At least, that's what Bohemia Interactive wants you to think when you boot up this tactical action game.

      You play the role of various NATO soldiers tasked with forcibly removing a rogue Soviet general from the fictional islands of Everon, Kolgujev, and Malden. This allows for a rather wide diversity in the types of missions you play. I had originally thought it disorienting to constantly be changing characters within the story, but when I stopped to think about it, it makes sense. Private David Armstrong, an infantryman, does NOT fly A-10's. Nor does he drive M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks. In keeping with the realism here you HAVE to play multiple characters to get that diversity.

     Speaking of realism, Operation Flashpoint has it's high points and low points. Piloting planes, helicopters, and tanks is not as realistic as would be found in a title like USAF, Longbow 2, or Steel Beasts, which may be a point of contention for hardcore simmers. That's okay though, because Bohemia Interactive knew they weren't making a hardcore sim game. They were making a diverse tactical action game. The control scheme for the vehicles (and there's a ton of them available) has been radically simplified so that you don't spend a month learning how to operate all the different cars, APC's, tanks, choppers and fast-movers. It's essentially a first person shooter game, but unlike the standard drivel that the host of Doom-clones are, it also requires careful planning and execution in order to achieve mission goals. Not to say that you spend twenty minutes before each mission plotting out what you're going to do; you don't. You get a short briefing, which sometimes takes the form of in-game cinematics and sometimes just a voice over, from your superiors telling you what your mission is, and then you go do it. Remember though, that just like in real life, things rarely go exactly as planned.

     The action on the ground is considerably more realistic than that in a vehicle. You initially start as a private, GI, standard issue, one each. You have a squad leader, and you do what he says, when he says. When (not if: WHEN) you get shot, it hurts. Your aim is affected, as is your ability to move. You get shot in the legs, you may not be able to stand up. When you fire your weapon it jerks in your hands. Single aimed shots are obviously going to be much more effective than trying to hose down the hillside with an M60. One well placed shot to the head will *usually* send your target on their merry way to the afterlife.

     The diversity in missions is the strongest point in this games favor though. You start as a mere grunt, and move your way on up to squad leader in charge of twelve men. The command controls are reasonably easy to use, and once it's understood what you can and cannot do with your troops, it's actually quite effective. You also play the role of a rookie tanker, and again, you eventually gain command of a tank platoon.

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