Operation Wolf

Developer: Taito     Publisher:Taito     Released: 1989     Genre: Action

I’ve never been the biggest fan of light gun games. I was not enamored with Duck Hunt when the NES launched and outside of Gum Shoe found the NES Zapper useless.  I respected light gun games in the arcade but sure as hell didn’t spend my money on them. First of all, they usually cost double your typical arcade game; I could play Street Fighter twice with that money!  Every so often one would catch my eye, like Battle Clash on the SNES. Operation Wolf is not one of those titles.  What was a respectable game in the arcade loses all of its magic on the NES.

Although Operation Wolf was made for a light gun it hit nearly every platform under the sun, many of whom did not have such a peripheral. The NES did not have that problem, making Operation Wolf one of the few games that supported the Zapper.  Unfortunately the Zapper is not the most accurate peripheral in the world which makes playing the game a chore. You can also use a controller but the chances of clearing more than two levels is almost zero.  I can appreciate the effort but this version of the game is better left on the shelf.

I’ve mentioned that the controller isn’t the most ideal way to play the game but it works out better than the Zapper.  The Zapper used the infrared technology of the 80s which was incredibly finicky.  It was inaccurate and slow to calibrate, which in a game that requires fast response time is suicide.  While moving the cursor isn’t as intuitive as pointing at the screen it works better in the long run.  What makes the controller better is that you have rapid fire which becomes critical as you need to destroy choppers and tanks regularly.  The hit detection is not the greatest but overall the experience is better, such as it is.

Operation Wolf differs from most light gun titles in that the levels do not have a set length.  You need to kill a set number of soldiers, tanks, and helicopters in each stage before it ends.  The game also throws in a few wrinkles, like saving hostages which in this case means don’t shoot them as they slowly walk by.  Once you’ve met these requirements the level ends.  A given stage can be as short as a few minutes or a ten minute nightmare depending on your skill.  It also means you control the pacing somewhat.  Destroy all the helicopters early and they stop appearing.  Soldiers are more abundant and with them out of the way you can focus on the heavier armored targets.  Being able to vary your approach keeps the game from getting stale.

The NES version differs from the arcade in that you tackle the levels in a set order.  This ends up working against it for a few reasons.  By plotting out your earn route you could tackle the more difficult stages when convenient.  Hitting the ammo dump and gaining precious supplies would prepare you for the airport or prison camp.  In fact you could skip most of the game by doing so.  Because of the set order you will be low on supplies by the time you reach the later stages, if you even manage that far.  The level order creates an extremely high difficulty curve that is off putting to say the least.

Regardless of which control method you use Operation Wolf is going to kick you in the teeth.  The game desperately needed to be re-balanced around the NES limitations as it suffers due to its heavy difficulty.  I’ve already mentioned how inaccurate the Zapper is which leads to wasting ammo.  Unless you play near perfectly you will always be on the verge of running out. The number of soldiers needed for progress gets higher and higher and they are relentless.  There is never enough ammo and grenades and the game starts to feel unfair.  Even worse, most levels have one health power-up and the game does not refill your life bar between stages. As is Operation Wolf isn’t fun after the first two levels.

In Closing

They certainly tried. Operation Wolf could have been a decent game but is a waste of time. Lacking visuals and bad controls mean you should seek your action thrills elsewhere.