One thing’s for sure, Call of Duty this is not. Dragon Rising is much more realistic in terms of true to life warfare, for instance you won’t be able to take a barrage of bullets in this game and live to tell the tale due to the harsh but real fact that it may only take one to bullet you down. Anyone playing the game for the first time of course may be put off by Codemasters new health system which if you get shot means you will slowly die unless you get medical help. In fact even when you do get help though, your character is only stabilized and there are no miracle health packs to save the day either.

 

 

So yeah Dragon Rising does bring the harsh realities of war home, meaning that anyone looking for the thrilling action of Call of Duty should probably stick to that game. This title has got to be aimed more at the war purist, the type of person who would rather sit back and plan their way to victory, rather than going in gun hoe and it would probably have succeeded too had it not been for the few flaws which hold the gameplay back.

 

Although the game is billed as a free roaming shooter, as you will discover the more you play, Dragon Rising isn’t as free-roaming as you may think. In fact the only way in which the game is free roaming is in the way each mission appears to have no walls, invisible or otherwise. But even these options play out like ODST, meaning that you cannot progress in the mission unless you go the right way.

 

Another issue is that the map is way too big. While it has become a relative norm in gaming to include a giant map, the lack of transport to and from ports of call just makes on foot missions all the more horrendous. The missions too sometimes seem to lack direction, for example in one mission, early on in the game, you are assigned to spend a good 15 minutes walking around lush green grass fields for no apparent reason, and then without any warning whatsoever you get your head blown off. Nice eh?

 

During missions you do have a crew accompanying you consisting of 3 other soldiers. You are supposed to have full control of who goes where and when, however assigning them to go to a location appears to be quite a bit of challenge. Even asking them to follow you is a chore. However, when you get sidetracked, they will help you by shooting down a nearby enemy.

 

Rather than relying on computer AI, Operation Flashpoint can also be played co-operatively with four players online, which obviously makes the other soldiers a lot more relevant in battle. As you can imagine playing with other players also adds a sudden sense of realism as you can now hear your teammates, give commands, ask for cover or anything else and be responded to instantly, which unfortunately is not something that you can say about the AI soldiers.

 

Operation Flashpoint introduces three substantial difficulty levels, Normal, Expert and Hardcore. Absolutely none of these affects how hard the AI is, but rather just removes elements from the HUD. In fact in the Hardcore setting removes all of the help display and checkpoints, meaning that you really do need to be careful.

 

The only two real vehicles in the game are a helicopter and a jeep, these are fun but not implemented very well. The handling for the jeep is surprisingly sloppy, especially for a studio that develops the best off-road games around. The helicopter meanwhile handles very realistically, which while great does take getting used to, meaning that you will probably end up crashing to the ground the first few times you use it.

 

Graphically the game is quite impressive, though very green. The way you can wander up different hills, and see different buildings, in different locations gives it a certain edge. The enemies and weapons are also quite realistically drawn which helps add to the overall atmosphere of the game.

 

 

There is a bit of tension music, but its mainly just gunshots, and while they are usually the most annoying sound, the effect makes you think success for every enemy killed. The voiceovers are very rigid, but for this sort of game it works. You will try and follow the story, but it will never work, no matter how hard you try! It would have been nice to have a little more drama in the soundtrack though.

 

The game does have an online mode, though again it’s not one which will rival Call of Duty 4 in any way. When it works it is fun, however there are a few bugs at the moment meaning that some of the functions and gameplay don’t work quite as well as they should.

 

Overall Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a bit of an enigma really. One the one hand it is a fun serious shooter, which those used to PC gaming will probably love despite its flaws, however those more used to console based shooters will no doubt get frustrated and despise its flaws because of this.