The return of Operation Flashpoint

I remember my enthusiasm when I first encountered the rough and edgy landscapes of Operation Flashpoint. The game was a tactical, military shooter with an angle on realism that made it something special. Since then the developer Bohemia Interactive has been inactive except for a few expasion packs for OFP.

However, now the game is being brought back to life in the Xbox version which includes the original, all of the expansions and quite a few extra missions. More like three games if you ask Bart van Paassen of Bohemia Interactive.

And judging by the demonstration the Xbox variant seems to include a lot of new stuff. The graphics have been spiced up and details such as dynamic weather - ie. rolling waves, plants moving in the wind or even drafts from helicopters - have been added.

In fact the level of detail has been increased drastically. Models have all been souped up and individual levels have far more motion and life. Where you could kill it if it moved before, whole areas have now been given dynamics of their own. Even uniforms have been updated to the correct 1985 look and the weapons have been tuned and made more like their real counterparts.

Being a console the Xbox is naturally impaired when the controls of a FPS are concerned, and Bohemia has compensated by easying on the difficulty level. Autoaim has been added for instance, a thing that is close to mandatory in games that have you fiddling about with a controller.

Bart van Paassen also let us look at another game - Armed Assault, another tactical shooter that lets you board a plethora of military vehicles in order to close with the enemy. It looks incredibly like Operation Flashpoint. In fact, Armed Assault IS Operation Flashpoint. More about this after a brand new title from Bohemia.

The game with no name

The last game pulled from the hat by the Bohemia-Boys had not been given a name yet. This is another tactical shooter, like all other things from the company, and despite it still being in the early stages of development things are looking very promising.

Again focus is on the details. Among other things Bohemia has scanned leaves with a special 3D-scanner to be able to create perfect foliage - once the game is released we will see forests of beautiful tress. The areas you can navigate are huge, several hundred square miles, and the weapons will be modelled from several parts which are fully interchangeable if you are into mods. Gun parts will be in motion when shooting as well. Individual characters will be quite advanced wit,h for instance, variable hand positions on weapons. This allows for animated loading, cleaning and generally far more dynamic characters than Operation Flashpoint.

This time around you are a Special-Ops soldier from the US army. The game has some RPG-elements - not character development but more in the way you navigate throughout the game. You have a reputation-stat meaning that your actions will have consequences as the game progresses. There is no missionstructure in the game but the action is divided into chapters giving you assignments like: "Free this country" and then leaving you to solve the task pretty much as you like.

The world is very large and very alive. A chopper passing overhead will have a destination and will have flown from point A over point B to point C to fulfill its mission. From there it will continue on whatever assignment the AI decides upon. Everything has a purpose and a function. Should you encounter a soldier you will be able to ask him whether he has seen the opposition and if he has he will be able to tell you. There is innumerable dialogue options and the great liberties of the game makes for quite an interesting project.

Once more the game includes a plethora of vehicles such as helicopters, jeeps and tanks. We only had a closer look at the tank, but this certainly was an impressive piece of machinery. It holds a crew of three - a driver, a gunner and a commander. The latter has acces to a smaller turret which rotates faster than the gunturret. This makes for a better view of things as well as easier targeting and command-issuing.

Another satisfying detail of this metal monstrosity is the ability to level buildings. We all know the situation with the lousy camper in the house. Normally you would have to shoot through the window to get him, but not in this game. Simply aim at the corner of the building and watch it collapse as the massive shell disintegrates the wall.

Operation Flashpoint 2?

And this is all well and good, but what about Operation Flashpoint 2? We asked and got no real reply. In fact there is no OF2. The name Operation Flashpoint is owned by Codemasters which means that Bohemia cannot use it for its games. Thus the name Armed Assault for a game which in itself simply is a souped up version of Operation Flashpoint.

But what is true for Armed Assault is also true for Operation Flaspoint 2... Which may mean that the game will never be released. Bohemia has no deal with Codemasters for a sequel and in fact the have no publisher for the game i have just described to you. You see, the latter part of this article has been about Operation Flashpoint 2 eventhough it does not appear to be released as such. But fear not. Bohemia's seven year old vision will survive... provided it find a publisher for its game.

Source: Boomtown DK
Translated by: William Bjarnø (Dworkin)