• * Pentium MMX 200Mhz or faster
• * 24 MB RAM
• * 8x CD-ROM
• * 60 MB Free hard drive space
• * DirectX compatible sound and video card
• * Windows 95 or higher
• * DirectX 5.0 or higher

Recommended System (with 3Dfx card):

• * Pentium 133Mhz or faster
• * 24 MB RAM
• * 8x CD-ROM
• * 60 MB Free hard drive space
• * 3Dfx graphics accelerator card
• * DirectX compatible sound and video card
• * Windows 95 or higher
• * DirectX 5.0 or higher

Zombie studios has completed work on its much awaited 3rd person shooter Spec Ops and it should be in stores throughout the US on April 20. The game which is tauted as "the first in a series of incredibly realistic, action-oriented, real-time 3D third-person games based on elite warfare units, with the emphasis on action and realism," delivers in a very big way. The graphics are so enveloping you can easily find yourself just gazing out and taking in all the beauty of the surrounding area, and almost forget you are on a time critical mission. I say almost because the enemy AI won’t let you forget why you’re here. Zombie has created a proprietary technology called "Viper", from which they give us incredibly realistic AI, some of the best you will find in a game today, as well as some extremely impressive graphics.

With all of today’s first person shooters it’s refreshing to see an intelligent, 3rd person shooter like Spec Ops. There have been people asking about a first person perspective, and even I myself wanted it but when you play this game you’ll find you have better situational awareness in the 3rd person, as well as being able to enjoy the amount of eye-candy this game brings to your machine. This is not a rehash of the first person shooters we are all used to today by any means; this is more a thinking persons combat game.

The game is set up as a series of missions set in different areas of the world; Russia, North Korea, Columbia, Honduras and Afghanistan. The areas are each beautiful and highly detailed, as are all the objects in the game. It’s games like this that make you glad you bought that 3DFX card, and it will make those who haven’t go buy one. The intro that starts the game off is a series of still photos of real Army Rangers in training and action with a narrator reading the "Ranger Creed", it’ll get you motivated to go KATN (kick a$$, take names). You then move onto the Main Menu where you pick your level of difficulty (Pvt. thru Sgt.) and then the mission you will tackle. (although there are 5 missions, each with its own series of phases, you can only do them in sequential order)

There are 5 different areas you will be playing in, each with their own series of phases. You start with the Voronye Forest mission in Russia (which was also part of the demo released by Zombie several weeks ago.) and are greeted with an intro video of still photos with text explanations of the background to why you and your Rangers are being sent in. In the first phase, an Aurora has crashed and you must retrieve the Starlos Data module and extract with it. After picking the first mission to take out the enemy TOC you are asked to choose your two Rangers you will use for this mission, you will have different choices for each phase dependant on the situation. Snipers, grenadiers, riflemen etc will be at your disposal throughout the game each with specific weaponry and capabilities you can use to accomplish your missions.

You will only have control of 2 Rangers for every mission and phase you will play. This has been done to keep control easy and still allow for flexibility, you can easily switch between each Ranger using the Tab key. Once you choose your men you are given a quick briefing on what your objectives are and they are shown to you by an orbital rotating camera view. Then you are ready to start.

Be aware you are in a very time critical situation and your missions will be timed accordingly. This is where you must have a good balance of aggressiveness and caution to successfully negotiate all of the missions without losing either or both of your men, as well as being able to accomplish all the objectives in the time given. There is no map function nor do you get to view a map prior to your mission, so you are in essence "flying blind". The times and amounts of enemies you face will vary with each phase. In the first Mission (Voronye Forest), you will face on average 25 + enemies the first and last phase and 10 – 15 during the second phase. These phases can be accomplished in about 5 minutes each.

Graphically this has to be one of the best games out there in this genre. The movements of all soldiers in this game have been motion captured using actual US Army Rangers and it gives you a great feeling of being there. The 3DFX support is excellent with beautifully textured terrain, translucent smoke and flames, and lighting effects that give great atmospheric quality to the game.

I especially like the way enemy soldiers "die" when shot, they crumple to the ground moaning and sometimes you can even see the soldier crawling for a few feet before eventually giving up the "virtual ghost". I also enjoyed using a satchel charge on a BMP and watching not only the BMP go up in smoke, but the blast also cleared out the nearby trees so fast Paul Bunyon himself would be proud.

Hearing the enemy soldiers call out in their native tongue is also another way in which Zombie is striving to bring a sense of realism to the game. I don’t speak any of the languages in this game but everytime I hear a North Korean soldier call out, it always sounds to me like he’s saying "filet mignon". It’s the little details like this that really impressed me, Zombie obviously took their time and worked hard to bring us a great level of realism and playability.

Player control is accomplished through either the keyboard or a combination of mouse and keyboard. The mouse also comes in very handy in Sniper Mode, which is a really nice way to reach out and touch someone. In sniper mode you are basically in a first person perspective and have your choices of different powered scopes, bino’s and NVG’s depending on the weapon/equipment you have.

Sniper mode is an extremely valuable recon tool as you can see a great distance ahead of you giving you a heads up as to what’s ahead. In this mode you control your view with the mouse and have complete control over where you aim, nothing better than taking aim at an enemy 100 or so meters away and dropping him, gives me the warm fuzzies inside. A help screen with explanations of all the keyboard commands is easily accessed through the F1 key.

Your Rangers have several movement options, run, walk, crouch, lie flat, and roll. The enemy as well will use the same movements against you and with the AI the Viper technology brings to this game, they do so quite well. Although you have all these movement options I’ve found you will usually do most of your movement through running due to time constraints and the amount of territory you need to explore and cover. The time factor can be removed if so desired simply by pressing the "T" key, which puts you in "training mode". Using this will allow the player free reign through the game and plenty of time to explore these detailed landscapes and plan your moves ahead without the pressure of a time limit.

Which brings me to the few things I found in need of some work. Zombie is already at work on a patch, which should be released in about 6 weeks and will be available at their web site [url]http://www.zombie.com.[/url] This patch will provide OpenGL support, keyboard reconfiguration, improved mouse control, and joystick/gamepad support. They are also working on some bug fixes to improve game play.

I have found only a few bugs in this game, which is a great show of how well Zombie has worked on this project. The problems I found were with your Ranger partners AI and Close Quarter Battle (CQB). When you are moving you are able to give commands to your partner (move up, fire ‘em up, hold up etc) which is essential to ensure you work together. I’ve found that your partner gets easily stuck behind terrain and man made obstacles too often, leaving you by your lonesome. When you TAB to the other Rangers control you can get him free of this and move him up. But while doing this, the other Ranger, the one you were originally controlling moves back to your current position to follow your lead. (you can stop him by calling out a "hold up" order) This can become frustrating at times, but it doesn’t kill the gameplay.

CQB is when you are in close proximity to your enemy and are charging him, guns blazing. Continually I’ve found that you end up expending more ammo when you come up close on him, than if you fire from a distance. You can be literally on top of the enemy and still be missing. I hope this is one of the bug fixes included in the patch, although I can recall the same thing happening in the old EA game Seal Team. There is no enemy randomization, which I feel kind of hurts the replayability of the game. If there were random placement of the enemies it would put a different twist on the game each time. Another minor bug I’ve found is that fences seem to be a good barrier for the enemy to hide behind as any rounds you fire do not seem to get through, but his sometimes do.

In the current market where one of the first questions out of a lot of gamers’ mouths is "does it have multiplayer?", Spec Ops doesn’t include this feature with this release. There are already plans for a Multiplayer Expansion Pack due this fall, which will provide LAN, modem2modem, and Internet play as well as three new missions based on real Ranger operations (Grenada, Panama, Somalia).

Overall the game is an outstanding piece of work and Zombie has a winning formula here with their new Viper technology and their dedication to realism. I’ve given this game a 90% rating for many reasons, the graphics are top notch and the balance between reality and playability is very strong in this game. Add in the patch in a couple of weeks, and the Expansion Pack in the fall and I can’t see how anyone would want to pass this one up! This is the game that others will surely try to imitate.

COMBATSIM.COM RATING: 90% (a possible 95% when the patch comes out)

Core Complexity Rating – 25 (makes this an easy game to hit the ground running with)

• Gameplay - 90
• Graphics - 95
• Sound - 95
• Intelligence/AI – 80
• User Interface/Mission Planner - 90
• Fun Factor - 95
• Learning Curve (in hours) 1 – 2 (very easy to learn)
• Overall Rating - 90

For a single mission briefing go to: Special Ops: Korea