Review: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
The definitive review of Codemaster's latest FPS.Published 14/10/2009 at 18:00 by djhsecondnature
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising To Get Network Patch [10]
Abridged Too Far – Twelve [24]
Second Nature – Episode 22 – Abridged [24]
There’s no run and gun heroics here. Every bullet can kill you. This is real war, where a solid strategy matters far more than a perfect aim. We’ll give you everything you needed to make the right decisions and ensure your fire teams makes it through alive. Then, we’ll shoot you in the back of the head before blowing ourselves up on a nearby tree. Unfortunately, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a game of two halves. The first half is one of tremendous joy, and one of the better multiplayer experiences around due to the fun moments that arise from a great co-op game. The other half however reeks of frustration and missed opportunity.
After deliberating on the ideal analogy for longer than I would’ve liked, Dragon Rising is like a night out. It begins well dressed, giving a fabulous impression of sophistication and class; as you navigate the early roads ahead, you’re filled with excitement at what may lay before you. The night kicks in, the adrenaline of the engagement pouring through your veins, the patience needed for the pull, the feeling of rejection when you’re put down; whilst key moments, they are ultimately overshadowed as you share a barrel of laughs with friends. However, as the night draws on, the alcohol continues to flow, a couple of confrontations with your friends begin to put a dampener on your night and by the end of it you end up in a pool of your ambition.
With first impressions so keen, opening with a simply stunning menu will never go amiss. The wonderfully contrasting mix of greyscale and yellow, and the epic wablings and operatic harmonies of the overture just ooze that Codemasters quality that DiRT2 highlighted so well.
For a game centred around realism, it then seems strange at the contrast that is obvious throughout gameplay. The reload sequences, whilst being frustratingly long, are the actual actions a solider would take to load another clip, and thus really help add to that realism, but as a military simulator it seems incredibly odd to emit certain possibilities. With no magical regeneration, or loosely dropped health packs, the health system means you will bleed out if you leave your wounds untreated. So why is the animation for patching yourself (or a teammate) up a timer? Where are the bone crunching animations like in Far Cry 2? Even the most recent Alone in the Dark had you targeting your wounds and patching them up. The vehicles are even worse though: not only do they handle appallingly, the fade to black for entering and exiting is just another animation that is distinctly lacking, and compared to the rest of the game, they are vastly inferior graphically.
Combat wise, the game stands up well. With an impressive array of weaponry at your disposal, the mechanics are well implemented, but its the enemy AI that excels. Being flanked is not something I take kindly too, which the enemy AI seems to understand and therefore does it in spades. They will provide covering fire as troops sweep round and shoot you in the side – not to worry I thought, I’ll counter that by taking you out first. So with the initial enemies dispatched imagine my dismay at being taken out from behind – they really are brutal: if they can’t shoot you in the face, then they will flank you, if they can’t flank you they will call in for reinforcements, and if reinforcement doesn’t work then the attack chopper will just have to do. This being said, how do they always know where I am? Even crawling through tall grass to pop up a good 50 metres further east, to then be shot instantly, makes it quite difficult to flank the enemy on your own.
Luckily, you are not on your own though. With up to three friends, you can progress through the entire campaign and have a joyous time doing it. That is unless you’re playing using the dreadful team AI. Whether they’re in your fire squad or not, they are truly horrendous – if the anti-tank soldier in your squad is not controlled by a brain touting friend, you may as well abandon ship there. Our first attempt at the mission resulted in him getting gunned down for standing wide out in the open, second time for blowing himself up with by firing a missile against a tree before the final time of just lying down and not doing anything, thus failing the mission. If they’re not taking it upon themselves to obliterate each other then they might even try to dispatch you. Perhaps it’s my fault; I was taking out the Chinese at my own leisure, picking them off from a distance with a scope, before I was rudely interrupted with a chopper rocket to the face. Nothing compares though, to spending half an hour slowly and carefully advancing through a mission trying to aid and rescue a pair of crewman only to have upon our arrival one of them shoot the other before cementing himself to the floor and refusing to move resulting in his untimely death.
Dragon Rising is one of those very strange games. What it does well, it does really well and ultimately makes the game enjoyable and it’s a testament to that fact that despite all its flaws, I will continue to advance and complete Hardcore mode. It’s just a shame that a game with so much potential fell so short of a goal so easily in sight.
Graphics: The island is fantastic, yet it seems wasted: 7/10
Sound: Whether its the sound of a round being fired or the opening soundtrack, it sounds fantastic: 8/10
Gameplay: With a solid underlying shooter, its a shame that the cracks begin to show: 7/10
Overall: A good, fun shooter that excels in multiplayer but fails to reach the heights it could have.
7/10
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.« Previous 1 2
« Previous 1 2
online4ntagonist | 14/10/2009 19:46
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391 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Lens of ‘thruth’ might not be as truthfull as they’ll gladly let you believe they are. I have read very opposing things on the codemasters forum, and I must say, haven’t had any enemy, grass or other annoyances ‘pop-up’ in front of my line of sight. I can see much further as my rifles will let me hit. Offcourse there are occasional pop-ups, and the ground dissappears while reloading the queen-bee (nice animation, bit long though
. I hope you HAVE played it on the PS3, FRUIT?
FRUIT0FDOOM | 14/10/2009 21:33
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490 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
I have, with Colinbarr66 as my witness, not that i should need to justify an opinion. Sod what the lens of truth or whatever it is says, my OWN experience is that the game is SHOCKING on the PS3! Glitchy, ugly, and broken online. Not worth £40 and not worthy of being on such good hardware
Colinbarr66 | 14/10/2009 22:52
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1022 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
I agree with what FRUIT said, glitchy and when we tried online we were kicked out of the game. Dissappointed with this game and also disappointed that this is the 2nd multiplatform game within a week that doesn’t work properly online
skibadee | 14/10/2009 20:11
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3919 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2009
good but not great worth a go later on
dirtyhabit | 14/10/2009 21:25
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As soon as I saw ‘definative review’ in the title I new it was by Djh . Lol
djhsecondnature | 14/10/2009 23:50
Team TSA: Media
893 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Why’s that?
dirtyhabit | 15/10/2009 09:15
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LOL cos’ Your username should be djhmassiveego.
nofi | 15/10/2009 09:40
Wants a custom tag.
4307 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
@dirtyhabit – I added the front page excerpt, not David.
dirtyhabit | 15/10/2009 09:46
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1445 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Don’t want to cause a row, its only meant tongue in cheek. but the guy does have a huge ego.
djhsecondnature | 15/10/2009 10:42
Team TSA: Media
893 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Hmmm, news to me. Oh well, so be it
BadBoyBoogie | 14/10/2009 22:29
Let There Be Rock
2689 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
I may get this at some point, but there are too many other AAA games either just out, or soon to be released, that I don’t really have the time for this at the moment!!
Quinlank | 14/10/2009 22:33
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661 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
Glad I read the comments here as I was all set to get the PS3 version once the price of this game came down.
360 version it is.
Colinbarr66 | 14/10/2009 22:46
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1022 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Liked this game the first time I played it then tried online and for the second game within a week, it didn’t work. The friendly Al is terrible, so bad that I gave up trying to complete the second mission because they kept giving our position away and got us wiped out and ps3 graphics are shoddy. First impressions were good but the 2nd and 3rd time I played it I didn’t enjoy it. Glad I only rented it
online4ntagonist | 15/10/2009 06:35
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391 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Finished the fourth mission on hardcore yesterday, and I must say I like the game very much. There’s just no game that compares to this (gameplay wise). It’s like the first Ghost Recon, and then some. Also, got online and played two games, with no great difficulty. Driving a jeep online is made into an art to master though, handling ridiculously. No such problems in single player, but I only drove a Humvee instead of a shabby Chinese Jeep.
It’s weird though, with all the in-house experience they have on Dirt, they should’ve been able to get some proper control on jeeps.
Colinbarr: The second game that sucked online which you’re referring to is probably Uncharted? It’s not Dirt, that one works like a charm online.
a inferior race | 15/10/2009 11:22
I'm special
2011 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
I think he is referring to FIFA
TRiLoGY | 15/10/2009 08:52
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370 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
Great review! I was really dissapointed with the game myself, I would give it a 6
baggyg | 15/10/2009 14:58
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121 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
Playing this at the moment on the PC. Cooperative is great. In my opinion a unique experience that should be tried. Buy Buy Buy
DR-DAVROS | 16/10/2009 13:27
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199 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
Im up and down on this one. First 20 min play thru I was not that impressed. 2nd and 3rd play thru I really enjoyed. played online and also enjoyed that in co-op mission until I got kicked out from the server. My last play thru I did not enjoy as much as it felt like the enemy knew my location when I tried sneaking up behind with a knife. I then moved onto Fifa 2010 and now uncharted 2 but when I get time I will hop back onto this. I did have a feeling this was not going to be upto par of the xbox 360 as prior to release that was the only version shown and demostrated which is a shame however I can’t compare them as I only have a PS3.
minerwilly | 17/10/2009 15:59
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752 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Just traded it in for 31 pounds at CEX . Pretty good as I paid 27 for it from Asda . I initially enjoyed it but it began to dawn on me that my squad where brainless morons ! Online was too confusing and the graphics where sadly below average .
I never trade in (but do buy used games mostly ) but I thought to hell with this Ican make a small profit and put it towards either U2 , MW2 , Batman or something else . A little sad to sell as really wanted to like it .
iNsAnE_gAmInG | 17/10/2009 16:24
* Banned *
-1930 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
You can’t really complain then if you got some enjoyment out of the game whilst earning £4.
I did the same with a Nintendo DS game but made £7, I was chuffed.
Deadpixel | 20/10/2009 07:36
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452 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Now I really understand AtF 12… It’s a shame, a real shame cuz this game was one of the highly anticipated titles to be released… I guess Codemasters didn’t release it for our ‘buy when cheap’-list, but given the comments above I think they just made a team kill?
coltsrule18 | 21/10/2009 21:55
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45 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2009
dont get this i have it and it was fun at first but then it gets REALLY hard and boring