Operation Flashpoint

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Operation Flashpoint
Genre(s) Military simulation, tactical shooter
Developer(s) Bohemia Interactive
Codemasters
Publisher(s) Codemasters
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Xbox
Xbox 360
OS X
Linux
First release Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis
2001
Latest release Operation Flashpoint: Red River
2011

Operation Flashpoint is a series of military simulation games. The first game, Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and its expansions Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer and Operation Flashpoint: Resistance , was developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio. The second games, comprising Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Operation Flashpoint: Red River , were developed by Codemasters. There is also a spiritual sequel series to the original game made by Bohemia Interactive Studio, Arma .

Contents

Bohemia Interactive series

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (2001)

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis's (also Arma: Cold War Assault) gameplay varies significantly depending on the player's role, but the game is best described as a tactical shooter with significant vehicle elements and minor real-time tactic elements. Set in 1985, the game takes place on the island-states of Everon and Malden, and later in the game, on the barren Russian island of Kolgujev which is the staging point for the renegade Russian forces invading Everon and Malden. [1] [2] It has been re-released as Arma: Cold War Assault in 2011. [3]

Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer (2002)

An expansion, Red Hammer, which was developed by Codemasters, depicts the same conflict as Cold War Crisis, but places the player in the role of a Russian soldier, Dmitriy Lukin, rather than an American soldier. [4]

Operation Flashpoint: Resistance (2002)

Resistance, an expansion, included updated graphics, sounds, and multiplayer mechanics. The storyline takes place three years before the events of the original game storyline. The player takes on the role of an ex-Special Operations soldier, Victor Troska, who has returned to his homeland of Nogova after years in exile serving with British Special Forces. During the first introductory mission to the campaign, the island is invaded by the Soviet Union after some members of the socialist party betray the country and invite Soviet forces to overthrow the government. Troska becomes the leader of a resistance movement against the Soviet Army. [5]

Codemasters series

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (2009)

Dragon Rising takes place on a fictional island named Skira, in May 2011. After the global economic crisis causes mass unemployment and political destabilization in China, the PLA seize control of Skira and the vast, newly discovered reservoir of oil there, from the Russian Federation. Peace talks prove useless as both combatants lay claim to Skira due to previous ownership of it. The situation deteriorates quickly and China begins to fortify its northern provinces in anticipation of armed conflict with Russia. Russia, already countering the PLA on the Chinese mainland, calls to the United States of America to retake Skira from the Chinese. Bound by treaty arrangements made after the end of the Cold War, America agrees and the two biggest armies in the world begin to clash on the island. Dragon Rising was released for both PC and consoles, with the PC version including map editors and larger multiplayer games.

Bohemia Interactive disputed that Codemasters had made the true Operation Flashpoint sequel because although Codemasters owned the publishing rights to the Operation Flashpoint name, they did not own the publishing rights to any of the intellectual property in the game which was all owned by Bohemia Interactive. [6] Bohemia Interactive had already started their own spiritual sequel to Operation Flashpoint with the Arma series in 2006. [7] [8]

Operation Flashpoint: Red River (2011)

Operation Flashpoint: Red River was released in 2011 as a sequel to 2009's Dragon Rising. The game's plot concerns a fictional conflict in Tajikistan. The game follows a platoon of Marines, with the player controlling Kirby, Bravo fireteam leader. [9] [10]

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<i>Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis</i> 2001 video game

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis is a 2001 tactical shooter simulation video game developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio and published by Codemasters. Set during the Cold War in 1985, the game follows United States Armed Forces personnel in various combined arms roles as they combat a rogue Soviet Armed Forces field army invading the fictional island countries of Everon and Malden.

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Freedom Fighters is a 2003 third-person shooter video game for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. It was developed by IO Interactive and published by Electronic Arts.

<i>Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising</i> 2009 video game

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a tactical shooter video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed and published by Codemasters. Codemasters has advertised the game as a tactical shooter designed to represent modern infantry combat realistically. It is a stand-alone sequel to Bohemia Interactive's Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, but was developed entirely by Codemasters due to a falling-out between the two companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bohemia Interactive</span> Czech video game development studio

Bohemia Interactive a.s. is a Czech video game developer and publisher based in Prague. The company focuses on creating military simulation games such as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the Arma series. It is also known for having worked on a game conversion of the DayZ mod created for Arma 2.

<i>Arma: Armed Assault</i> 2006 video game

Arma: Armed Assault is a 2006 tactical shooter simulation video game developed by Bohemia Interactive and published by 505 Games in Europe and Atari in North America for Microsoft Windows. It is the first installment in the Arma series and is a spiritual successor to the 2001 video game Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, which was also developed by Bohemia. Set on the fictional Atlantic island of Sahrani, the game follows United States Armed Forces military advisors as they are caught in the midst of a conflict between the two rivalling nations on the island.

<i>Arma 2</i> 2009 video game

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<i>Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead</i> 2010 video game

Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead is a standalone expansion pack to Bohemia Interactive's tactical shooter Arma 2. Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead includes three new multiplayer maps, new vehicles and equipment, new factions, along with a new campaign.

<i>Operation Flashpoint: Red River</i> 2011 video game

Operation Flashpoint: Red River is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the sequel to the previous game Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

<i>Arma 3</i> 2013 video game

Arma 3 is an open world tactical shooter simulation video game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive exclusively through the Steam distribution platform. It is the third main entry in the Arma series, and the eighth installment in the series overall. Arma 3 was released for Microsoft Windows on September 12, 2013, and for macOS and Linux on August 31, 2015.

<i>Arma: Queens Gambit</i> Video game

Arma: Queen's Gambit is an expansion pack to Arma: Armed Assault. It was made by Bohemia Interactive, the developer of the original game and Black Element Software. It contains new units, weapons, islands and campaigns.

<i>Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer</i> 2002 video game

Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer is an expansion pack to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. It was developed by Codemasters.

<i>Operation Flashpoint: Resistance</i> 2002 video game

Operation Flashpoint: Resistance is an expansion pack to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. It was developed by Bohemia Interactive, authors of the original game, and published by Codemasters. It is the second expansion of Operation Flashpoint, the first one being Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer, which was developed by Codemasters. Resistance was later re-released as part of ArmA: Cold War Assault.

Arma is a series of first- and third-person military tactical shooters developed by Czech game developer Bohemia Interactive and originally released for Microsoft Windows. The series centers around realistic depictions of modern warfare from various perspectives. Arma was originally conceived as a spiritual successor to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis after Bohemia Interactive lost the intellectual rights to the series. The first installment was released in 2006 and the most recent in 2022.

The video game industry in the Czech Republic has produced numerous globally successful video games such as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the subsequent ArmA series, the Mafia series, Truck Simulator series, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the Samorost series and others. There were 300–400 video game developers and around 30 video game companies focusing on video game development in 2014. In 2017 it was 1,100 developers and 47 companies. Video games are also considered by some experts to be the country's biggest cultural export. The video game industry did not enjoy a good reputation and was unsupported by the state until 2013, when the Ministry of Industry and Trade started to seek ways to kickstart the economy. By 2014, programs were planned to support the video game industry. Another problem is a lack of video game development specialization at any university.

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Gravon: Real Virtuality is a 1995 video game developed by Suma. The game originally was released for Atari Falcon and later ported to Microsoft Windows in 2013 and packed as a bonus game to Take On Mars. The famous game Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis is considered to be a spiritual successor to Gravon.

<i>Argo</i> (video game) First-person shooter video game

Argo is a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Bohemia Interactive. The initial prototype of the game, Project Argo, was released on 1 November 2016 as part of Bohemia Incubator. The game was released as Argo on 22 June 2017. On June 26, 2018, the developers announced that official servers are shutting down, only allowing unofficial server support.

References

  1. Sinclair, Brendan (28 April 2020). "How Bohemia's "almost accidental" mod support became a staple of the studio". Gameindustry.biz . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  2. "Operation Flashpoint". IGN . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  3. Heuser, Rene (23 June 2011). "Operation Flashpoint becomes ARMA: Cold War Assault - Bohemia regains distribution rights". GameStar (in German). Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  4. "Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer: The Soviet Campaign". GameSpy . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  5. "Operation Flashpoint: Resistance". MobyGames . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  6. Martin, Joe (2 March 2009). "Operation Flashpoint 2 not a true sequel". Bit Gamer . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  7. Simmons, Alex (21 November 2006). "ArmA: Armed Assault Hands-on". IGN . Retrieved 25 March 2023. Five years on and the true sequel to Operation Flashpoint finally rolls out onto the battlefield
  8. Gillen, Kieron (27 February 2009). "Bohemia: There's Only One Real Flashpoint Sequel". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  9. Parkin, Simon (21 April 2011). "Operation Flashpoint: Red River". Eurogamer . Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. McCormick, Rich (21 April 2011). "Operation Flashpoint: Red River Review". PC Gamer . Retrieved 25 March 2023.