Windows

Operation Blockade

In the end, Operation Blockade comes off as the best game of its type. It's great for a mindless diversion and since missions last between five and fifteen minutes, you can play for a bit and then get out if you like. Graphically, it has no equal in its category, and the value price is perfect. The other major strongpoint is that anyone can play it. When one of the other editors had to bring his son into the office for a day, we were able to keep him entertained with the game for hours, and he is only six years old.

The game is very easy to hop into and start playing. The short of it is, just shoot anything that moves. There are only a handful of commands that one needs to know to play successfully. Commands like throwing grenades, calling in a bombing run, calling in a torpedo, and calling in an air strike. Some of these commands are key when ammo is low. Watching your ammo supply is important to being successful. If you run out of ammo, you will make great target practice for the enemy. You can replenish your health and supplies by destroying cargo ships and Junkers.

In the absence of any variations or glamorous special effects, it's lacking any compelling reason for the player to trudge forward. Incoming's successor, Incoming Forces, did a great spin. In the original, you were the humans or good guys defending against alien attack in a variety of vehicles and fixed emplacements. The successor put you in the shoes of the alien turning the game around completely. Sadly, such sparks of creativity and innovation cannot be found in Blockade.

I would prefer the soothing comfort of a spork being gouged in my eye rather than playing a few more minutes of this game. To get a good grasp of how shallow this game is, just take a look at the manual. There is nothing. There are ten pages of actual game play information and six pages of legal mumbo-jumbo. A 5-3 ratio of game play to legal notes says a lot about the game. To make matters worse, there are no in-game options to explain how the game is played. In other words, you actually have to pick up the manual and read it. I don't remember the last time I actually had to do this.

And anyway, you're better off not playing Operation Blockade at all. Though the game has some good-looking graphics and some pretty good sound, they were wasted on an unenjoyable, repetitive action game that should itself be blockaded from your hard drive.

Right about now you should have concluded that the news about Operation Blockade is that the game is utter crap. However, it gets worse. The manual shows advertisements for three more upcoming games in this great saga of low-priced WWII "action" titles. While I have yet to see the next games, based on my the sour taste I've gotten from OB, there's no doubt I shall be avoiding them like the plague. You however, should do your best to dodge enlistment for the first chapter of this of this war.