Operation Body Count (DOS)

Operation Body Count

Platform: DOS Year: 1994 Developer: Capstone Software Buy: Amazon

Very few good things can be said for Operation Body Count. The game is so bad it's practically unplayable. It uses the Wolfenstein 3D engine, but the so-called "improvements" only made it slower and more confusing. Many people give up on the first stage after constantly dying to rats. If you take the time to learn how to play the game properly you'll find a few interesting quirks. Stray bullets leave marks on the walls, burning fires cause damage, the floors and ceilings are textured, the grenade launcher can actually blow apart walls, and there is a useful automap to make navigation easier.

Of course, these neat features were nothing compared to Doom (DOS) which had already been released by the time Operation Body Count hit shelves, making it seem rather old hat. Not only was it lack-luster compared to the competition, but several flaws made it a tough sell to any gamer. The graphics are uninspired and don't scale very well, which cuts down visibility. Also, the items are very hard to see. You can turn off the floor and ceiling textures to make things a little easier, but that takes away one of the game's few selling points. Damage proximity is very misleading--rats can bite you from four feet away. Unlike Wolfenstein 3D it's hard to tell when you've activated an enemy because they don't shout out, and you can actually walk right through some of them. Probably the worst part of the game is the mindless repetition. You'll have to fight your way through forty floors, each being nearly identical to the last. The final boss is a weakling who only takes a few shots making the ending totally anti-climactic.

Overall, Operation Body Count could have been a good game if it spent a few more months in development, and came out about a year earlier.

Screenshots

Introductory. The title screen. Main menu. About to blast some fat slob. Breakable glass YOU LOSE!!!

Music

Joe Abbati composed a pretty good soundtrack for this crappy game. But the implementation of the music was rather weak. While the title and menu always uses the same music, the music of each stage is completely random. The game just picks one of the ten possible songs and starts playing it. If you die, it picks another one at random. No attempt is made to have the music fit the theme of each level, but then the levels' themes are all nearly identical anyway.

Poor implementation aside, each track offers a nice foreboding sound that is quite fitting in the lower levels, but seems a little out of place once you get into the building.

Recording

Output prefixes:

1. - PCM (Red Book CD audio rip)
2. - OPL2 (Sound Blaster / Ad Lib Music Synthesizer Card)

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
101	CD Track 2	Joe Abbati	7:49		Download
102	CD Track 3	Joe Abbati	5:42		Download
103	CD Track 4	Joe Abbati	7:10		Download
104	CD Track 5	Joe Abbati	7:02		Download

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
201	Introduction (A1)	Joe Abbati	2:54		Download
202	Menu (Test)	Joe Abbati	1:37		Download
203	Music 1 (Try)	Joe Abbati	4:15		Download
204	Music 2 (NBC)	Joe Abbati	2:27		Download
205	Music 3 (NUBC)	Joe Abbati	3:16		Download
206	Music 4 (Test X2)	Joe Abbati	3:09		Download
207	Music 5 (Level 2)	Joe Abbati	4:44		Download
208	Music 6 (Slay 1)	Joe Abbati	2:32		Download
209	Music 7 (Menu)	Joe Abbati	0:40		Download
210	Music 8 (Heavy 1A)	Joe Abbati	5:54		Download
211	Demo Version Music 1 (Intro)	Joe Abbati	0:42		Download
212	Demo Version Music 2 (Menu 1)	Joe Abbati	0:37		Download

Credits

• Ripper: Csabo
• Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
• Game Credits:
  • Music & Sound: Joe Abbati
  • Not Credited IMF Designer: Jason Blochowiak

(Source)

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

The IMF files were ripped from the AudioHed.BC, AudioMus.BC, and AudioT.BC files using eXtensible WAD Editor. The file names come from the AudioT.BC file with the IMF extension, but they have been renamed with a WLF extension for playback rate issues. The recording was made using AdPlug through Winamp. Rather than extrapolate titles from the 8-character file names, the tracks were given more generic titles since, other than the title screen and main menu, all the music is played randomly.

Audio Devices

Music
Sound

(Sources: Music, Sound 1, Sound 2)

Releases

USA Title: Operation Body Count Platform: DOS Released: 1994-??-?? Publisher: Capstone Software     EU Title: Operation Body Count Platform: DOS Released: 1994-??-?? Publisher: US Gold, Ltd.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/dos/operation-body-count - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564974-operation-body-count - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Body_Count - Wikipedia.