Do you know what a chrichothyroidotomy is? You are about to find out.

Operation Vigilant Fury was supposed to be a small action, designed to quell a little violence in the Middle East. Of course the top brass must have known something was up, why else send Special Forces into the area.

But this isn’t an ordinary civil uprising; this is well organized and carries implications on a global scale.

Your job is not to fight the battles. Your job is to save the lives of those you are with.

That is the premise behind Combat Medic: Special Ops, a PC release from Legacy Interaction and Alpine Studios. Legacy Interactive prides itself on publishing games that emulate real-life, and this certainly is no different. This game was developed with the guidance of real-life Special Forces combat medics, and can be as intense as it gets.

There is a particular sense of disattachment when you play a shooter game and are dispatching the enemy. But when you get to the other side, as in attempting to save lives, the whole scenario takes on a different look and feel and can leave the game player with a disconcerting feeling.

There are 10 missions in this game and you are scored on how well you performed, if you can accrue enough points, you move ahead to the next mission. It is easier said than done.

You can begin the game by going through training scenarios. There are three: the first involves combat and patient evacuation; the second will have you practicing field treatments; and the third is a full mock mission. You will have to select an on-screen avatar, with each of the available characters possessing different strengths.

And if you thought all you would do is wait around until someone cries out for your services, think again. There was a time when medics were untouchable; the red or white cross was a sign to leave that individual alone. That changed decades ago. The cross became a target and was discarded. Now medics carry weapons and are active members of the assault team.

A briefing precedes each mission, and you will be responsible for loading your backpack. The latter function changes with the difficulty level you are playing at. If at the novice or intermediate, you will have some items automatically placed in your medical backpack. If you are playing at the expert level, you will have to choose everything that goes into your pack.

You never know what you will face in the field. You may just have a soldier who is having a mental breakdown induced by the battle, or you may face an amputation, or blast injuries. The fortunate part of all this is that you don’t have to be a real doctor to successfully save an injured soldier. You will receive audio and text help.

The control elements have been kept surprisingly simple, considering the scope and nature of game play. This is a mouse-driven game, incorporating the drag-and-drop style that makes it player friendly. You simply click on the right tool and then click on your patient. That will apply the tool.

The game sound is solid and does a good job of supporting the graphical elements. As to the latter, the copy of the game received did not have a rating, and considering the nature of the game, this could have been a nightmare. Even though there is a lot of blood, and simulated (nasty) wounds, the game has a Teen rating.

The game’s rendering can be a little blocky, and some of the environmental elements look a little pixilated, but Combat Medic does a good job of actualizing the conditions and battle environment with a myriad of views (first person and overhead), mostly with a three-dimensional look.

This is not a game that is for the faint of heart. Combat Medic: Special Ops may have thrown the arcade scoring system into the mix, but this game does an excellent job of emulating real-life conditions in combat. It will not be to everyone’s taste, that is certain, but it is an eye-opening experience.

The game rating is undoubtedly for violence, blood and language.

Gameplay: 7
There were some issues with the game and the graphics card. The game will accept a 32-bit color set-up, but prefers 16-bit. There may have been some stability issues, simply because the game failed to launch a couple of times, and a system check showed no problems with the host machine. However, once in a mission, the action and flow is intense.

Graphics: 7.5
There is blood and nasty wounds that you will not be able to shy away from. The rendering does a good job of showing the repercussions of war, though perhaps not as strong as it could have been, but then that is a mixed blessing where this game is concerned. While some games strive for graphics that look life-like, it may have been too much where this game is concerned.

Sound: 7.5
The voice acting is solid, and the effects do a good job of placing players into the fray. (On a personal note: portraying real life visually is one thing, and perhaps adding the language used further stresses the reality of the program, but having been in the military, there are certain phrases that children don’t really need to have added to their vocabulary.)

Difficulty: Medium
There are three difficulty levels in this game, and players experiencing it at the novice level are given some breaks. The control elements are kept player-friendly, but expect a learning curve to become comfortable under the duress of combat.

Concept: 8
This is a hard category, simply because this game does an exceptional job of immersing players in a real situation, but it is a mixed blessing.

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 7.3
This game is the other side of every first-person-shooter program you have ever played. Yes, you will get to do a little shooting, but that is not your primary job. Arcade elements may introduce the unreality of the situation, but this game has done a pretty good job of introducing “real-life” elements. It is a tough game to recommend, even though it is a well-done game.