Man, there were a lot of shooters released this year, but I’ve got to say, of those, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is hands down the most difficult. In games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 and even Darkest of Days, you’re given rechargeable shields or health, but Dragon Rising takes it to the next level as the most realistic shooter I’ve ever played, in that most of the time, if you get shot, you’re dead. Top that with the fact that real life camouflaged enemies are hard to spot, and thus, game enemies are hard to spot, you’re going to take a beating as you play through this beast. I’d like to thank Codemasters for providing me with a copy of this to review for you. Released on October 6th for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC, here is Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.
The game’s campaign opens with a really cool black and white stylized introduction sequence that basically lets you know that the fictional island of Skira, off the coast of Alaska, has been trading ownership throughout history between the Russians and the Chinese. Fast forward to today with the current economic downward spiral when a healthy reservoir of oil is discovered here and all of a sudden both countries want their rightful claim to it. As things escalate, Russia calls in for support from the United States and there you have it. You’re sent in to help resolve the situation.
The basic plot is really great, though very similar to Frontlines: Fuel of War, but it never really picks up or gets you hooked beyond the initial cut-scene. There are no dialog or intermission videos; there is simply a map between the levels that tells you what your next objectives are. You have to press another button if you want to read a few paragraphs letting you know what the heck is actually going on. Frankly, this day and age, I don’t want to read a long story between each level, I want voice acting and cut-scenes to make me actually WANT to play the game.
The game length of Dragon Rising is going to greatly fluctuate based on your skill level. It took me roughly 10 hours to complete and I died all the damn time. While only a single person can play per screen, Dragon Rising supports 4 player co-op over Xbox Live and a few 4v4 multiplayer game types. Unfortunately, at the time of this review, there were only a total of 3 total multiplayer games being played during peak hours, and all of them were co-op campaign play throughs. If you are going to pick this up, I’d suggest having your friends pick it up as well, or you’re going to be forced into single player like I was. Now, this very likely is because everyone is either playing Modern Warfare 2 online, or they simply quit because the game is so damn hard.
With uber-realistic shooter gameplay comes seriously intense on-your-toes combat. You’re going to be running through thick wooded areas and lush fields and your enemy certainly uses this to their advantage. More often than not, they are going to get off the first shot from 100+ meters and you’re not going to know where the heck it came from. Luckily you’ve got a squad of 3 others with you that are usually capable of at least firing in the right direction, but along those same lines, can be quite a hindrance to you if they get stuck in the environment, forcing you to restart the mission.
Most of your time will be spent using radial menus to command your troops to assault, defend, flank and wrap up your leg after you’ve got a bullet stuck in it. Occasionally you’ll be granted artillery support that you can reign hell on the enemies as well.
Besides that fact that you’re going to get one-shotted often from stray bullets, the checkpoints in the levels are few and far between meaning that 10 minute hike across the field was just for nothing. The control scheme is not instantly recognizable either and lots of the time is actually unresponsive. If I’m getting shot at in the middle of reloading, and I want to hit the deck, you better stop reloading and hit the damn deck. Nope, you stand there like a rag doll and take the bullets as you finish reloading first. There is also no auto-assist with the aiming, so it is incredibly difficult to even hit those bastards!
Alright, so while the gameplay can be pretty frustrating to people like me, the graphics in the game are actually pretty damn good, and if you can get your hands on the PC version, you’re going to be blown away. Lots of the time the look and feel is very stylized and greatly different than many other shooters. It feels very dark, almost like you’re playing through the memories of the soldiers, instead of living in their shoes.
There is also some really interesting music in the game that really reminded me of the sequence in We Were Soldiers where the troops were being flown into battle in the choppers. Unfortunately this is only played between the missions which is too bad, because that type of soundtrack could have greatly improved my immersion.
Overall, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a pretty decent game, it’s just incredibly frustrating because of how difficult it is to actually see the enemies, let alone hit them. If you don’t like realistic, hard, simulation shooters, this is not going to be a game for you. Personally, I don’t enjoy games that make me want to punch someone out of frustration, but I know there are some of you die-hards out there that inevitably will actually love this one. Let me know what you guys think by rating the video and leaving all of your questions and comments below!
