Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Review

Written by: Adam Tewkesbury Posted: 2nd November 2009

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War, Huh? What is it good for?

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Details:

Goto Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Game Page

	First Person Shooter
	PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	Codemasters
	Codemasters

18+

Out Now

I'm a fickle gamer. Give me a balls out, action packed shooter with spectacular set pieces and its odds on I'll start hankering after something more open ended; set me off in an open world where decisions are my own and it might not be long before I'm whinging about a lack of structure and too much traipsing around. The grass is always greener, it would seem, however it is the very best games that manage to blend elements in such a way that shortcomings are subtly hidden and the game shines through regardless.

Flashpoint could never be accused of lacking green grass. Forget the primary colours and bombast of the Halos and Call of Duty’s; this is a much more tempered battlefield, of overgrown meadows, shady woods and scattered villages, all potentially containing a camouflaged sniper carefully framing your soft and pliable face in their telescopic sights. For long-term console gamers such as myself, the first few deaths may come as a surprise. No recharging shields here, and the countdown from 100% health to twitching corpse can be over before you hear the shot. The setting and the constant feeling of vulnerability is vital to the war simulation Codemasters have crafted, and certainly provides something different to the slew of Hollywood-inspired shootouts that have graced the console charts for time immaterial.

Is it fun though? The answer is open to debate, and will certainly rely on your patience and willingness to think like a military tactician rather than Rambo. Console gamers are less well served with comparable titles, and Flashpoint makes no bones about being a military simulator rather than a khaki duck-hunt. One thing to consider if you’re more accustomed to the lighter end of the tactical spectrum is that you’ll get very little in the way of hand-holding. As early as the first mission it is eminently possible to end up with a mouthful of gravel and an untimely restart, and for the gamer used to crosshairs that flash red when you’re guaranteed a kill and enemies that scoff at camouflage when they can have brightly coloured armour and big flashing signs above their heads, it can be very difficult to get to grips with where the shot actually came from. Without much in the way of training, introduction to your military career can be both daunting and short-lived.

It’s definitely worth persevering. After a few false starts I started to retune my FPS radar, and paid a little more attention to the map and observations shouted by my brothers in arms. This circumspect approach made me much less of a bullet magnet, and the value of your comrades becomes increasingly obvious as you progress. As a lone gun, you’ll die. As member of a four-man team, the calls and supporting fire from those around you are often the only thing to keep the bullets at bay, and credit is due when a game makes you feel anxious for your AI buddies as you order them to push forward or assault a position.

Missions themselves rarely introduce much in the way of stark originality, but are generally engaging and logical. Signposting depends on the difficulty chosen- easier levels provide waypoints that identify the best way forward, whilst increasing the difficulty leaves navigation and the approach to each objective completely down to you. It’s a laudable compromise between freedom of choice and providing a helping hand, but if (like me) you prove useless at devising your own plans, you can feel a little bit like you’re missing a dimension of the game that the developer intended. Put in the hours, however, and almost anything is possible.

Vehicles play a part in a number of missions, and if you can get your hands on some military hardware this can significantly alter your options when approaching your objectives. Obviously the big guns help, but the increase in speed (at the expense of stealth) can make hit-and-run tactics a good choice when time is of the essence. There is also an enormous amount of satisfaction to be had from taking out enemy vehicles; when you’ve been harassed across a valley by a helicopter gunship, the plume of smoke that heralds its timely impact with the scenery is a grim pleasure.

On the consoles there are a few areas which make it fairly clear you’re playing a PC port rather than a game designed specifically for the console. The menus are very PC oriented and some of the visual effects look like they’d be scaled up on high-spec graphics card. This doesn’t detract from the overall game, but for Flashpoint veterans with access to a decent PC might well be better served by that version (then again, the mouse and keyboard will likely be the determining factor before graphics). Console gamers shouldn’t be put off, as the game is perfectly playable using the pad and controls are sensibly mapped to squeeze everything in, just don’t expect the same level of visual richness that you might find in a more geographically restricted corridor shooter. It’s still a good looking game, and presentation is of a very high quality.

Those more accustomed to PC tactical shooters are likely to dive straight in, and will no doubt consider the preceding paragraphs to be the pitiful whining of a console lightweight (which, to be fair, is probably accurate). It is far less likely that they would’ve chosen a console as their preferred platform, however, so I shall conclude as a console gamer, for console gamers. If you’re after a shooting experience where progress is guaranteed and OTT set pieces are key, then this may not be the ideal game for you. If you’re looking for a proper challenge and a more serious slant on combat gameplay (and can cope with some sadistically spaced checkpoints), then Flashpoint is a very solid game in a relatively sparsely occupied field.