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Tuesday 4 November 2003

Operation Flashpoint [drdave]

Blimey, it's the mark of a fine, fine game when you can step back into it two years later and be thunderstruck by how good it still is. A fine game such as Operation Flashpoint.
I picked up the Game Of The Year edition (the original, plus the two expansions) from play.com for a paltry 7.99, mainly because I had a hunch that my recently expanded computing machine would give the game the performance I always suspected it would benefit from. And lo and behold, it does. I can now render out to the full distance, with highish details, at 1280x1024, and it all looks magnificent. The Resistance expansion has taken the engine up a notch or two, and while the soldier models might not cut the mustard (or indeed the cheese) when lined up against today's best examples, I would nonetheless confidentally suggest that you would not find a more accurate or imersive representation of an outdoor environment outside of going to the cotswalds and running around in the high grass.
Asthetics aside, the game is every young boy's dream. Every weapon and vehicle that you could possibly imagine is in there, and if it isn't, there'll be an addon somewhere. All lovingly modelled down to the cockpits (which have working altimeters or speedometers). Nothing beats piling your squad into a chinook or loading up an apache and reigning divine retribution on a convoy of soviet BMPs. Hell, even with my russian connections, I still feel a certain guilty pleasure in taking out spetnatz. Better dead than red, eh?
But the best thing by far, and the part that was infuriatingly lacking in the original, is the multiplayer. Luckily, recent patches and expansions have beefed up this side considerably, so its no longer the frustrating exercise in extreme patience that it used to be. Finding a server with folk on is child's play, as is creating a server yourself. There's still the seagull mode problem following death, but a lot of missions now use creative respawning scripts to keep the realism but avoid having dead players swooping around the skies.
Erm, best game evar!

6 comments:

  1. The Chinook is very very cool. It's a good game. We'll play it at i18 Dave JUST TO SPITE YOU*
    (*) Well, actually, we probably won't as I don't think anyone else in the clan has it :)

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  2. I managed to pick up all the expansions for £10 or so from a second hand shop over a year ago, still haven't managed to install them. Must get round to doing that.

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  3. Can you, err, use a 'LAN only' version or something?

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  4. It rocks. I have the original and both expansions. Rest assured. It shall be played at i18.

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  5. Woot! Great to find another OF luvver! I have always thought this is the greatest game ever - I've played it and all the add ons (err well except last one - but fuck it im on a roll) hehe... looking forward to i18!

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  6. The greatest multiplayer game was and remains Painkeep. Oh yes. We shall be playing this at i-18. It's a ritual. Normally for about 15 minutes before they bleat and we go play something else ;)

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