October 8, 2009 – Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has proven one thing: I would not last long in a modern war. Not only would I die quickly, I’d die in embarrassing ways. Nobody remembers the heroics of the soldier that stuck his head up in the midst of a hail of gunfire or the idiot that ran out into the open field without checking for enemies on the perimeter. Keep your head down. Keep your adrenaline in check. These are the lessons you’ll have to take to heart if you want to survive on the battlefield; in real life or in Operation Flashpoint.
Though the original Operation Flashpoint developer, Bohemia Interactive, went on to make ArmA II, leaving Codemasters to work on this project internally, the spirit of the franchise remains the same. With true tactical shooters like this, you can’t rush out to buy this with the expectation of a Call of Duty-style experience. One bullet is enough to end your life. One wrong step into an enemy’s sights is all it takes for you to get taken down as you curse your stupidity. This is a game that rewards patience, planning and a steady hand over twitch reflexes. It isn’t the high insanity of most first-person shooters, but it does offer its own brand of tension that anybody looking for the real deal will get a kick out of. A few slight issues keep it from achieving greatness, but those looking to pick Operation Flashpoint up should know the PC version is the best of the bunch.
Dragon Rising is set several years in the future. Oil concerns have led to a conflict between Russia and China. The United States intervenes on behalf of its old Cold War foe to drive the invading Chinese PLA forces out. You play as one of these troops, and through the set of 11 long campaign missions you’ll be tasked with special ops objectives that range from taking out key targets to clearing the way for armor to roll through valleys. The missions themselves aren’t the most exciting in design — you’re more likely to get a thrill out of the tense moments between combat than any of the major set pieces — as you play more of a supporting role for the greater war instead of the individual hero most games cast the main character as.
Then again, this is a real war you’re in, not one full of Hollywood theatrics. At first glance, it might seem like crouching in a field of brambles scoping out the horizon while slowly crawling forward wouldn’t make for the most compelling of games. The fact is Operation Flashpoint isn’t for everybody. The action is slow and deliberate. The punishment for making a mistake is large; especially on the Hardcore setting that removes all heads-up-display help and checkpoints. Get shot just once in the leg and you’ll start bleeding. Even after you patch it up, you’ll find yourself hobbled and unable to sprint as quickly.
Even with these more realistic elements, it’s still quite a lot of fun. I died a lot — and I mean a lot — while playing through the campaign but only a few times did I ever start to get frustrated. This is coming from someone raised on the insanity of games like Quake, Unreal Tournament and Halo should tell you a little something about how well this realistic formula works.
Operation Flashpoint can be played online co-operatively with a squad of four, or by yourself, in which case artificial intelligence takes over for the rest of the group. When alone, you’ll find it quite necessary to dole out specific commands to your squad. Without their help, you really don’t stand a chance against the overwhelming odds. Their aid will allow you to suppress enemy gun encampments while you move between cover, flank a squad of riflemen, or even just absorb a few bullets for you while you do the dirty work. Unfortunately, even when micromanaged, I found the AI in these computer-controlled allies to be a bit lacking. It’s not awful, and it rarely prevented me from progressing on through the game, but it did become a bit frustrating now and then and it did cause me to die a few more times than I would have with better squad mates. At one point I got so tired of waiting for an ally to find his way out of a fenced in area that I simply detonated the C4 I had laid there. Bye, bye Private Morales.
It’s that lack of polish that prevents Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising from achieving greatness. There are a lot of fun and thrilling gunfights to be played through here, but it’s clear that this could have been much more. The animations could be a whole lot more impressive, especially given the fact that some (like applying field dressings to your wounds) don’t exist at all. Get in a jeep and ram into an enemy and you’ll just watch them slide along the ground in front of the car without falling over. The sounds are accurate and the lack of music adds to the feeling of realism, but it never ropes you in or portrays the power of an explosion the way it should. Thankfully, on a strong PC, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising looks great. The lack of detail and issues with streaming that the console versions sport are not found here — it’s much easier to get lost in the realism with this kind of visual backdrop.
The same small technical issues detract from what could have been a truly standout feature of Operation Flashpoint: the expansive setting. It’s fairly open and, aside from some specific timed event missions, you’re free to wander the land and tackle the next objective from any angle or approach you like, using a wide variety of weapons and vehicles. At its heart, this feature is fantastic, especially if you’re playing on the Hardcore setting and are up for a crazy challenge. For the less hardcore, it can get frustrating when checkpoints don’t activate properly or the next mission objective doesn’t register in any sort of timely fashion.
The online game is also the best on PC. Not only will you find the most intense players there, at least in my experience, but you’ll also get the smoothest and best online feature set. The consoles only offer games with up to 8 players. On the PC, you can get a full 16 vs. 16 player game going. It can get a bit chaotic on the big maps, but it makes the squad mechanics much more of a selling point. Obviously, your experience will vary depending on connection speeds, but I found it quite easy to hop into a 32 player match and start getting my ass handed to me. I experienced a few bugs on the console version — most notably gun fire not properly registering as hits and weapon models not loading in properly. On PC, I didn’t see these but it is entirely possible that those glitches might still exist.
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is something you don’t see every day on consoles, and its uniqueness does offer a breath of fresh air amidst the myriad twitch and sci-fi shooters out there. Along with Arma II, this is one of the more realistic shooter simulations around these days, with a sense of tension built out of life or death situations rather than over-the-top action. I had fun with Dragon Rising, despite the fact that it consistently showed a lack of polish through weak artificial intelligence, middle of the road presentation, and its fair share of bugs.
It’s that lack of polish that prevents Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising from achieving greatness. There are a lot of fun and thrilling gunfights to be played through here, but it’s clear that this could have been much more. The animations could be a whole lot more impressive, especially given the fact that some (like applying field dressings to your wounds) don’t exist at all. Get in a jeep and ram into an enemy and you’ll just watch them slide along the ground in front of the car without falling over. The sounds are accurate and the lack of music adds to the feeling of realism, but it never ropes you in or portrays the power of an explosion the way it should. Thankfully, on a strong PC, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising looks great. The lack of detail and issues with streaming that the console versions sport are not found here — it’s much easier to get lost in the realism with this kind of visual backdrop.
The same small technical issues detract from what could have been a truly standout feature of Operation Flashpoint: the expansive setting. It’s fairly open and, aside from some specific timed event missions, you’re free to wander the land and tackle the next objective from any angle or approach you like, using a wide variety of weapons and vehicles. At its heart, this feature is fantastic, especially if you’re playing on the Hardcore setting and are up for a crazy challenge. For the less hardcore, it can get frustrating when checkpoints don’t activate properly or the next mission objective doesn’t register in any sort of timely fashion.
The online game is also the best on PC. Not only will you find the most intense players there, at least in my experience, but you’ll also get the smoothest and best online feature set. The consoles only offer games with up to 8 players. On the PC, you can get a full 16 vs. 16 player game going. It can get a bit chaotic on the big maps, but it makes the squad mechanics much more of a selling point. Obviously, your experience will vary depending on connection speeds, but I found it quite easy to hop into a 32 player match and start getting my ass handed to me. I experienced a few bugs on the console version — most notably gun fire not properly registering as hits and weapon models not loading in properly. On PC, I didn’t see these but it is entirely possible that those glitches might still exist.
Closing Comments
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is something you don’t see every day on consoles, and its uniqueness does offer a breath of fresh air amidst the myriad twitch and sci-fi shooters out there. Along with Arma II, this is one of the more realistic shooter simulations around these days, with a sense of tension built out of life or death situations rather than over-the-top action. I had fun with Dragon Rising, despite the fact that it consistently showed a lack of polish through weak artificial intelligence, middle of the road presentation, and its fair share of bugs.
