Special Operation 85: Hostage Rescue

Special Operation 85: Hostage Rescue (Persian: عملیات ویژه 85، آزادی گروگان‌ها) is an Iranian video game that was released by the (Persian: اتحادیه انجمن‌های اسلامی دانش‌آموزان) on Monday, July 16, 2007.^[1][2]

Story[]

Two young Iranian nuclear scientists, Saeed and his wife Maryam, are kidnapped by US military forces while on a religious pilgrimage to Karbala, Iraq, and are sent to a prison in Israel. Bahram Nasseri, an Iranian special operations agent, is sent to Israel to save the scientists and four other Iranians.^[2] While in Israel, Nasseri also exposes an Israeli-Iranian responsible for leaking classified information about Iran's nuclear program to Western powers.^[3] The name of Nasseri's mission is "The Special Operation".^[1]

Gameplay[]

The game is a 3D^[2] first-person shooter^[4] with eight levels of play.^[2] The player character, Bahram Nasseri, must kill US and Israeli soldiers and manage his Iranian-made AK-47's ammunition while pursuing the rescue objectives.^[2] Nasseri must also obtain secret information from the laptops of slain enemy combatants.^[1]

Development[]

Special Operation 85 was created in three years^[1] on a budget of US$ 32,000 (300 million rials)^[5] provided by the Union of the Islamic Students.^[3] The development team, led by Ali Reza Masaeli, was based in Isfahan, Iran.^[1]

The game was created in response to , an American video game by Kuma Reality Games that simulates the destruction of an Iranian nuclear facility by US military forces.^[1] According to Mohammad Taghi Fakhrian, the Union's secretary general, the game was inspired by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,^[2] and aims to encourage ideals such as "defense, sacrifice and martyrdom".^[1] He has responded to critics by stressing that the game does not promote terrorism.^[3]

References[]