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I’ve been on a Beachhead kick lately. For those that don’t know, the classic Beachhead games include Beachhead 2000, Beachhead 2002, and Beachhead: Desert War. There’s also a modern entry that left early access in 2024. They are technically first-person shooters but I feel like they’re in a genre of their own. On the surface, they’re very simple games. The objective is to defend the area. You remain stationary, can switch between different weapons, can aim in almost any direction, and go from level to level eliminating waves of enemies. Well I decided to see if there were any others games out there similar to Beachhead and I can’t say I found many but among the ones I did find is Operation Blockade. Developed by ScreamingGames and published by Infogrames, Operation Blockade was released for PC in May, 2002. I had never heard of it until I went searching for Beachhead-like games and I found it as abandonware. I did use the dgVoodoo2 wrapper to ensure it runs properly and in the correct aspect ratio.
Set in a mock World War II environment, the Saruvian Empire conquers the United Sovereign Territories and you must eliminate enemy ground, air, and naval forces in an effort to take back the territories. That’s pretty much the gist of the plot. The game does come with voice acting but there’s no actual characters to interact with. The plot is simple much like the gameplay.
When I say the gameplay is “simple”, I mean it’s simple on the surface. It’s mechanically simple and it is easy to pick up and play. Operation Blockade does come with multiple difficulty levels and multiplayer but I was only able to play through the game solo. The game plays out in levels or missions and the objective of each is to defend the land or the island you’re on. You are stationary and I believe you’re supposed to be in a bunker. You can aim in almost any direction and use a variety of weapons to eliminate the various enemies that appear, and they will appear all around you. To complete a territory, you need to complete all the levels within it and then you’re typically given a special mission to complete. These are just levels with specific objectives. Complete them and the level, and you move onto the next territory, or the next territory is conquered. I’m really not sure if you’re actually stationed in these territories or if your efforts are simply helping take them back because the environments you’re in never change. As you progress, new enemies are introduced and you’ll receive new weapons or more powerful and efficient weapons that replace existing ones.
If you’re familiar with the Beachhead titles, you should be able to adapt to Operation Blockade pretty quick. It’s almost the same thing with a different coat of paint and some mechanics are slightly different. That said, I don’t think this style of game or sub-genre will be for everyone. It is very repetitive. Every level basically feels the same. Things just get more challenging as you progress. Every level tasks you with the same objective. Blow away the enemies that appear and survive and the gameplay doesn’t really vary. Even the special missions don’t offer much variety. These missions or levels are the same thing but you must destroy specific enemy types, otherwise you fail.
You’re given anti-personnel, anti-air, anti-ship, and anti-tank weapons. You can also lob grenades, and call for air support and torpedo and bombing runs. You start each level with a set amount of ammo for each weapon and the further you progress the more important it becomes to know what weapons are better for what threats. Every weapon and support call is useful for specific situations and utilizing them appropriately is the real key to survival. Enemies can and will come from any direction and there is actually a decent variety including infantry, tanks, patrol boats, U-boats, numerous ships, and all kinds of aircraft and destroying certain aircraft and ships will resupply ammo and replenish some health. You are scored based on the enemies you defeat and how much health you have left at the end of the level.
There’s really not much else to the game. As I mentioned earlier, it’s very simple. Whether you enjoy it or not will come down to getting past the repetition. That said, if a game is designed to be repetitive, like Operation Blockade, I feel that what it does do it should do well. And I would say it does. The gunplay feels pretty good in my opinion. Weapons have good audiovisual feedback, I like the infantry death animations and blood puffs that appear when they’re shot, and explosions look great. You’ll see parts go flying, aircraft will come crashing down, and ships will slowly sink into the water. In fact, one neat detail I appreciated is that you can actually see and destroy the multiple guns or turrets on the big enemy ships. I’m not going to say Operation Blockade is the greatest shooter of its generation but I feel that for this type of game, the action on offer is satisfying. Not enough to really carry it, to make up for the lack of variety, but it is fun for what it is.
Visually, I can’t say Operation Blockade looks great, even for its time. It doesn’t look terrible – I like some of the weapon and enemy models but the presentation is far from amazing. Every level looks the same, even with the different times of day. You’re always on what appears to be the same island. Despite the lackluster presentation, it is a colorful game and I like the visual effects. As for the audio, most of the weapons sound pretty good, explosions sound booming, and there’s minimal music. In fact, there is no music during gameplay. On the technical side, I had no issues getting the game running and it ran smooth in my experience.
Operation Blockade is one of those games I enjoy even though I’m fully aware of its problems. It’s repetitive and lacks variety. It’s one of those games I need to be in the mood to play but when I am, I can play for hours believe it or not. Yes, hours. Hours of sitting in front of the screen doing the same shit level after level. Operation Blockade is actually quite a long game for what it is. There’s a ton of levels and the difficulty gradually increases. But all that means is more and more enemies are thrown at you as you progress. On the plus side, it’s easy to pick up and play, there’s plenty of shit to shoot, I feel the action is satisfying, and the multiple difficulty levels, multiplayer, and scoring system are definitely some incentives to return. Yes, return. That is if doing the same thing over and over again doesn’t tire you out and you want to experience it all again with a friend or maybe on a more challenging difficulty.
I do recommend Operation Blockade. Among others of its kind, it is competent. If you like games like Beachhead or Alien Blast: The Encounter, you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s definitely part of a niche subgenre that isn’t going to be for everyone. But it is the kind of game you can easily jump into and enjoy in quick bursts or long sessions. As of this review, it’s abandonware so you can get it for free and it’s pretty easy to get running so check it out if you’re interested.