Featuring similar gameplay to other team-based multiplayer first-person shooter games, including its original Unreal Engine parent game, Unreal Tournament, Tactical Ops features single-player and multiplayer rounds between two teams, Special Forces and terrorists, with competing objectives, such as to guard or extract hostages or weapons, or detonate bombs in certain locations. The game is played in four-minute deathmatch rounds. If the player is killed during a round, they are required to sit out the round until it ends, either when time lapses or the mission objectives are completed by one team. Players earn money when achieving feats such as killing enemies, finding contraband throughout the level, and completing mission objectives. In between missions, money can be used to acquire new weapons, armor, grenades, and utilities such as night vision goggles. The single-player mode of Tactical Ops allows the player to compete in 30 maps against computer-controlled bots.

Featuring similar gameplay to other team-based multiplayer first-person shooter games, including its original Unreal Engine parent game, Unreal Tournament, Tactical Ops features single-player and multiplayer rounds between two teams, Special Forces and terrorists, with competing objectives, such as to guard or extract hostages or weapons, or detonate bombs in certain locations. The game is played in four-minute deathmatch rounds. If the player is killed during a round, they are required to sit out the round until it ends, either when time lapses or the mission objectives are completed by one team. Players earn money when achieving feats such as killing enemies, finding contraband throughout the level, and completing mission objectives. In between missions, money can be used to acquire new weapons, armor, grenades, and utilities such as night vision goggles. The single-player mode of Tactical Ops allows the player to compete in 30 maps against computer-controlled bots.