Flashpoint reached on Xbox

With gaming retail rapidly approaching its holiday flash point, Codemasters' Xbox tactical shooter Operation Flashpoint: Elite is rapidly approaching gaming retail.

A ported and expanded version of the 2001 PC game Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, Flashpoint: Elite includes the original game, as well as the expansion prequel campaign Resistance.

The main campaign of Flashpoint: Elite is set immediately after Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to run the Communist Party of the USSR in 1985, with players leading US forces representing the NATO coalition in taking on a renegade faction of the Soviet Army. The 15-mission expansion campaign, Resistance, is a prequel to the main campaign storyline, casting players as a Soviet resistance leader.

The game also features more than 30 authentic weapons and 40 vehicles for players to use, from Black Hawk helicopters to Abrams tanks. Flashpoint: Elite also includes play over Xbox Live with more than 50 missions (including co-op and team-based outings), and a built-in mission editor.

Developer Bohemia Interactive focused on realism with Flashpoint: Elite, going so far as to model real-time lighting and weather changes, as well as accurate constellations in the night sky by which players can navigate. Bohemia worked on the original Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, in addition to the Resistance expansion pack, and is currently working on the PC shooters Operation Flashpoint 2 and Armed Assault.

Operation Flashpoint: Elite is rated T for Teen and retails for $39.99. For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.