Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis is the first game in two separate and independent game franchises: the Operation Flashpoint series and the ARMA series. The game has been published both under its original name at first, and after Codemasters took over the rights from Bohemia Studios it was changed to the title ARMA: Cold War Assault. Notwithstanding the name change, the game is the same.

Operation Flashpoint is designed as a realistic simulation of the United States of America und the Soviet Union armies of the mid-1980s. The game takes place on large islands where you have to battle an enemy force with a group of teammates. You can use a large amount of different weapons, including the AK-47, the M-16, hand grenades, a LAW, RPG and more.

Unusual about this game was the possibility to drive a those days huge variety of vehicles, such as off-road vehicles (UAZ-469, M151 Jeep, HMMWV), helicopters (AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-47D Chinook, AH-1 Cobra, OH-58 Kiowa, Mi-17, Mi-24), airplanes (A-10 Thunderbolt II, Su-25 Frogfoot), anti-air tanks (M163 Vulcan, Shilka),tanks (M1A1 Abrams, M2A2 Bradley, M60 Patton, T-55, T-72, T-80) as well as (armored) personnel carriers (M113, M939 Truck, BRDM, BMP-1, BMP-2, URAL), even a mobile LRBM carrier (Scud launcher) and civilian vehicles (i.e. tractor, car, Sachsenwerke Trabant) and various support vehicles (variants of Truck5t and Ural). You can take place on the driver's chair, or on the back with one of your (AI) teammates driving.

Given this variety, the player will be placed in various roles. Once playing as regular soldier, next time as a tank-driver, then a pilot or special forces.

The game also supports internet multiplayer, wherein 2 teams have to battle each other in a large battlefield, again with the use of the vehicles, where you can annoy some real players carpooling in your helicopter by colliding with the earth.

When playing as normal soldier the game acts very realistic. You can't shoot properly when running, and while crawling you can't shoot at all. Also you walk on a very realistic speed which means it takes a lot of time to cross the landscape. As there are often no fixed routes, the player can find his own way to succeed the mission in different ways.

The landscape contains trees, towns, seas, roads and army camps, with everything on a very large scale. Weather can change the atmosphere from clear sky to rainy days or nights. In single player you can also experience cut scenes rendered in the 3d engine. The game also contains speech and filmic music within its campaign, that is set in fictional conflict of NATO forces represented by the United States of America as the only NATO presence in the sector and a renegade russian general as aggressor who tries to take over control of three islands to unleash a global conflict.