Operation Flashpoint: dragon rising (ps3/360/pc)

I thought about playing this many times but anything i heard about the game made it sound like it was too difficult and punishing to be of any actual fun. given the lack of good shooters lately (most seem to be clones of call of duty) and given my curiosity of the game i went ahead and picked it up. in no way is it the easiest FPS i have ever played in fact its downright crippling, but it is one of the most realistic shooters out there – not because of graphics. the realism comes from how the game plays and how the AI react when drawn into a fire fight.

The story is well written though brief but you will feel like you are really fighting for something on the front lines. you are a marine sent to the island of skira, a 220-square km island off the eastern coast of russia. the island has been invaded by japanese forces who wish to take possession of the oil rich island and you and your team are sent in to prevent total domination. russia has turned to the usa for support and aid, the usa responds by sending in the troops, which means you and your team.

The game play is fast and unrelenting, you can’t just run in and start shooting everything or you will be taken out in an instant. it requires tactical skill and finesse the likes of which will seem alien to a lot of FPS fans. the controls are easy enough to pick up and took me almost no time at all to get used to. there are many different missions available ranging from simple search and destroy to recapturing  a target, all of which require thinking and take time. don’t expect to be charging around destroying all you see, its not that kind of game you do have high powered weapons and guns but you don’t have vast never ending supplies of ammunition. never before have i seen a more perfect example of make every shot count, its easy to run out and enemy weapons picked up are not always that reliable so its best to conserve and use short bursts.

There are a number of weapons available and each one reacts just as you would expect, the recoil in the rifles and handguns especially are some of the best i have seen. the enemy too are well armed and seem to always have the upper hand, using tactics and well planned manoeuvres will most likely result in a win but not always. its a shooter so you will be drawn into situations where you have to engage the enemy, often at a distance and the enemy are far from forgiving. you will find yourself bleeding out from bullet holes more times than you can count, sometimes your team will be close enough to patch you up but not always. this crushing difficulty makes the game unique in terms of other shooters, you are far from bullet proof and even getting around the island can be a task in its own. though you can take control of some vehicles for the most part you will find yourself having to go on foot vast distances to get to where you are going. 

Finishing the main campaign will take countless restarts but thankfully it provides a decent amount of checkpoints so you get back into the action without having to go back too far. there were some ridiculously hard missions that i thought i’d never finish but i found by changing tactics and improvising i finally got through, this game calls for a lot of improvisation because your enemy is not always easy to read. one of the big things the game has going for it is the vast expanse of the battlefield, you are not locked into place in a certain area you can go where you want and that’s where the realism really kicks in, if you want to flank an enemy you will have lots of room to more around – this also helps when you are low on ammo and need to avoid an enemy patrol.

Dragon rising is not the best shooter out there but it may be one of the best tactical shooters on the market (it was until the sequel Red River was released.) it is no doubt one of the hardest games i have ever played but also one of the most rewarding, there is a tremendous sense of accomplishment when you beat a mission – often after shooting your way through platoons of heavily armed enemy forces. the controls are solid and it handles well with a minimal learning curve, the graphics are not ground-breaking but they are not ugly either. the music is there when you need it but doesn't intrude on your concentration. there are some extra fire team missions available by simply inputting codes found easily on the internet, the fire team missions though short are challenging and will provide that extra boom as will the typical enough multiplayer maps and objectives.

Its not all straight forward though, some missions have objectives that must be completed under stringent time restraints so you really have to hustle if you want to get them done, frustrating yes but also it adds to the realism. another point that will put a lot of people off is the almost certain event of you being taken down by a stray bullet, sometimes it can be non fatal so you can get patched up quick enough but a lot of the time the stray bullet can be a deadly headshot planting you firmly in the ground. if you can get around these points and do appreciate a challenge then dragon rising should not be skipped over, just be prepared to have your ass kicked by the AI. i got tons and tons of play from the game and even though it wasn’t a walk  in the park it was highly satisfying and so i’m giving it a 7 out of 10 – all it was missing was slightly more variation to the map, some more vehicles and more responsive AI for your own team. given that its an old game now i’d highly recommend playing the latest instalment “Red River”, it was a first day buy for me/delivered days of action and is currently my favourite shooter on the market.