SimHQ.com - Land Combat Zone - Feature: Operation Flashpoint, Revisited

Even if you have played all three original campaigns and the entire single player missions hundreds of times, you can replay them with the ECP mod and it will be a whole new experience. Now if you want a total new online game mod, then there's only one I recommend, it's called Capture the Island, and I've become addicted to it when I have my fellow gamers on Teamspeak working together. I've called in sick more then once in order to finish a normal 4 to 6 hour game.

Capture the Island comes in different flavors, and I'm not really sure who made the first one, or which one is truly the best. My gaming group, Tactical Gamer, uses the Zeus Capture the Island modification on our CTI server. You can play this as the commander, or leave it up to the AI. The Commander decides where to move and build the command post, there, as you kill the enemy and capture cities, you win money, the more money, the more units and more toys you can buy. First you start with a barracks, then a light vehicle shop, move up to heavy vehicles then helicopters. So as the game progresses you earn more weapons and equipment to buy.

You start out by yourself, of course other players may be in the game world also… but as you capture towns and earn money, you can buy soldiers and then, next thing you know, you have a full squad with support weapons and AT weapons. You pick the next town to take over and move out towards that town. What is great about having other human players is that you can coordinate with each other either using the in game tools (you do know you can write on the maps for all to see, don't you?) or the preferred method, Teamspeak, or something similar.

You can then work together, you controlling your squad, while your buddy, or buddies, control their own squad.

Situation: You go prone on a hill top overlooking the city, you order your squad to stop/go prone, and then you use your binoculars to check for enemy units in the nearby town. You form a plan, "I'm going to take my squad and advance into the North side of the town, once I get the enemies attention, flank from the West with your squad and move in for the kill."

Once both squads get in position, you put your plan into action, and call in the flanking squad when ready. Another town captured, more money for more toys.

You can do the same thing in armor units, buying either an empty vehicle or tank, or one already filled with troops; you can control them just like you would a squad of infantry. The game play you get with this mod is incredible, and once you start a game it's hard to leave it… just one more town, one more city… OK, two more, no three.

You can check out Zeus CTI mod here.

Check out these screenshots of the Capture the Island game mode. Notice the maps, the units, and the towns/cities to capture.