Boiling Point: Road to Hell

Boiling Point: Road to Hell (2005)

Overview

A free-roaming first person shooter set in the fictional South American country of Realia (though occasionally referred to as Bolivia in the ingame 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 guerilla fighters, ruthless drug lords, petty bandits, aboriginal tribesmen, and CIA agents all wanting his help or a bullet in his head, Saul's mission won't be easy. Unlike this game's more contemporary genre-mate, Far Cry 2, there are methods of "making nice" with opposing factions, either by paying enormous bribes or by killing that faction's enemies.

The game takes place on a seamless 25 km x 25 km map, with two major cities: government-controlled Puerto Sombra in the Northeast, and guerilla controlled Pueblo Faro in the Southwest. 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, some of the most blatant being totally silent ammunition for everything from the unsuppressed pistols to an explosive grenade round(!).

Handguns

Colt Anaconda

The most abundant handgun in all of Realia, the Colt Anaconda is the only firearm used by the Bandit faction 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 him using violence). Simply labelled the "Revolver" ingame 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, making it a somewhat poorer sidearm choice.

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 doubler 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.

Colt Anaconda with 6" barrel - .44 Magnum

"Check weapon with me before enter, Yankee cowboy."
"Hey, I'm French, not American, hombre."
"You gringos all same - no check weapon, NO ENTER, hijo de puta!"

A Bandit brandishing a Colt Anaconda. Due to a graphical error, the front end of the barrel is missing a texture and is thus invisible.

Despite this game having well-rendered weapons for its time, the Colt Anaconda is a pile of animation errors in this title. Saul never uses the extractor rod to eject spent rounds, does not use a speedloader or moon clip to load new rounds into the cylinders, erroneously swings instead of gently pushing the cylinder shut, and even has casings eject from the gun. One errant piece of brass can be seen in the lower right hand corner of this screenshot.

The Colt Anaconda in a developer's promo image.

Desert Eagle

The very first firearm acquired in the game, and Saul Myer's personal sidearm, available from the start of a new game (oddly enough for a French Foreign Legionairre). The only NPCs who use it are the Police Department of Puerto Sombra, something that would never occur in real life. Its initial magazine capacity is 5 rounds, which can be upgraded to 10 rounds.

Desert Eagle MK IXI - .50 Action Express

Enjoying the tranquil beauty of Puerto Sombra's central park, Desert Eagle in hand.

Saul Myers bursts into Don Pedro's office with his Desert Eagle at the ready.

The Desert Eagle in a developer's promo image.

"PSS"

Submachine Guns

Mini UZI

Mini Uzi SMG with stock folded - 9x19mm

Shotguns

Remington 870

Remington 870 Marine Magnum - 12 Gauge

Assault Rifles

Ak-47

Type I AK-47, hybrid stamped/milled receiver with prototype slab sided magazine - 7.62x39mm

File:AK BPRH.jpg

Some gameplay of the AK

IMBEL MD3

A Brazilian-made assault rifle variant of the FN FAL, this firearm is simply called the "Combat Rifle" ingame, is chambered for 5.56x45 mm NATO, has a 20 round initial magazine capacity (upgradeable to 30), has a fixed polymer stock (identifying it as the MD3 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 and the slowest firing rate.

FN FAL 50.00 7.62x51mm NATO

The IMBEL MD3 in a developer's promo image.

M16a1

M16A1 with 30 Round magazine - 5.56x45mm

Steyr Aug

Steyr AUG - Austrian Army Version 5.56x45mm

Launchers

M79

M79 grenade launcher - 40mm

"Pzrk Igla"

RPG-18

Other

Crossbow