Gameplay is as mentioned before an on-rails scrolling shooter meaning the screen continuously scrolls left to right or vice versa with you simply concentrating on the enemy soldiers, tanks, helicopters, boats etc. These soldiers will either smoothly scroll in at various distances on the screen and sometimes even pop up right in front of you. Helicopters are for the most part the thing that will get you killed as they require much more attention and always come along right before a couple of soldiers jump up in front and proceed to play a game of Stabby Stabby with you.

It’s all very smooth and the Master System maintains a mostly flicker free experience however there are some instances of this, mainly when grenades are used or helicopters explode. Several enemies will appear on screen at once however not as many as the original which is a real shame because it’s here where Operation Wolf falls down for me on Master System, it’s just so damn easy. The computer version on the Spectrum is way harder and has a much worse architecture so this makes no sense at all. With only 6 levels the whole game is over in less than 20 minutes and using the light phaser means it’s even easier than playing with a pad or mouse etc.  Graphically however it does look lovely with some great use of colour and on this I can’t fault it, sure it’s not anywhere near as great as the arcade but it’s well detailed and certainly looks the part. 

The classic theme tune is there of course in all it’s 8-Bit glory and is very recognizable however none of the speech or intro talking is present so although the cut scenes do remain from the original a lot of the impact is lost. Sound effects are mostly fine and in all honesty sonically it’s perfectly acceptable but for a game this famous it’s certainly a missed opportunity I feel. Presentation is solid with some great artwork showing how well you are doing in the story and in static screenshots they look just as impressive as they once did when this game was first released. There’s very few options or extra things to do once you have completed it and certainly no special Sega only content for this Master System version so it’s longevity is seriously compromised here as well. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that some games age supremely well, even from the vintage or classic era, Super Mario Bros will always be as impressive as the first day it came out for example, however Operation Wolf on the Sega Master System is not one such videogame. It looks very pretty but at the same time feels quite empty, think Supermodel and you won’t go far wrong. It’s clearly a rushed version and the lack of enemies on screen and without a hard difficulty level or at least double the arcades stages means that as soon as you get into it, it’s basically over. 

Some versions such as the monochrome ZX Spectrum version just felt better then, played better and were much more of a challenge and the many years since they both came out has shone a light on just how old and tired the Sega version is.

For the power of the console, the pedigree of the game and the fact you get to use the Sega Light Phaser this is a criminal missed opportunity to deliver yet another defining arcade game at home experience. Whilst it’s sort of fun to play it has absolutely no life in it. It’s a barking dog that when you look over the garden gate shows itself to be a tiny little rat like creature. A massive shame then and even more so now. Time is sometimes not very kind at all.