In other games that try to look realistic, like Delta Force: Black Hawk Down the player character can use the iron sights and then pretty much automatically hit anything on the entire map regardless of the weapon being used. I suspect that this has to do with not making the game frustrating in those situations where an enemy is 600 meters away and the player only has a M4 carbine, or something like that. But in Operation Flashpoint it's different. If you use the iron sights on your M16 but the target is 500 meters away, you won't hit shit unless you're prone and even then you'll probably miss, although you'll see dust clouds indicating that the game is tracking your rounds out the whole distance. What's even more amazing and thrilling is that at longer distances (eventually you can equip a M21, or pick a Dragunov off a dead enemy) you need to compensate for bullet drop, which just makes me emit high pitched noises of excitement. At longer ranges you must also lead your target. That's right, the game has actually implemented meaningful long range riflery, which almost no games have!
From the manual, pg. 0.13:
QUOTE
DRAGUNOV
1. First find your range using the scale on the left of the sight. Line your target up to the scale on the left. The point at which the height of the target matches the height of the scale gives you your range.
2. In the center of your sight are four chevrons, each of which gives you a guide as to how much to elevate your weapon given the distance of the target. Each chevron is approximate to 250m distance from your position. Assume that your scale measurement indicates a target range of 750m; by lining your quarry up with the third chevron down (around 750m), you stand a good chance of an accurate hit.
1. First find your range using the scale on the left of the sight. Line your target up to the scale on the left. The point at which the height of the target matches the height of the scale gives you your range.
2. In the center of your sight are four chevrons, each of which gives you a guide as to how much to elevate your weapon given the distance of the target. Each chevron is approximate to 250m distance from your position. Assume that your scale measurement indicates a target range of 750m; by lining your quarry up with the third chevron down (around 750m), you stand a good chance of an accurate hit.
How awe-inspiring is that? Lots of video games put that distinctive Soviet aiming setup on the scope of dragunovs but it's purely decorative. In Operation Flashpoint they put it on there, AND you're actually expected to use it!
I also like the location-based damage system. The game is set in 1985 so body armor exists but it's not very good compared to nowadays. The player character may only absorb about 2 rifle rounds to the body before dying which as far as I know is pretty spot on for armor of that time period which tended to have trouble with rifle rounds, especially something like 7.62x54R when the enemies are wielding their Dragunovs and PKMs. The game tracks hits to the head, body, arms, and legs. If you are hit in the leg you can't stand up, but can only crawl. I love games that have this sort of attention to detail. I noticed that one of the options in the Difficulty settings was "extended body armor", which I disabled; I assume that the game lets you choose whether to allow armor to provide protection to the whole body, or only to the torso and not the limbs which would be closer to the reality in 1985.
Not everything is totally realistic. Medics would be one example. If you go to the medic you can get your leg functionality restored after a few seconds. I suppose you could make the excuse that he injects you with so much morpheine that you can now stand on your injured leg, but that would just be rationalization. Probably medics work the way they do for Multiplayer concerns.
The game's also implemented vehicles very well. Vehicles are completely player-operatable and so infantry and vehicles play together very well. I felt the game did a good job on implementing how well various vehicles protect the people riding in them. For example, a level I recently played dealt with escorting a convoy of 5 ton trucks. The player resources included 7 infantrymen, 1 5 ton truck, 1 old fashioned hummer, and one M113 tracked troop carrier. I replayed the mission many times and I observed that when the convoy was ambushed by enemy infantry characters riding in the truck tended to get hit and killed almost immediately, whereas the hummer actually absorbed a volume of fire before the people inside became casualties, and the M113 was only threatened by antitank weapons. I found that I was accordingly able to defeat many of the infantry ambushes by violating the Geneva Convention and piloting the M113 over the attacking infantry which would instantly kill them if the M113 was moving fast enough. Again, more charming attention to detail.
I find that the old school 1985 equipment makes me feel very relaxed. I love history so it's fun to see hummers being more rare and old school jeeps still being in more common use, to see infantrymen lugging around M60s, and to see M21s in use but no M24s, which came into use a bit later. There's Cobra attack helicopters, so in many ways it has a real Vietnam feel to it.
All in all Operation Flashpoint makes me get so pumped up to 1985 and appeals simultaneously to my love of simulationistic games and my interest in history that I flip out and listen to "English Boys" by Blondie, a song about widespread social protest in the face of Vietnam, out of a pulsating and wild sense of irony. I don't think I've ever played a squad-level and above military sim as engrossing and fun as Operation Flashpoint!
