Sound: 9
Gameplay: 10
Replay Value: 10
Reviewer's Tilt: 10
Overall: 9.6
I'm at a loss for words. This is one of the hardest reviews to write because there's just so much stuff to do in this game! You can drive cars, tanks, and fly helicopters! You use anti-aircraft missiles on a plane. You can kill your squad, kill civilians, and more! There's just so much to discribe, that it would literally take me all day to do so.
OpFlash likes to make you feel uneasy. At the beginning of the campaign mode, you're with an entire team of people, you get to know them, and you learn to love them. Then they all die eventually due to the game's extremely difficult AI. Then you're all alone in the forest--complete with lots and lots of trees and bushes to hide in. Just yesterday I was hiding from a tank. There was a gunner on the back of the tank, keeping a close watch on the horizon. I dove into a bush when he drove by. He didn't see me! Take that, Ghost Recon! The AI is actually human, and aren't robots that can kill you instantly. Although you will die a lot in OpFlash, it's not impossible like Ghost Recon. And you can actually hide in this game.
There's lots of situations in the game where you feel like you're screwed. One time I was running in the forest, alone. There was lots of enemies all about. I had to use my binoculars...which had dirty and realistic looking lenses. I spotted a squad of enemies patrolling the hill, several tanks around. I must have stayed hidden in that bush for half an hour. Then I was rescued! I saw a machine gunner from my squad. That shot he had taken earlier must have only been a flesh wound. He took out a couple of the squad, then died. While he was fighting, it gave me the oppurtunity to sprint over to the base of the hill they were patrolling. Wow, what a rush!
You can do a few interesting things in the game. One, you can use your gun's sight to shoot enemies, two, you can switch to third-person view to get a better view of your surroundings...and the most important thing: Using a radio to communicate with your team! You can order them to do just about anything, from choosing different formations, calling the team over to heal you or give you more ammo, etc. It's really a unique thing, and helps to make this computer game the most realistic game ever.
One thing that makes the game really realistic is the frequent one-hit kills. I play tactical-combat games because of this feature. It makes my games more challenging and it takes tactic. I prefer tactical combat games because instead of mindless shooting, you actually have to think about where you should go next, and where your team should go, even after you die about 30 or so tries. If the enemy shoots one of your limbs, like an arm, your ability to aim decreases. The gun shakes when you use your sight after you've been hit in the arm. Now that's realism!
The graphics are insane. It's amazing to think that when you're flying the helicopter, and you look down, you can see trees! You can parachute from helicopters and walk in the forest that you saw from the air, and that's amazing. The areas are huge! We're talking 100 square mile areas in the game, complete with lots of vegetation for your squad to hide in. It's much easier to take the helicopter when you can, because taking the forest by foot takes a long time. But then there comes another innovative feature to the table: The ability to speed up time. The areas are delivered in real-time, and the sky goes from light to dark in actual time! You even have a watch in the game to see what time it is! I could go on all day about how beautiful this game is. The weather even changes, complete with realistic sounding rain.
The controls can be adjusted to your liking. They're really easy to learn, and almost every key on the keyboard is used. If it sounds hard, you always have a quick-reference card that comes with the game to check out the controls. They're really unique though.
The sounds couldn't be more polished. Gunshots can be heard a mile or more away, and bullets hitting the wet dirt beside you really give you a chill. The combat sounds are true to life, and the nice music really gives the sounds a sparkle.
Just buy the game if you don't believe me. At $30, it's a steal, considering that you'll play it often. And once you're done, it has a strong replay value to keep you interested. Enjoy!
