Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror

Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror is an online multiplayer computer game with similar gameplay to Counter-Strike. Though it started as a mod for Unreal Tournament in December 1999, it soon became available as a retail version, which was released in April 2002 in the United States. The retail version is a standalone which does not require Unreal Tournament and contains additional maps not found in the free download.

The game was developed by Kamehan Studios, the last version being 3.5.0.

In 2004, fans of the game got permission from Atari to create a patch. This version (3.5.0) was released on March 16, 2005. According to CSports.net, Tactical Ops is one of the 20 most popular online games.

Reception
Tactical Ops is generally considered a combination of gameplay features of Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament. Some praised Tactical Ops for its improved graphics, due mainly to the superiority of the Unreal engine over the aging Goldsrc engine used for Half-Life. Nonetheless, there was criticism that many maps were empty and undetailed. There were only three player models in the initial version, with skins being used to distinguish between different special forces and terrorists.

Tactical Ops falls between Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six in areas of realism and gameplay. As in Counter-Strike, weapons and ammunition must be bought instead of picked up in maps, and weapons must be reloaded after the clip is emptied. However, as with Unreal Tournament, movement and aiming is unaffected by injuries or stamina limits and jumping to avoid enemy fire ("bunny hopping") is a viable strategy. The game provides players frustrated with the relatively slow pace of Counter-Strike but still wanting to use realistic weapons and maps with an alternative to the Unreal series.

Although the game's main following is in Europe, a significant number of servers continue to see heavy activity in the United States.

Version 3.4 is popular in North America, and Version 3.5 is popular in Europe and South America.

Sequel
On April 1, 2005 Tactical Operations: Crossfire was announced, an unofficial sequel to Tactical Ops created by people from both the original TO team, the 3.5 patch, and TOST (Tactical Ops Serveradmin Tool, tool that helps catch cheaters). The first public beta was released on April 28, 2006. Tactical Operations: Crossfire is a free mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. So far, there are no plans to release the game in a stand-alone package. The original Tactical Ops community struggled to warm to the game due to the opinion that the gameplay did not feel similar enough to their beloved Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror; however the game was very polished in the graphics and SFX department and the maps are detailed with plenty of objects. Contrary to an earlier statement of the maps being too plain in the original Tactical Ops the community have slated having too many objects to get caught up on which can interfere with a smooth and fluid fast gameplay.  Tactical Assault Game was a mod using the UT3 engine is currently rebuild on the UDK engine from unreal its underway by a team of dedicated developers, this project is picking up steam. Tactical Assault competes in Mod DB's Mod Of The Year Competition 2008.

Weapons
Tactical Ops offers a wide range of weapons. In addition to the standard weapons listed below, many online servers run mutators featuring weapons from previous versions, including Steyr Augs, the FAMAS, Laser & Timer C4 bombs, and tear gas grenades. A new mod released for version 3.5 includes a crossbow with regular arrows and exploding bolts. The names in parentheses are used by the game in the single-player mode (for legal reasons) but are almost universally modified by the game's independently created server tools (TOST) on multiplayer servers for accuracy; thus they are rarely seen online.
 * Terrorists
 * Glock 23 (GL 23)
 * Ingram MAC-10 (UZI)
 * Mossberg 590 (Berg 509)
 * MP5 Navy
 * Saiga-12 (AS 12)
 * AK 47
 * SIG 551 (SW Commando)
 * M60 machine gun
 * Special Forces
 * Beretta 92F/FS (9F2 Glorietta)
 * Taurus Raging Bull (Raging Cobra)
 * HK SMG II (AP II)
 * MP5SD
 * Franchi SPAS-12 (BW SPS 12)
 * M4A1
 * M4A2/M203
 * HK33 (RK3 Rifle)
 * Parker Hale 85
 * Both teams
 * Desert Eagle (Black Hawk)
 * M16A2
 * MSG90 (SR 90)
 * Concussion grenade
 * Flashbang
 * Smoke Grenade
 * High Explosive Grenade

TO (Tactical Operations) Community Links

 * Official Tactical Ops website
 * Official TO:Crossfire Website (Unreal Engine 2 Game)
 * Official Tactical Assault Website (Unreal Engine 3 Game)