Review by Tim Still

Game:         TacOps
Publisher:    Arsenal Publishing Inc.
Format:       3.5" floppy disk
Available:    Now


Requires:

O/S:          Win 3.1/Win95
Processor:    386/DX-33+
RAM:          4Mb+ (8Mb recommended)
Graphics:     VGA (SVGA recommended)
Soundcard:    All major cards supported


Tested on:

Processor:    Pentium 75MHz
O/S:          Windows 95
RAM:          40Mb
Graphics:     1Mb Cirrus Logic (PCI)
Soundcard:    Soundblaster 16
Controls:     Microsoft Mouse

Tac Ops

Tac Ops is a simulation of modern and near-future tactical ground combat between mainly US and OPFOR (Opposing Forces). You take the role of the US commander, and you have to decide on disposition of forces in defensive or offensive engagements. The view of the battlefield available to you is a look-down type, but there are no squares or hexes to restrict movement. You can move your units anywhere on the map, and your only restrictions are what exist in the real world. The units themselves are portrayed by icon-style boxes, and can themselves be two different types. You can choose to have a silhouette of the respective vehicles, or a standard NATO representational symbol, such as a square with a cross in for infantry, or with an oval for armour. The actual unit graphics aren`t stunning, but they are more than adequate for the game. Similarly, the terrain isn`t a work of art, but it is very clear what terrain is what. The sound, on the other hand, is very good, with most of the weapons having their own distinctive sounds, making it easy to differentiate who is firing if there are a lot of units together.

The game is played with a mixture of turn-based and real-time action. Each turn consists of two phases, an Orders phase, and a Combat phase. In the Orders phase, both sides give their respective orders to their units, and then during the Combat phase, the units try to execute their orders to the best of their ability. The combat phase runs for one game minute in four pulses of 15 seconds each, showing any actions taken by the units on the battlefield. Time plays a vital part of the combat phase, with all actions being processed and then all damage taking effect at the end of each pulse, rather than at the end of each turn. Even slow-flying weapons are taken into account, such as anti-tank missiles which may be fired in the second pulse, but not impact until the third.

Regarding units at your disposal, you have pretty much everything which the US Army & Marine Corps (and the Canadian forces) have in their current inventory. You can also upgrade most units (both US and OPFOR) to what they are expected to become within the next ten years, so you can keep things in line with current real-life hardware. When a unit is selected (either on-map or from a list) you can bring up information about the unit, including information about weapons mounted on the vehicle or carried on the vehicle by infantry squads on board. Nearly all units, vehicles and weapons have a photo to accompany them, so you an see the real-life variant of what you`re using in the game. The units that the designers think will be in use in a few years time have also been included in the photo database, with the use of a little cut-and-paste to give an idea of what the new vehicles will look like. Of course, you also have air and artillery support available to you as off-map units in most scenarios.

When you`re on the battlefield, normal fog of war rules apply, i.e., you can`t see enemy units unless one of your units can see them, either visually or thermally. The range that you can see by either of these two methods can be adjusted independently, with the default being 4000 meters. So if you wanted to simulate combat under foggy conditions, you could reduce the visual spotting range to 500 meters, and the thermal to 1000, for example. Or for night combat, you would just reduce the visual spotting range, leaving the thermal at 4km. Terrain also effects the range at which you can see units. An infantry squad dug-in in the woods is visible at 100 meters, whereas if they were standing in the open in clear terrain, the squad can be seen 1 km away.

You issue units objectives as a series of orders, (up to 20). These orders can include wait 15 seconds, dig in, enter entrenchments, load or unload infantry, move to another location, change facing, or fire a smoke grenade. These orders are all executed one after the other, unless something happens to interrupt the sequence, such as coming under enemy fire. You can also press a button that gives you a time to each point, which can be very useful in coordinating attacks between several units in different locations. You can also set up Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to tell units what to do under a certain set of circumstances. For example, when coming under enemy fire, you can instruct a unit to unload any infantry, pop a smoke grenade, and reverse a specified distance.

When it comes to issuing orders regarding weapons fire, your control over the units is considerable. You can set weapon ranges so that your units only open up at a certain range, preferred targets types, specific unit targets, target reference points so only units entering a specified radius of a certain point will be fired upon, and high and low priority orders. The high and low priority orders can be used to tell a unit how to open fire. For example, a low priority order to attack only enemy armoured personnel carriers will make the unit search for any APC`s first, but if none are within its line of fire it will attack another unit. A high priority order will tell the unit to not open fire if there are no targets of the specified type. This function can also be used for specific unit targets, and target reference points. All the above can be combined to simulate real-world orders very well, allowing you to launch surprise attacks, or concentrate your fire from several units at a certain point.

To tailor the game for either realism or fairness of gameplay, there are several options you can select, such as thermal imaging equipment on OPFOR tanks and anti-tank weapons, whether smoke grenades or artillery-delivered smoke-screens defeat thermal sighting, and other options. These are mostly incorporated to make up for a deficiency in the real-world OPFOR units, and to make the game a little fairer in a two-player situation (which can be either mail, email, serial link, network or two players on one computer). One of the options is an adjustable time limit for orders, and this really does help add pressure when playing two-player, and helps re-create some of the hectic rush that must be so predominant in a real life situation.

Another way to tailor the game is to create or modify your own scenario. You can do this by modifying an existing scenario, or create your own from scratch by loading in one of the supplied maps, adding friendly and enemy units from a large list, setting up any options you want, and then saving it as a new game. This can then only be played two-player, not against the computer. You can, however, play the computer if your custom scenario is just one of the built-in ones that you`ve modified.

The game manual is a nice chunky one, with lots of information about not only how to play the game, but how to play it well. I found it easy to read through, and clearly written. There is a very good FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section in the manual, with sections on anti-tank guided missiles, artillery, air support, casualties and vehicle damage, the computer opponent, e-mail play, formations, graphics, victory levels, minefields, movement, OPFOR, resupply, spotting, SOP, terrain, surprise, thermal sights, and more! (phew!) The few questions I had about the game were in there, and I suspect that most people will be able to find the answers they want in there too.

There is also a very good tutorial in the manual, along with a strategy and tactics guide written by the game designer and his chief playtesters, some of whom are military professionals. It`s broken down into basics, offense, defence, artillery, retreats, helicopter use, and tactical tips. This also makes good reading, and most (if not all) of the ideas would probably hold true for any decent strategy game.

As you have probably guessed if you`ve read the whole review, I an very impressed with this game. It has every good idea that I`ve ever thought I`d like to see in a strategy game, and I can`t think of a single fault. I can think of a few suggestions of things I`d like to see in the game, such as being able to use other countries armies other than the US and what is basically the Russian army, but I can think of nothing bad about the game. I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart that this is the best serious strategy game I have ever played, because it`s probably the best one ever written. If you buy this game and disagree with me, then you`re either not playing it right, or medically insane.

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Rating: 9/10 (Classic- Must buy!)
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