Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising

Flight Journal, Dec 2004 by Marks, Bob

NOVALOGIC HAS BEEN MAKING GREAT first-person shooters for many years, primarily with games geared toward the multiplayer market. Having run games over its Nova World server network for so long, it has developed one of the smoothest sets of network code in the industry. NovaWorld's servers easily handle dozens of players with nary any lag or stuttering and that allows very complex and coordinated play with friends. Until recently, however, none of those sims have made sufficient use of what's really important-aircraft-to attract the attention of the virtual pilot. With the release of Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising, however, that has changed.

Set in the jungles and rice paddies of Indonesia during a present-day fictional but highly believable conflict, this excellent, combined arms simulation/shooter game makes heavy use of helicopters. The helicopters are an effective way to insert and extract troops from hot spots, and they provide awe-inspiring close-air support when equipped with mounted mini-guns. Whirlybirds can be notoriously difficult to fly, but thanks to a simple, yet very effective, keyboard-andmouse-operated control interface, even the most rotor-phobic virtual pilot will master the helicopter operation.

As you fly low over the palm trees and tall grass, the breathtaking complexity of the lush landscape gives an incredible sensation of speed. This same tropical greenery also hides deadly snipers and bad guys who have shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles. Flying low and using the available terrain for cover is the best recipe for staying alive, although having an alert crew of gunners in the back helps keep the bad guys pinned down. When landing and joining the grunts on the ground, the huge expanse of most of the maps and the dense foliage truly make this shooter one of the most immersive ever made. Was that movement off to the west? Better to be safe than sorry: call for a buddy to strafe the tree line!

Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising does have a single-player component, but apart from the excellent training missions that are designed to get the rookie player up to speed, offline play goes stale quickly. Online is where the true heart of the game lies. The huge maps, large numbers of online players and incredibly detailed terrain of the sim come at a price. A fairly hefty gaming rig is required to run it at higher, prettier settings, but it has been my experience that lesser machines can run the game when some of the eye-candy is turned down.

For the virtual pilot who is willing to mix it up with the ground-pounders between sorties, the thrill of online combat doesn't get much better than this.

-Bob Marks

Joint Operations: Typhoon. Rising:

Publisher/Developer: NovaLogic

Platform: PC CD-ROM

System requirements (recommended): Windows XP, 2.4GHz processor (or higher), 512MB RAM, DX9 compatible 128MB AGP4X video card

Available: now

Price: $39.95

Website: www.jointopsthegame.com

AT A GLANCE

Highs: beautifully rendered lush terrain is useful for skulking and low-level flight; huge maps; supports a multiplayer environment; accessible flight modeling.

Lows: requires a heavy-duty machine to run; the "realism" of the weapons can sometimes be frustrating.

Bottom line: with big maps, clever game play and a well-written Internet code that supports dozens of players online at once, NovaLogic's newest combined-arms battlefield shooter is a real winner.