Ops

Ops

Pete DeSimone · 2024 · Arcade, Casual, Combat, Aliens, 2D

PC
9 user reviews89% · 9
Best price
$3.31
lowest tracked $0.55
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About Ops


Created by real life VLA Operators*, Ops takes you inside the shadowy world of U.S. Special Operations and puts you at the controls of the world's largest energy weapon: the Karl Zjunior Very Lethal Array! Disguised as a giant radio telescope larger than New York City, this massive weapon was built for one purpose and one purpose only: to terminate hostile aliens with extreme prejudice! Lucky for you, the night sky above rural New Mexico is a target-rich environment...

Knowing cows to be more intelligent than humans, the aliens seek to abduct as many cows as possible. Due to the VLA's special relationship with the cattle rancher, allowing all of the rancher's cattle to be abducted would be disastrous for your employer, the National Radio Ablation Office (NRAO). Ablate the aliens before they can abduct all the cows! Also, look out -- the alien ships pack devastating laser cannons that can melt your antennas within a few seconds. Kill the attacking ship before your antenna melts, and your antenna will eventually cool back down.

As you get to higher levels, you may notice other threats, such as chupacabras. These foul creatures are particularly nasty! A chupa will happily eat an entire cow whole (although they usually like to carry the cow back to their lair before doing so). Once a chupa has sunk its sizeable fangs and talons into a cow, the cow is mortally wounded and cannot be saved.

We wanted to do a "Last Starfighter"-style contest whereby whoever earns the highest score automatically gets offered a job with NRAO, but sadly that idea was deemed to be "too rad" to actually implement (paraphrasing a little here)... We do, however, encourage everyone who crushes this game to apply for a job with NRAO. It's an amazing place to work, and this game is exactly the same as being a real life VLA Operator!**

*This game is not approved or endorsed by the National Science Foundation, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, or Associated Universities, Inc. Many movies, TV shows, and video games have been set at the VLA over its ~50-year history... We just happen to work there!

**The truth value of this claim has not been independently verified and is dubious at best.

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Not recommended Jul 22, 2026
The game should be free or at least priced as low as possible because there’s very little value here. Your job is to move the cursor and intercept unidentified flying objects and, later, dragons before they take your cows or camels, depending on the level. The radars fire waves, and a single hit is enough to destroy an enemy. Occasionally, a plane drops a crate that destroys every enemy on the screen when shot, but that’s the only power up. Everything is extremely basic and looks like it was made with one of those old game generators where you simply place assets on the screen and adjust a few sliders to create a game. There are nine stages, but there’s no real sense of progression because you can access them all with the press of a button. The only differences between them are that there are fewer animals to protect and fewer radars, which fire faster to compensate. If you don’t feel like playing, there’s even an auto gunner button that plays the entire game for you, along with a diagnostics menu that adds lines to UFOs and displays numbers, making it look like a test mode. The pause menu and the main menu are accessed by pressing the P key or the Space bar, while pressing Esc i…
1 found this helpful
Recommended Jul 21, 2026
Ops is a compact arcade shooter that immediately distinguishes itself through its offbeat premise and affection for old-school game design. Developed by Pete DeSimone, Erik Jacobson, and Jesse Petrone, and published by Pete DeSimone, the game transforms New Mexico's famous radio telescope array into humanity's last line of defense against extraterrestrial invaders. Instead of striving for realism, Ops embraces campy science fiction with enthusiasm, blending alien attacks, cryptid appearances, and arcade-style action into a package that feels intentionally reminiscent of the coin-operated experiences of decades past. At its core, Ops focuses on straightforward gameplay. Players take control of the Karl Zjunior Very Lethal Array, a fictionalized superweapon tasked with protecting Earth from waves of enemies. The mechanics are designed around accessibility, making it easy for newcomers to understand within minutes. There are no complicated systems standing between the player and the action; survival, quick reflexes, and efficient target prioritization are the primary concerns. This simplicity works in the game's favor, creating an experience that lends itself to short sessions while …
1 found this helpful
Recommended Aug 22, 2024
Fun little game that allows the player a little insight into the elite world of telescope operations. While it doesn't cover everything the job entails it does provide a quick blast of entertainment. The game isn't long and each level has a fun soundtrack to blast aliens to. Take control and see what really happens at premier scientific facilities.
1 found this helpful
Recommended Aug 25, 2024
Good casual Missile Command/Space Invaders style game as stated by the dev team. Can pick up and play quickly for 10-15 minutes while eating a burrito. Tongue-in-cheek references to local legends. A decent start Things i noticed or recommend: Redo game logo without an emoji Add progression upgrades to towers or bosses (Though I only made it to level 7) Sometimes the chupas will yoink a cow or camel from the side of screen with no warning.
Recommended Aug 24, 2024
Good day fellow nerds. I tried the game and it's fun for what it is... Will it be a viral hit like Stardew Valley in it's current state? No, I don't think so... But if you have a friend like I do in the industry it's fun to kill some time. Some recommendations for further improvement would be to create a upgrade path to improve the Ants and other defenses. Maybe be able to set each ANT in different directions to do a bit of tower defense gameplay. Maybe change the art style to more of a retro pixelated one due to the simple controls. Not 8-bit but maybe 16-bit at the least. Would be cool to incorporate a shop or homebase system based on Socorro... Maybe even have an ability to improve the town to something less depressing when the students aren't in school... but something nicer than Albuquerque.... haha. Maybe include a level similar to Terminator 2 on the NES where an operator named Ken has to commute from the VLA to the town on his motorcycle, and use his shotgun that he strapped to his motorcycle to fight off waves of wild boar and dodge homeless crackheads wearing pink tutus... (ask Ken about this, he'll tell you my story). That's it from me for now. I think it's really coo…

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