

There were only three player models in the initial version, with skins being used to distinguish between different special forces and terrorists. Nonetheless, there was criticism that many maps were empty and undetailed. 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.

Tactical Ops is generally considered a combination of gameplay features of Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament. This version (3.5.0) was released on March 16, 2005. In 2004, fans of the game got permission from Atari to create a patch. The game was developed by Kamehan Studios, the last version being 3.4.0. Het verschil met de normale 1st persons shooters is dat je in Tactical Operations (net als in Halflife Counterstrike) dood bent als je dodelijk geraakt wordt. In deze modificatie is het de bedoeling diverse missies op te lossen als Terrorist of als anti-terrorist force. The retail version is a standalone which does not require Unreal Tournament and contains additional maps not found in the free download. Tactical Operations is een modification gebouwd op de Unreal Engine. 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.

Tactical Ops Assault on Terror is an online multiplayer video game with similar gameplay to Counter-Strike.
