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Boiling Point: Road to Hell
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Overview
A free-roaming first person shooter set in the fictional South American country of Realia (though occasionally referred to as Bolivia in the in-game text), where the player character Saul Myers, a French Foreign Legionnaire and modelled after Arnold Vosloo, heads after his daughter, an investigative journalist, is kidnapped there. There he must cajole, befriend, bribe, intimidate, burglarize, and fight his way through the various factions struggling for power as he searches for clues to the whereabouts of his daughter. With overworked and underpaid government troops, Marxist guerrilla fighters, ruthless drug lords, predatory bandits, aboriginal tribesmen, and CIA agents all wanting his help or a bullet in his head, Saul's mission won't be easy.
Like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl which was developed in the same country, this game had Maxim R. Popenker of world.guns.ru as its "virtual armourer". Like its more contemporary genre-mate, Far Cry 2, this game has factions on a seamless 25 km x 25 km map who wage war on each other all across the landscape. Unlike the aforementioned title, however, doing missions for one faction will make NPCs of that faction initially friendly to Saul, and there are methods of "making nice" with opposing factions, either by paying enormous bribes or by killing that faction's enemies. Furthermore, thanks to the weapons skill system in the game, weapons will behave differently depending on how skilled Saul is with that particular weapon class - low skill will result in high recoil, muzzle climb, and crosshair sway when looking through a weapon's scope, while high skill in a weapon class will lower all three of those characteristics, for weapons of that class.
The weapons in this title are upgradeable, and most have realistic magazine capacities. The selection and usable ammo types for each, however, are not quite as realistic, one of the most common being silent ammunition for weapons without suppressors. Every firearm has a condition meter which will degrade over time, becoming increasingly prone to misfiring as their condition degrades. Thankfully, this degradation happens at a realistic (i.e., slow) rate. Weapons that misfire only require another pull of the trigger to try again, but at higher rates of wear, misfires can become very frequent. As a final note, guns looted off dead NPCs almost always are in poor condition so as to force the player to buy fresh ones or pay through the nose for very expensive repair kits (and if that weren't enough, service fees for actually putting upgrades to weapons and/or repairing them aren't included, unless you want to take a chance with Saul's less-than-stellar technical skills).
Handguns
Colt Anaconda
The most abundant handgun in all of Realia, the Colt Anaconda is found firmly jammed "Mexican-style" in the pants of almost every Bandit in-game, and is also used by many male civilian NPCs in the game (the latter are very quick to use them to kill Saul if they see or hear him using violence). Simply labelled the "Revolver" in-game and chambered for .44 Magnum ammunition, possessing black rubber grips and a nickel finish with a six-shot cylinder capacity, it is slower to fire, takes up more inventory space, and has less bullet capacity than the Desert Eagle the player character starts out with. Fans of Dirty Harry will be disappointed at this weapon's strangely weak stopping power in this game, as it normally takes 6 or more hits to kill an opponent.
For obvious reasons its bullet capacity cannot be upgraded (though its firing rate and reload time can be, two things that are purely a function of the shooter's skill and not dependent on a double action revolver's customization in real life), and it suffers from various graphical gaffes, detailed below. No other types of handguns are used by the civilians, which is odd given the popularity and prevalence of products from native South American firearms manufacturers, such as Taurus International.
"Hey, I'm French, not American, cuca."
"You gringos all same - no check weapon, NO ENTRAR, hijo de puta!"
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Desert Eagle
The very first firearm available in the game, the Desert Eagle is simply referred to as the "Pistol"; it is Saul Myers' personal sidearm, and is available from the start of a new game (oddly enough for a French Foreign Legionnaire). It is only used by the Police Department of Puerto Sombra outside of certain scripted NPCs, something that would never occur in real life. Its initial magazine capacity is an underloaded 5 rounds which can be upgraded to 10 rounds (however, the game never shows the gun's magazine as extending past the bottom of the grip when the magazine capacity is upgraded). The in-game Desert Eagle is always depicted as having an uncocked hammer, implying that it is capable of double-action operation, but the real Desert Eagle is single-action only which means it can only fire if the hammer is cocked. More concerningly, the safety switch on the game's Desert Eagle is always depicted as set to safe and cannot be switched off.
The exact model of the in-game Desert Eagle appears to be a composite of a few real-life models. While the game claims it is chambered in .50 Action Express, the in-game version does not have the scope rails seen on the real-life Mark XIX model, the most common variant of the handgun chambered in .50 AE. This would imply that it is in fact based on the Mark VII model, but the slide has serrations that is also only seen on a Mark XIX model.
PSS
The PSS appears in the game under the "Silenced Pistol" moniker. It is chambered for the unique 7.62x42mm cartridge, has an initial magazine capacity of 5 rounds (upgradeable to 9), and has the shortest effective range of any firearm in the game. No NPCs use it, but the weapon and its upgrades are given out as payment for completing missions offered by the CIA faction. Why an American intelligence agency would hand out a Soviet-issue black ops weapon to a "deniable agent" is never explained in-game (something more logical would be the High Standard HDM). This handgun is also one of the few firearms in this game that can only use one ammunition type, and is erroneously portrayed as a one-hit-kill weapon regardless of hit location or an opponent's body armour, possibly because the game developers assumed the cartridge's relatively long length meant it contained a large amount of smokeless powder, rather than a unique piston mechanism in the casing that allows for virtually noiseless firing without the need for a bulky sound suppressor.
Submachine Guns
IMI Mini Uzi
The only submachine gun and the only in-game firearm chambered for 9x19mm ammunition, the Mini Uzi has a magazine capacity of 20 rounds (upgradeable to 32), an unused folding stock, and can be wielded akimbo. No NPCs use this gun, but the weapon and its upgrades are awarded for completing missions for the Bandit faction. Combining two Mini Uzis in your inventory to use them together cannot be undone and destroys any upgrade(s) applied to the guns, so it's purely an option for the "cool factor". Another variant appears on some alternate box art for this game, which features a vertical foregrip but no buttstock. The Uzi is the most bugged firearm in the game, the reload animation just has a magazine disappear/appear in the Uzi and Saul "shakes it" with one hand when used single in a manner that suggests he's supposed to be pulling the bolt with a not-present left hand and the weapon's firing sounds often bugs out for the single Uzi while dual Uzis only have their firing sound work at all for the first magazine after loading a save with the Uzi's firing sound becoming completely mute after reloading.
Shotguns
Remington 870
The sole shotgun in the game, the Remington 870 fires 12 gauge buckshot shells. It has a wooden buttstock, with an initial magazine capacity is 6 (upgradeable to 10), a bead for a front sight, and no rear sight. This shotgun is used by all three major factions in the game (the Realian Government, the Marxist Guerrillas, and the Drug Lords), including the Black Soldiers, invariably by troopers wearing body armour who guard bases or are part of Search-and-Destroy teams. Like the PSS, this shotgun is restricted to only one ammo type.
While the in-game representation of shotguns in this game is more realistic than usual, in that the dynamic crosshair system dictates where the centre of the buckshot's area of effect might land, rather than the strict area that will be filled with buckshot when the weapon is fired, the weapon suffers from a couple of animation errors, such as working the pump action when the last shell is inserted rather than just when the first is inserted into an empty tube magazine. Saul will also sometimes reload the shotgun with an incorrect number of shells when the weapon's tube magazine capacity is upgraded and completely empty as well.
Similarly to the Desert Eagle, the exact depiction of this shotgun varies depending on whether it's being held by the player or by NPCs. The first-person model has what appears to be a worn and scuffed Parkerized finish, while the third-person model carried by NPCs has a much shinier finish similar to the nickel-plated finish used on the Marine Magnum version of the Remington 870, and could plausibly be used to avoid corrosion in the humid jungle environments of Realia, at the cost of being much more eye-catching to hostiles if not painted over, or camouflaged, or otherwise made less shiny.
Assault Rifles
AK-47
The AK-47 appears in the game as the "Assault Rifle", is chambered for 7.62x39mm ammunition, and has an initial magazine capacity of 30 rounds (upgradeable to 40). It is the standard-issue rifle of the leftist Guerrilla faction in-game, who also award the weapon and its upgrades for completing their missions. The AK-47 is also carried by the Black Soldiers encountered in the game's main quests. NPCs who use it always use armour-piercing ammunition that allows penetration of thin barriers. Thanks to its ubiquity, it is also the universal symbol of weapon or ammunition sellers in the game, even in some cases where such selling would be illegal and have to be covert. Rather absurdly, it is also the main firearm of the Realia taxi service as Taxi Employees armed with AK-47s will pop out of a bus if it comes under fire to defend it.
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FAMAS F1
The standard service rifle of the French Forces (and presumably Saul Myers' service weapon in the French Foreign Legion), the FAMAS in this game is erroneously nicknamed the "Battle Rifle" (when in fact its cartridge makes it an assault rifle). The FAMAS is chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO, and has an initial magazine capacity of 20 rounds (upgradeable to 30). No NPCs use this weapon or award upgrades for it, though one is given to Saul in a mission for the Bandit faction. This assault rifle is also the fastest-firing of its class in the game, which makes it harder to conserve ammunition with.
The in-game version of the FAMAS is capable of using the same 5.56x45mm ammo types used by every other in-game gun in that caliber, which is unrealistic since the FAMAS uses lever-delayed blowback operation (as opposed to the more conventional gas operation used by the majority of assault rifles) to cycle its action, necessitating steel-cased 5.56mm ammunition to contain the increased pressure. Unless every 5.56mm NATO round in the game's setting was steel-cased, a FAMAS-F1 could not realistically be expected to reliably function, as conventional 5.56mm ammunition uses a comparatively-weaker brass casing that cannot hold up to the pressures exerted by the FAMAS' action.
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IMBEL MD-3
The IMBEL MD-3 is a Brazilian-made assault rifle variant of the FN FAL; this firearm is simply called the "Combat Rifle" in-game, is chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO, has a 20-round initial magazine capacity (upgradeable to 30), has a fixed polymer stock (identifying it as the MD-3 model), and is the standard-issue firearm for the Realian Drug Lords and their hordes of thugs. While the cheapest of its class in the game to buy and upgrade, it also has the lowest effective range even when maximally upgraded.
M16A1
The M16A1 appears in the game under the assumed name "Infantry Rifle", chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO, and has a 20-round initial magazine capacity despite being modeled with a 30-round magazine (though this can be upgraded to the correct 30). It is the standard-issue weapon of the Realian military, and upgrades for the rifle are awarded for completing missions for commanding officers at military bases.
Steyr AUG A1
The Steyr AUG A1 appears in the game under the name "Assault Carbine", has a 30-round initial magazine capacity (upgradeable to 42), is chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO, and is one of the only three weapons with a usable scope, and one of only two firearms with a scope. No NPCs use it but one Realian military mission does award upgrades for the weapon.
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Sniper Rifles
SVD Dragunov
The sole firearm of its type in the game, the SVD Dragunov is referred to as the "Sniper Rifle" in-game, is chambered for 7.62x54mmR, and has an initial magazine capacity of 5 rounds, upgradeable to 10. It is also the only other scoped firearm in the game. No NPCs use it in-game, but it is seen in one cutscene where a sniper assassinates one of Saul's contacts before he can divulge some information.
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Machine Guns
Unknown Machine Gun
This machine gun is only seen on the title screen, but does form an essential part of one the more unique graphical interfaces of the genre. It is a right-side-loading machine gun with a bipod, and the bullets on the belt form the interface buttons. Clicking on one causes the current set of options to be "fed" (though not actually fired) into the machine gun, while the ammunition belt advances to the next set of options. No casings or belt links are seen dropping out of the other side of the gun when the options change.
FN M240D
What appears to be a low-detail M240D is seen mounted on the "Piranha" jeep, as well as the few tanks seen in-game. The jeep-mounted version has a box magazine capacity of 90 rounds and (for convenience's sake) can be independently aimed and fired and reloaded while Saul is still in the driver's seat, but there is no way of expanding the initial ammunition reserve of 910 rounds aside from buying another "Piranha" jeep at 12,000 pesos a pop.
The tank-mounted version is seen on the gunner's hatch, but it cannot be used when Saul is driving a tank. Instead, an unidentified machine gun mounted coaxial to the main gun is fired instead. This version has unlimited ammunition.
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M167 Vulcan Air Defense System
The M167 Vulcan Air Defense System can be found scattered across the jungle bases of the three major factions (though no NPCs actually use it), and one is even found in Don Pedro's private villa.
Launchers
M79 Grenade Launcher
The M79 grenade launcher appears in the game as the "Grenade Launcher", and is a single-shot break-open breech-loading weapon. Two types of grenades can be used for it, one with a time-delay fuse of 4 seconds, and another that explodes on impact. The latter type does not have a distance fuse that arms only after traveling a safe distance (as numerous real life 40mm grenades types do), so explosive mishaps with this weapon can occur if the player is not careful. No NPCs use this weapon or award upgrades for it.
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RPG-18
The RPG-18 appears in the game as the "RPG". This single-shot light anti-vehicle weapon can be bought at the various armorers and gunrunners through the game, but it is also sometimes issued to Saul if he accepts certain missions to destroy vehicles or even some structures. It is cheaper than a bundle of TNT and can even perform the latter's job at a distance, but cannot be reloaded (like the real-life version) or even returned to armorers/weapon-sellers for recycling as Saul is simply forced to drop one after firing it. It is capable of destroying vehicles from cars to trucks to mobile SAM launchers, but is very unlikely to hit airborne helicopters. Very few NPCs use this weapon, but due to gaps in their AI, they will often commit suicide with the explosive blast radius.
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SA-7 Grail
The SA-7 Grail appears in the game as the "AA Missile", and is a heat-seeking missile launcher capable of tracking and destroying hostile helicopters in a single hit if not decoyed by a flare countermeasure. If the player becomes an enemy of any of the game's three major factions (Realian Government, Drug Lords, or the leftist Guerrillas), their helicopter gunships will start to target the player character or any nearby vehicles owned, making this weapon one of the few (if a very expensive) ways of destroying these airborne attackers.
Like the RPG-18, the SA-7 Grail is a single-shot weapon that cannot be reloaded in this game, as Saul is forced to drop the launcher (which for some reason is the exact model as is used for a discarded RPG-18 in this game) after firing it.
Other
Crossbow
One of the few non-firearm ranged weapons in this game, the Crossbow is not used or given by NPCs, possesses a short range with a steep ballistic curve, is very slow to load, and cannot be upgraded. Despite these drawbacks, it is one of the more useful (if difficult-to-learn) weapons. The in-game Crossbow boasts a scope with a built-in laser rangefinder (making it the last weapon with a scope), and the bolts it fires can kill an unarmoured opponent in a single hit, or an armoured opponent in two hits (or a single headshot). These traits make it a very effective silent sniping weapon.
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F-1 Hand Grenade
The only grenade (though not the only throwable weapon) in the game, the F-1 hand grenade is used by all sides and combatants, even "harmless old grannies" who keep a few in their purses, and can even be found selling these "explosively sweet pineapples" at roadside fruit stands. They can be looted with alarming frequency from the corpses of armed opponents everywhere. Saul Myers apparently is a strong enough baseball pitcher to knock an opponent over, solely from the force of impact, if the grenade hits an opponent directly. It is not possible to "cook" a grenade before throwing it in this game, so opponents always have 5 seconds to escape a grenade's area of effect.
TNT
More of a tool than a weapon, TNT bundles in this game can only be placed on specific vehicles, structures, and even terrain obstructions to destroy them as a way of completing missions. Whether by accident or design, they are outclassed by RPG-18s (which are capable of performing the same function at a distance) in every parameter and cannot be used offensively, so they are more of a novelty than anything else.
