The fifth game in the Conflict series, Denied Ops is Pivotal's attempt to bring Conflict to a wider audience even if this means they are forced to cut down the very elements that made the previous titles so popular. It's a gamble to dismiss the tactical features to grant extra speed and transform the whole concept into a fast paced shooter, especially when you have a low budget available for such endeavor.

Denied Ops is set in today's volatile political climate, where two convert field operatives are send by the US government to acquire vital information about the terrorist network lead by General Ramirez. Lang and Graves are the agents to be dispatched behind enemy lines to deal with this menace, and their mission gradually evolves from gathering crucial intelligence to shutting down the entire criminal organization.

While the government wants no association with this operation, Lang and Graves have to rely on each other to overcome the numerous threats even if they are not very excited to work together. Graves is a former Delta force sniper who looks down to his younger partner and will always keep it cool even when the situation tends to become desperate. Lang on the other side is a black guy wielding a machine gun and a rocket launcher, the kind of street wise individual we've all had the chance to see in class B movies.

The combat zones are no longer real-world war areas but instead you'll fight your way through imaginary location scattered all over the planet against different factions of this rogue terrorist network. Choosing the order to complete the campaign has just a minor effect and I assume the reason for changing the war zones so frequently is just to create variety and prevent the gamer from getting bored too soon. Unfortunately these areas just look different but the action is pretty much the same and it frequently ends with a hot LZ you have to clear before extraction.

Pivotal has gone to great lengths to increase the speed in this latest addition and in this aspect they've achieved the most, as this is by far the most dynamic game of the series. Controlling your small team is harder that it seems and it's most likely that you'll resort to using just one character for most of the mission while giving concise orders to your AI controlled teammate. Each agent has just one main weapon so switching between them feels more like changing your gear to take on a different challenge rather than assisting your teammate.