I was not particularly impressed with the usability of the fixed-wing aircraft, but the helicopters are quite easy to fly, and very effective. There are several missions using the various helicopters available, but not many with the A-10.

     The visual quality of the game, while perhaps not the cream of the crop, is nonetheless quite good. Oh, and the dank, dark, interior atmosphere of most first person shooters? Not here. Whichever of the three islands you're currently on is rendered, in full, each mission. Which means you can go anywhere, though of course that might annoy your squad leader, not to mention leave a big gaping hole in your platoons skirmish line...

     On the topic of AI: while not perfect, Bohemia did quite a good job. The bad guys hide when they ought to hide, and they use the terrain to their advantage when they can. For instance, I was just re-playing one of the missions in which your infantry platoon assaults a town. You have to take out the 23mm Shilka anti-aircraft guns in order for a flight of Cobras to come in and lay waste to the town. Well, we clobbered the Shilkas and the supporting infantry and the choppers came in and did their thing. At about this time some Soviet reinforcements showed up and took out most of my platoon and one of the Cobras. The remaining chopper and myself managed to take out the rest of the reinforcements. Or so I thought. I sprinted across a field to try to pick up some ammo from one of my fallen squadmates when I got shot in the head several times by some sneaky SOB that had been hiding under a tree for at least five minutes!

     Also important to note is the very powerful editor that is included. It is quite easy to make simple missions, and feasible to make very, VERY complicated missions. I say feasible instead of "easy" or "hard" because that really depends on the user. Some people pick up on the subtleties of this sort of thing faster than others. In any case, there is a great deal of information out there that can help anyone who wants to try their hand at it. I have already downloaded and played at least seventy user-made missions. As you might expect, some are absolutely atrocious and some are sheer art. But the best thing about them? They average 64Kb in size, so you don't have to spend three hours downloading each one (if you have a 56K connection like I do, that is).

     As far as multiplayer goes, I haven't had a whole lot of luck. I am still stuck on a dial-up, and while I have been able to get connected to MP games, it just doesn't play very well. Lots of lag and dropping connection to the server entirely. As I said in the overview, this game relies heavily on CPU power, and with the very large mission areas, it just can't seem to keep up using a 56k connection.

     Operation Flashpoint captured my attention like nothing has since Jagged Alliance 2 (and before that it was Civilization II, just so you know where I'm coming from). Don't misunderstand me, it's not anything like JA2 in gameplay, story, or graphics, but it IS just as addictive. I would definately say it's worth spending the money on.

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