Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (Xbox 360) Review
Brutal Gamers review of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.
Dragon Rising is the second title in the critically acclaimed Operation Flashpoint series, which was previously developed by Bohemia Interactive but due to complications between Codemasters and Bohemia, it was developed in-house – Bohemia Interactive decided to create ArmA II. When this news broke to the public, the hardcore crowd behind Operation Flashpoint were worried about what would happen to their precious series, which in all honesty, you can’t blame them for. It’s usually bad news when a game is moved over to a different company but think positive!
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is set a fair few years in the future, based around the fictional island of Shira (which is based directly on the island of Kiska). Russia and China are in all out war for control of this territory when they discover large amounts of oil, and it seems Russia starts getting it’s backside kicked and call in for support from America who dive straight into the action by sending marines straight to the island to help recapture the island from China for Russia.
The whole game revolves around you and your ‘elite’ three-man squad, ranging from snipers to demolitions – all having there major advantages and disadvantages depending on the objective you’re set on the island. You control your squad of marines by the radial circle by holding RB and simply using the d-pad to find the object you need; offense, defence, tactical and orders are all out your disposal, although it is a great idea, when you’re under fire, it takes way too long to find the option you need because of the amount of different options. It’s a major shame how the A.I can dramatically break the realism of the game because of the stupid-ass mistakes they constantly do; standing out in the open, refusing to follow orders, or just simply not appearing and that’s only some of them. Also available is major air support when you’re in desperate situations, those high explosive mortar and air strikes work wonders when you’re pinned down by light vehicles and squadrons of enemy infantry shooting the shit out of you.
The whole breath-taking island of Shira is available to explore, so you can take the missions you’re set in any way, shape or form you desire: feel like going in tactical and stealthy? Crawl into the enemy base through the long swaying grass and pick them off one by one or how about standing way back on the low bank of a road and snipe them? Yeah, you can do it. Don’t expect to be able to go in Call of Duty style and run-and-gun your way through the mission, you will be destroyed. This is as close to a warzone you’ll be without joining the army – countless times I was killed by a single stray bullet while hiding behind cover which went straight into my head and then having to restart from the most recent checkpoint, which aren’t even recent. Whenever you’re hit, even if it is your big toe, you have to put field dressings on the wound and you will still be injured until a certain amount of time has passed for it to of healed and you’ll be back at fighting strength once more.
Due to the incredible size of Shira island in Dragon Rising, vehicles are near-enough a necessity to travel around both safely and quickly. Over 50 different vehicles are at your disposal, ranging from attack helicopters, gun boats and light APC’s, all of which are modelled of their real-life counterparts. The 35 kilometre draw distance which the engine can kick out works wonders with the helicopters, allowing you to see everything which may be a hazard – the only downfall for this is that the first load screen every time you boot up the game seems to take a few decades (and that was after installing it!). Oddly enough, you have eagle-like vision however you fail to be able walk over a few inch-high boulder, having to take a detour to make your way round it which can get quite frustrating when you have to walk a few kilometres due to the vehicle you were driving was destroyed by one of these boulders anyway.
I must admit, it is hard to believe how Codemasters were able make this game look so impressive. This isn’t meant to sound like I’m doubting the ability of the developers, but more just because of how enormous the environment in which is playable is – that’s some damn fancy technology that Ego engine is pumping out. You can see the amount of effort that has gone into making the title look incredibly, from the way the smoke plumes into the sky above Shira because of a downed helicopter or just because of the way your characters perfectly animate everything. The animation bit however, is both a good and bad point: good because it’s how it should be, but bad because of I’m so used to these days a gun being reloaded within a split second.
The weapons which are being used during the epic battles will dramatically affect how efficient you and your squad are, the 70+ weapons gives you enough to choose from. As the bullet damage which hits you also effects the enemy the same way, you can hit the enemy with both fatal and shots which will just wound the Chinese soldiers, so accuracy is everything in this game as they can heal themselves the same way you and your squad does.
If you’re a part of the incredibly niche audience which this game aims to draw in, you’ll be more than happy to know that the game also offers a ‘hardcore’ difficulty – yes it can get more hardcore than it already is. While on the normal difficulty, you’ll still have a HUD showing the general direction of the enemies and things such as the amount of ammo you have in your clip, while on ‘hardcore’ you don’t have any of this. It is as brutal (hey, see what I did there?) as games come, fighting a great white Shark out in the middle of the ocean while only having 1 limb in total and being blind folded would be a walk in the park compared to this.
One of the most anticipated features of Dragon Rising was the games multiplayer, not because of hype built up before launch; it was more because of the sheer-awesomeness of the original Flashpoints multiplayer. It brought tactics, fun and competitiveness, all to the table at once. And thankfully, Dragon Rising does do that, in its own special way. The matches are 1v1v1v1 – only 4 people, right? Not so impressive, but what if I tell you that each one of those 4 players, control 3 AI squad mates each – certainly spices up the action a bit. Plus, there is always the option to play 4 player co-op throughout the whole campaign, which is you’re able to, do it, it makes it a much more enjoyable experience. And the
Final Thoughts
This is one of those incredibly frustrating scenarios where you have to give the game (and it’s developers) a pat on the back for what they’ve attempted to do – which in the end, is a pretty damn good game. It’s something which most developers wouldn’t even dare to try and develop because of the risks which are involved, as you’re main target audience happens to be the niche ‘hardcore shooter’ fans, which let’s face it, there aren’t many left these days due to games like Call of Duty and Halo being incredibly forgiving of stupid mistakes, the best example being shields and regenerating health. If you’re looking for something to sink your time into, this is it – the style of how you play shooting games will change, you’ll actually start thinking about the consequences of what you’re about to do. Just remember: The game is beating you, because it loves you, it’s trying to force you out of the habit of ‘running and gunning’.
User Score:
1 vote
1 vote
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13 Oct 2009, 12:46 am
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