemia Interactive did a top notch job on them instead. Missions task you with a range of objectives, such as searching for the enemy base without being spotted, covert missions to attach explosives to parked enemy tanks, capturing an enemy base with tanks supported by infantry... I never felt that two missions where alike. Extra variety is also added by the fact that you control a number of different characters throughout the game such as a Rookie Tank Commander, regular ground trooper and even a Covert Ops expert, complete with balaclava and silenced MP5. As if that wasn't enough variety for you there are often numerous ways to complete the same mission - I even completed one by stealing a nearby tractor and driving it to the rendezvous point, running a few enemy soldiers over in the process for the sheer hell of it. At one point, on my third retry of a mission, instead of cleaning up the enemy tanks as they normally did, my two support helicopters both got destroyed against the odds - cue a radio message saying "Guess you've going to have to clean up the enemy tanks yourself instead". Talk about designing the game to take into account every eventuality.
The cut scenes are also plentiful and well voiced, although occasionally a cutscene exhibited a particularly odd bug. There was one where a man got pushed waist deep into solid ground when someone walked into him and another where one of the people in a conversation suddenly jumped and vanished into thin air, yet the conversation continued as if he was still standing there. Bugs like that have a certain way of ruining the sense of realism in the title, as do the rather lacklustre graphics for that matter.
For one, the textures on just about everything are really ugly due to their particularly low resolution and colour depth. The vehicle and character models are very well modelled but the skins and animations are again quite a let down. In particular, the salute animation on the soldiers looks more like they're quickly airing an armpit. The terrain is impressive for its sheer scale though and it's the first game I've seen that can happily render an entire forest, albeit of rather low detail trees. Thankfully the game is good enough that you'll often forget the graphical short comings and instead focus your attention on getting rid of the enemy before they do likewise to you.
While the single player is excellent, the multiplayer is what will truly get military game buffs excited, and with good reason. While you'll want to play it on a LAN to really enjoy it, if you can get enough people together for a little game of virtual war you're in for a real treat. Of course, initially the fun will come from everyone's sheer incompetence. Even if you've completed the single player game, co-ordinating an attack with friends while controlling your character or vehicle is a daunting task that takes practice to perfect, especially if you haven't memorised the game's command menu similar to the ones found in Tribes and Unreal Tournament. Once you do though, expect endless hours of battles as close to real war as you can get without donning camouflage gear and shipping out to the nearest warzone. There aren't many multiplayer missions, although the mission editor is so simple to use that you can easily mix up your own within a few minutes. We've had flight sims, nuclear warfare sims and even submarine sims, but finally, in Operation Flashpoint we have a title that does a very good job of simulating ground warfare. It deserves praise not just for daring to try something new, but for the fact that it also gets enough right in doing so, even when you take into account the tricky interface and bland graphics.
The Verdict: A riot at LAN parties, the single player is surprisingly entertaining as well if often a little unforgiving at the same time. If you're even thinking of getting it for the relatively accurate simulation of ground warfare don't hesitate, but if donning virtual camouflage gear isn't your idea of fun don't expect to find anything here to change your mind.
By Pete Closs
Editor
[Operation Flashpoint was developed by Bohemia Interactive and published by Codemasters.]
