Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis

by Codemasters

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005EBF8
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: August 29, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (145 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,483 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis is a first- and third-person tactical combat game set in 1985 detailing a fictional conflict between NATO and the Soviet Union. As a soldier fighting against the Soviets, you're on the frontline of the conflict and charged with a number of missions, including sabotage, recon, combat, assassination, and fending off enemy attacks. The game is very successful in its approach, but stumbles when it forces you to play vehicle-only missions where you control a tank, an attack helicopter, or an A-10 tank killer.

Over the course of the game's 50 single-player missions and campaigns, you'll assume several combat roles, running the gamut from a grunt armed with an M-16 to a tank commander commanding an M1A1 Abrams tank into battle. The bulk of the game consists of you tromping around on foot in first- or third-person mode, and those missions are a great deal of fun. Firefights are intense, chaotic, and often confusing, and they capture what it must feel like to be an infantry soldier caught in a battle. In addition, the included multiplayer mode is a lot of fun, although it can lag at times.

Getting used to the controls can take awhile, and will definitely be a hurdle for folks used to the simple keystrokes of most action games. Everything is handled in a realistic manner: standing from the prone position takes a few seconds, the sight on your weapon bounces around as you move, and you can hear your soldier's labored breathing when you sprint across open ground. In fact, you can only sprint for a short distance before tiring (and slowing), which encourages players to make short advances from cover to cover--just like a real soldier. Even the gunfights are realistic: instead of the extreme close-quarters combat and bright crosshairs found in most action games, Operation Flashpoint challenges you to line up a faraway, crouching soldier in the fixed iron sights of a real-world rifle. Successful missions earn a promotion in rank for you and the men under your command; controlling your squad is simple and straightforward and involves just a few keystrokes.

On the downside, the difficulty with the complex controls is compounded a million times when you play as a tank commander, where you must issue move and fire orders to the rest of the tank crew. These missions are very frustrating, especially because you can only save once per mission. Because of that, you'll find yourself replaying the tank missions again and again and again.

Operation Flashpoint sports a decent graphics engine that is capable of rendering massive and realistic outdoor areas. These large areas really make you feel like you're part of a huge battlefield, complete with forests, scrub, and dozens of vehicles and soldiers. The price you pay is in the form of blocky player models and pixilated plants. In addition, graphical glitches, such as soldiers' heads being on backward, rear up from time to time.

Fans of quick-twitch games such as Quake III will probably be turned off by Operation Flashpoint's realistic gameplay and slower pace. Everyone else will find an exciting, engaging, intense cold war combat game. --Kilmic Robbins

Pros:

• Intense action
• Decent AI
• Multiplayer is a blast
• Realistic combat
• Accurate representations of 1980s military technology

Cons:

• Vehicle-centric missions stink
• Control takes some getting used to
• Only 1 save per mission

Product Description

Stealth tactics or all-out assaultProduct InformationOperation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis is as close to war as you ever want toget.  You are dropped in the path of the Red Army.  Your objective isclear: take your men your weapons and your training; commandeer any vehicle youfind survive if you can but above all force them back!  Includes richenthralling campaign single missions and multiplay.  Create your ownstrategic challenges.Product Features Take command of a squad or just cover your own back.  Stay alive and be victorious. Deliver liberation in Campaign Single Mission or Multiplay modes. Over 30 vehicles to drive or fly. From AH 1 Cobra Helicopter to M1A1 Abrams tank each visually accurate to its original spec. Create your own strategic challenges for solo and multiplay with the easy-to-use Mission Editor - limited only by your imagination. Conquer the battle zone in multiplayer missions across TCP/IP LAN or Internet.Windows Requirements Windows 95 98 Me XP (Home Edition) Vista Pentium 600 MHz processor 128 MB of RAM 450 MB Hard Drive space 3D Graphics Card with 16 MB RAM minimum DirectX 8 compatible 16-bit Sound Card Mouse Keyboard Optional: TCP/IP 56K modem and Microsoft DirectPlay supported 

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The sheer scope of this game is unbelievable., September 8, 2001

By 

"rogsman" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (CD-ROM)

This game will come the defacto standard in combat simulators for years to come. The only thing that comes close in realism is the free U.T. Mod Infiltration (five stars also), but INF can't scratch the scope of what has been accomplished here with maps and vehicles.

You'll need a fast computer and some tweaking to enjoy it, but if you got the horsepower be prepared for some of the most intense action ever seen. The Quake style of maps has been thrown out the window, your now in a lush world where everything is scale including buildings, aircraft, anti-aircraft, lakes, oceans and vehicles. The town you need to get to is 1.5 km away, hop in the jeep and drive there via driving simulator! Not in the mood to drive? Try your hand at piloting the A-10 or Apache that's over at the landing strip. Perform strafing runs on enemy convoys. Don't worry about getting shot down, just hit the eject button to realistically parachute to earth where you can continue your assault.

Ground combat takes a while to get the hand of, they broke the arcade mold and went for realism. Don't expect to survive long if your used to Quake styles of fighting. You have to run, crouch and crawl like it's the real thing. The bots are not dummies, they're hiding in the bushes waiting to pick you off.

This is the closest thing to virtual reality ever. If you wanted to see what future game design would bring us, you don't have to wait any longer. If you got the horsepower, get Operation Flashpoint.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Game/Sim Hits Center Mass, June 2, 2001

By 

"ninetysixdelta" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (CD-ROM)

I am currently in the U.S. Army and I must say that somebody at Codemasters/Bohemian interactive really knows what they're doing. As an avid FPS gamer I was drawn to the demo, but as a soldier I found it incredibly an deeper and more satisfying play than anything I've played previously (yes, Counterstrike included!)

My specific job requires me to know military equipment, and the models in the demo look like they came from right out of Jane's. This is real hardware, people; the T72 even has the fuel canisters in the back and the fording snorkel on the side. (I gotta try and shoot those fuel canisters one of these days ;))

The infantry in the game is also realistically modeled: you can't run forever with an M16, 4 magazines, 5 grenades, a steel helmet (we didn't have the kevlar helmet yet back then) and all your battle-rattle on and not run out of breath! Also, it may just be my imagination but I think you have to lead your shots ever-so-slightly for those long-range kills.

Don't let all this realism scare you; the game is still a blast to play. I've played it five times now (twice was all it took for me to pre-order) and it's never played out the same way twice. Sometimes the op's been smooth as silk, other times, it's only been me and one other soldier (usually the medic) who makes it to the pick-up at the end. You execute the op wondering what chance has in store for you, just like in real life. It's pure tension.

I was debating on giving the game 4 stars, due to the slightly longer but still forgiving learning curve on the game (particularly the clumsy menu-driven way in which you perform non-combat actions) However, seeing as how it's a pre-release demo, I decided to give it the beneift of the doubt. Hopefully the controls will be a little more intuitive with the final release.

P.S. A seemingly little-known feature that my fellow servicemembers haven't seemed to mention yet is the optics feature in the game: Press 'V' (default key) and you will actually look through the sights of whatever weapon you are holding, and you will see the REAL sight picture of an M16A2, PK7, what have you! It's a nice touch and it actually does make aiming easier.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bad Reviews Explained., July 3, 2002

By 

"thesupermonkey" (Houston, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (CD-ROM)

Why the mixed reviews? Well, for one Operation Flashpoint is not your typical first person shooter.
Operation Flashpoint is a real time tactical simulation. Operation Flashpoint offers depth and realism that
no other war simulation can rival. Operation Flashpoint offers the experience of both the first person
shooter and a real time strategy, much like Sacrafice.

Graphics : 7
One of the more common complaints about Operation Flashpoint is the graphics. While the graphics are by
no means poor, admittedly they still fall short of the breath taking Soldier of Fortune : Double Helix or
even Ghost Recon. The soldiers look a bit robotic at times and the vegetation is obviously several cross
sectioned 2d images.

Sound : 6
Operation Flashpoint doesn't feature the copious amounts of ambient noises of games like Ghost Recon. In
Operation Flashpoint the sound effects can jump unexpectedly. One moment you hear nothing but the
sound of nearly silent feet pattering through grass when suddenly you jump from the floor shaking
explosions of nearby M1A Tanks. The radio voices are loud, scratchy and annoying. The voice
acting/timing leaves more to be desired.

Realism : 10
Operation Flashpoint features realism that even excels Ghost Recon. It would be impossible to list all of
the realistic effects of Operation Flashpoint, but here are a few examples.

Weapons:
The weapon physics are modeled with great detail. Everything has been accounted for including the
correct open sites, magazine capacity, effective range, distinctive sounds (firing, reloading), bullet wind
drift, bullet drop, and recoil. This makes skill a much larger component in the game. The sniper rifle
can flatten an enemy half of a mile away, if `you' can compensate for wind drift and bullet drop.
Just putting your cross hair on the target won't cut it anymore.

Vehicles:
The vehicles feature excellent damage modeling and handling. If the front tire is flattened the vehicle
pulls to that side. The airplanes and choppers respond realistically and require a great deal of practice
to master. In the case of some tanks, helicopters and planes a crew is often required to operate the
vehicle successfully. If the pilot of the vehicle is killed the vehicle spins out of control and/or crashes.
Trying to get to your extraction point 5 miles away? Grab a civilian truck, car, boat or even a tractor.

Environment:
Operation Flashpoint features a nearly limitless environment with hundreds of miles of varying terrain.
In most missions you'll find it will be necessary to find an alternate means of transportation.
The terrain ranges from valleys to mountains, from deserts to dense forests, from small cities to oceans.

Replayability : 10
Operation Flashpoint sacrifices the eye popping graphics for playability and this is ultimately more
enjoyable. What do I mean? I'm sure you'll notice after playing games such as Soldier of Fortune :
Double Helix, Return to Castle Wolfenstien, or Ghost Recon you'll begin to notice monotony of every
mission. Don't misunderstand me, they are all great games in their own right, but the missions vary little
and are fairly linear. In Operation Flashpoint you're usually given an insertion point and a set of
objectives, what happens in between is up to you. You might try sneaking into the enemy base, hijacking a
tank and taking the base by force. The next time you might try your hand at sniping the guards from the
cliff bluff overlooking the base. The possibilities are endless.

Difficulty : 10
This game isn't for the weak hearted or easily discouraged. Operation Flashpoint only allows one save per
mission and the missions are often long and very dangerous (One Shot, You're Dead).

Summary :
Operation Flashpoint is a fantastic game that offers depth and realism no other game can match. If that
realism and depth comes at the price of slightly sub-par graphics and sound, I think I can live with that.