Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising Hands On

We were recently given the opportunity to go hands on with a couple of levels from Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, a first person shooter that is not for the faint of heart.

First, a brief overview if you’re unfamiliar with the series: Dragon Rising is set on the island of Skira, north of Japan. A large deposit of oil has been found there, and – unsurprisingly – it’s now being contested by a number of nations. You and your squad must go in and secure the island, helped out along the way by…well, the rest of your army.

The first impression I had of Dragon Rising is that it’s damn hard. Well, the actual first impression I had was that it looked pretty, in an understated way, but I’ll talk about that later. The difficulty is going to turn off a lot of people, but it’ll be highly welcome to others: this is a game that skews slightly more towards realism than something like Call of Duty. If you’re caught apart from your squad, you’ll probably die. Death can happen very quickly if the enemy gets just a couple of shots in. A wound will bleed, and will need dressing unless you want to keel over. And simple inaction (or incompetence) can often lead to failed objectives.

To counter all of this, you’re going to have to act smart. You’ll need to take cover a lot and order your squad around (via a pretty in-depth radial menu). Getting the tactical edge on an enemy position will work a lot better in Dragon Rising than a frontal assault. Trust me, I tried.

After a lot of dying, I began to appreciate the gameplay depth at offer here. In the two missions available, you’re able to approach objectives in any way you see fit. Often this means surveying the landscape and actually thinking (I know!) about where to strike from, and where your men can go to best support you. The entire island has been mapped out, and you’ll be covering a lot of ground as you go from one hot spot to the next, traveling over rolling hills, through grassy valleys, and stalking silently through collections of houses.

Once you get the hang of things, it can all get pretty intense. While the gameplay systems have a steep learning curve, gaining a mastery over them can be very rewarding. I was extremely chuffed when I took out a bunch of enemy spotters on a hilltop through the clever use of flanking and suppression orders. Mind you, I was extremely chuffed when I made it most of the way through a missions without my entire squad getting wiped out.

Graphically, things are looking promising. I must say I’m pretty sick of the drab colour scheme on hand here, but it’s par for the course when you’re making a shooter game that’s apparently “gritty” and “authentic”. Other than that, strolling/crawling/sprinting through the long grass and collections of trees on Skira is very pleasant, until some bastard starts shooting at you.

Sound effects are likewise as competent as you’d expect, although I’m not sure how much I dig the squad command voices – they sound like automated customer service messages.

There is always a sizeable niche out there for the kind of challenging, unforgiving gameplay offered by Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. The question will be whether those who grew up on Halo and other run-and-gun shooters will have the patience to adapt to the more methodical, tactical nature of this game. If you’re into your military shooters, however, and don’t mind taking a beating, keep this one on your radar.

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