Operation Wolf makes a bang on Job onto the Home Consoles as it did in the Arcades.
Platform: NES, SMS
Developer: Taito Corporation
Publisher: Taito Corporation
Genre: Light gun Shooter
Age Rating: N/A
Release Date: 1988
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Game Score: 7.0/10
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Summery:
Operation Wolf makes a bang on Job onto the Home Consoles as it did in the Arcades.
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In 1987 Taito's Light gun shooter Operation Wolf was a blast in the arcades and a year it hits the home consoles with Light gun support and keeping the same pacing as the arcade game did.
As an American solider it's your job to Rescue the Hostages from the Terrorists. You go through 6 different levels with each having different objectives in each level. Your main goal is to take out all enemies on the screen til their counters reach zero letting you move onto the next area.
Level themes go from the Communication Tower, Jungle Wasteland, a Village with troops occupying it, an Ammo Dump, a Prison Camp where the Hostages are and finally the Airport where you need to get the Hostages out. For the most part the game captures the same feel as the Arcade game but you'll also have ambushes that might occur after beating a Level.
Operation Wolf either uses the controller or the Light Phaser controller together with the Controller since the gun only has one button and that's the Trigger. In other words you need to use both the controller to use the Rockets and the Phaser in each hand. Neat idea but sometimes this feels uncomfortable to use. The controller itself is unreliable because the Crosshair is uncomfortable to handle for the game even played with the default normal setting.
You'll go through the entire game blasting Soldiers, Boats, Planes, and Tanks but to avoid hurting any Civilians that get in the way. If a Civilians gets shot accidentally then you'll lose a bit of Health. Keep an eye out for Power Ups which can restore your Health and give you Extra Ammo and Rockets which you'll find along the way. If your Health drops down to 0 you'll die and you'll have to restart the level with continues, however they can only go so far. Until 5th Level you can continue if you ever die but when reaching the 5th level even you didn't use a continue until that point you'll can't play continue on if you die there making you having to restart over which is ridiculous. Over then that Operation Wolf remains nearly faithful to the Arcade Title and you'll get a couple of blasts out of it except it's quite a short game.
On graphical terms Operation Wolf doesn't look as impressive as it did in the arcade but that's console limitations, that doesn't stop the fact that it still looks alright with fine looking sprite animations despite looking pretty small and most enemies rush in from both sides of the screen. The sound effects aren't to impressive, you'll have to put up with some annoying ding noises.
It's a short ride but there's some replay value for Highscores to be had in Operation Wolf. If you enjoyed the game then here's your chance to experience it in the home as Operation Wolf makes a bang on Job onto the Home Consoles as it did in the Arcades.
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The Pros:
1. Excellent pacing of each level in the game and possibility of Multiple Endings and Playthroughs
2. Plenty of Enemies and Vehicles to blow up
The Bads:
1. Using Controller and Gun at the same time feels uncomfortable
2. Short game but continues can only take you so far
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (BlaZer91)
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