Operation Body Count (PC)

I first experienced Operation Body Count as a demo in the 90s. I need to reiterate the word “demo” there. I only ever purchased the full versions of the games I knew would be great. Was I a gaming snob? No. I was just poor.

Although I’ve fondly remembered the game since them, some of the details have become foggy. One detail, however, has always remained very, very clear: the horrifying “game over” screen. That image has been seared into my brain for all time. Whenever the player runs out of health in the game, he or she is first bombarded with the blood-curdling scream of the main character’s final moment. The scream is so unnecessary and shocking it truly feels like a punishment for sucking at the game. The screen then cuts to a poorly animated blonde man in a trench coat smiling satanically at the camera, who simply yells “you lose!!!” The horror music peaks, and then the main title reappears. That’s it. This segment destroyed me as a child. Here is the YouTube clip:

STOP LAUGHING! For the love of God that used to scare me. Sure, I know how cheesy it is now. But you must realize that, as a stupid kid, that simple phrase uttered by that man signified a failure. Not the kind of failure that can be amended by trying the level over again. No. This failure felt like it couldn’t be undone. It was final.

I recently stumbled upon the full version of the game and decided that Operation Body Count would be a great place to start my GameCola reviews.

“In the year 2012, Foreign Terrorists led by the infamous Victor Baloch have taken control of the Twin “U.N towers” in the United States of America, capturing the leaders of the world who were holding a summit at the time….”

OK. I can stop right there. Doesn’t that sound a bit…familiar? Doesn’t it sound a bit…September Eleventh-y? Terrorists? Check. “Twin Towers”? Check. Hostile take-over? Check.

The point is (now try to follow me here) that this game takes place in the future, in buildings strikingly similar to the Trade Towers, that happened to have already been destroyed by the villains of the game. This means that not only did the game sort of predict some of the core elements of the 9/11 attacks, but that the bad guys actually won in real life. So yeah. That’s pretty messed up.

How did this game get made? Why were the graphics sub-par, even for their time? It goes a bit like this. The proverbial kings of the FPS genre, id Software (responsible for such staples as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Duke Nukem 3D), had come out with Doom a year earlier. On the coattails of id’s unsurpassed success, several companies tried to get in on the action. Capstone, the company behind Operation Body Count, was one of those companies.

The only issue was that id had not only created the great games mentioned earlier, but the engine to run them. For one reason or another, Capstone had to settle for the purchase of the Wolfenstein engine. That’s right folks. The company desperately purchased obsolete software to begin a crusade of mediocrity. Capstone quickly became the “poor man’s” alternative to the heavy hitters of the FPS genre. Note: I was apparently the poor man, because I actually played Operation Body Count BEFORE Doom. (Begin the stoning.)

Not surprisingly, the game itself plays a bit like Doom. Heck, even the stories are similar. In one game, you battle evil, vicious monsters with no souls, and the other game is Doom. (Do you see what I did there? Remember kids, people of different beliefs are dangerous. Send them back to their phony bologna gods.)

No need to thank me for the visual aid.

The object of the game is to go from floor to floor mowing down every last living creature. You cannot proceed until your “body count” (ba-zinga) meets the quota. By the way, I do mean EVERY living thing. Rats are the first enemy you will face. Apparently, they too took a solemn oath to Allah to destroy all infidels. So, yeah… They need to die. Then you have to find the exit to the next floor. In the early stages of the game, the sewer, you even encounter a “sewer terrorist.” That is the official name. Really? Sounds more like what I make in the toilet after Taco Bell (KA-BOOM, two in a row!)

Other enemies include more stereotypical-looking terrorists, aka Middle Eastern men in turbans with guns, as well as steroid-taking terrorists. The final boss, as mentioned in the synopsis, is apparently the blonde guy from my nightmare, Victor Baloch.

Wait a second. How exactly did a white guy of clearly Aryan descent with blonde hair became the leader of a group of terrorists in the first place? One can only speculate.

Oh…never mind.

The weapon system is very complex. It…takes…hours…to…master… I’m sorry, I can’t say that with a straight face. You point and shoot. That’s it. You have the standard machine guns, a flame thrower, and a rocket launcher. Something to note about the launcher is that it’s pretty badass. Not only can the player clear entire rooms with it, they can blow a hole through any wall in the inner structure of the level. That means that you can actually find secret rooms, shortcuts, and power-ups by blowing a hole in any wall. I don’t care how old the game is—that is really cool. Seriously, how many games today can you go to any wall you want and blow it up without it being predetermined by the developers?

Another interesting feature is the ability to switch between different characters on your team. The first half of the game features allies that you can actually possess and control. I found it much more economical to just kill them and take the ammo. They will be remembered.

This level went with the “static television” look for the walls.

Playing through the game can become extremely monotonous. The first five levels are just in the sewers! That’s a lot of rats and sewer terrorists. Anyway, by that time, I was already getting bored. Seriously, who has that kind of time? Don’t answer that. But I don’t. Gaming to me is a bit like an investment. You kill time in hopes that the game has a good ending and is enjoyable and rewarding the whole way through. Playing a game like this is like investing in Enron after it collapsed.

As the levels progress, the player is introduced to new weapons, power-ups, and enemies. Not many, as it seems. The majority of items can be obtained in the first seven stages. I found the game getting very frustrating at this point. The floors turned into a retarded maze. Much of my time was spent searching for one lone enemy or the exit just to get to the next stage. Whether on floor 15 or 40, the walls and floors looked pretty much the same. All sense of exploration was exhausted at this point. Still, the joy of melting enemies with my flame thrower, or turning them into piles of meat with the rocket launcher, made me smile until the final boss.

The final stage was in a library or something. I don’t know. It was full of what looked like books, enemies (including Victor), and cages for the prisoners. (Cages come standard in all libraries.) Anyway, with all the enemies dead except Victor, it was time to take my revenge. 16 years in the making, I had Victor in my sights. Surely, HE would lose! I throw down my finger onto the ctrl key and unleash the fury of my rocket launcher. He takes damage. All at once, it happens. This is it. Something is happening to him. The game almost seems to stop as Victor begins to phase out like a hologram and laugh and… And DISAPEAR?! What in the name of fuck?!?!

Before I have time to do anything, the entire screen is frozen and a giant, shitty medal is covering my vision with the word “victory.” I hit the enter key only to be immediately thrown right back into the main menu. I am stunned. I blankly stare at the screen and process what just happened.

I needed confirmation that I didn’t do something wrong or mess up somewhere. (Maybe I missed a fucking rat.) After a bit of research, I discovered that the makers of the game were anticipating a sequel. They chose for Victor to teleport before he can be killed. So there is no way to actually kill him at all. No sequel was made to this game. I am baffled.

As I shut down my computer, I hear Victor’s voice again.

“You lose.”

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