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Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising Review

Posted on 09. Nov, 2009 by robdutchmonkey in Games, News, Reviews

One of the most anticipated First person shooters of 2009, the sequel to its epic predecessor which was only available for pc a couple of years back, and just about the only war simulator available for console. I for one was really looking forward to this, being a first person shooter junkie who is in love with war type scenario games, particularly realistic ones. I even thought that this game might just be better then the much anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2… The big question is, is it the real deal?

The game revolves around the same old thing all modern wars are fought about… Resources, and in particular, oil… No surprises there. Having said that though, you have to commend the ideas used in telling the story, which even though rather limited, blends the idea of past wars and major historical events, with the present issue of scarcity with regards to resources, and the human nature to fight for those scarcities and win in any way possible. Now you might be wondering what I mean about a limited storyline, well it is this that in a way is lacking for most who only play single player campaigns, but you’d expect this in such a massive open world game where you have a whole island to cover. In today’s day of age, we’re usually spoiled with Hollywood type scripts, and cinematic brilliance in cut scenes, whereas in Dragon Rising you get none of this, in fact, besides the opening scene describing the nature of the war you’re about to be deployed straight into, there is no script or cut scenes whatsoever! You’re only left with a mountain of orders and objectives, which in a sense, is realistic as there are no scripts on the battlefield, and the scenes unfold around you as it would in real war. All you get is a slightly idiotic squad to lead which tends to be quite complicated and irritating given the fact your squad are generally morons to begin with.

Where Dragon Rising excels in Fields where others such as the Socom games of old, and more recently Battlefield Bad Company failed, is realism of distance and objective orders… In Dragon Rising, 2 clicks is really 2 clicks, and no you can’t sprint the whole way and one minute. You need to utilize the vehicles available to you where possible, you don’t have to but it will take forever to run 2000 meters to your next objective, particularly if your medic is down and you have a bullet wound to your leg. Not only that, but you can do your objectives in any order you wish, provided you accomplish your primary objectives in time as in general, many objectives have realistic time limits for you and your squad to accomplish, others allow you to move through the objectives at your own leisure. Don’t think for a second though that it’s easy, bodily damage is realistic, get hit and you’ll need to find cover and use field dressing to prevent yourself from bleeding to Death, however, many times you’ll be left incapacitated or plain and simply dead when hit, particularly in close range fire fights.

Other then the massive island Skira you get to cover in the single player game, you also get spoiled for choice when looking online. Unfortunately for console versions, you are limited to 8 players online in any given game, with a helping hand from AI. Having said that though, you get the chance to play in a few different modes online for up to 8 players, as well as competitive co-op for up to 4 players. There are issues online however, especially with regards to lag and stupid AI, nothing that can’t be fixed at least. This allows for very good longevity all round. A very long and difficult at times single player campaign, coupled with co-op and multiplayer modes for up to 8 people and even has lan support.

With regards to trophies, they’re generally simple to attain as it follows along with the game. Basically, to complete the game, you need to complete specific objectives, but you gain trophies at the same time as you progress. Don’t think for a second though that this means an easy platinum trophy, as there are a number of hard ones to achieve, and forget about platinum if you don’t have the ability to play online, as quite a percentage of the trophies require online play through general multiplayer and/or co-op.

In general, the game is pretty good, and has great longevity, having said this however, it lacks certain attributes needed to be one of the big boys of the first person shooter world. Although it does many things right such as damage, realistic distances and brilliant ballistics with regards to how gravity affects bullet trajectory and the like, there are also a few missing elements to make this game as epic as I was hoping. Unfortunately, hype was one of the games’ killers, in particular the graphics. Yes, this is an open world game and graphics is very hard to get perfect, it’s the very nature of the game, however hyping the game with graphics we’ve seen in teasers and then failing to deliver those graphics on consoles is rather disappointing. Not only this, but the game lacks storyline depth, there’s no surprises and each mission feels rather one dimensional and can tend to get boring.

All things considered, the game is fantastic, it hasn’t lived up to all expectations but still makes for a brilliant adventure, and a proper simulator realistic feel to war. It is as close to war as you’ll ever want to be. It’s just sad it will never get the attention I feel it deserves.

Gameplay: 8.5 (Brilliant and tactical but many will find it frustrating)
Graphics: 8 (Despite some grain and lack of forest and cover, very good)
Fun: 9 (In most senses, the game is fun most of the time, distances tend to be problematic occasionally)
Sound: 10 (Brilliant, although limited soundtrack, war movie style… Sound effects are even too realistic)

Overall: 8.8/10 So close to perfect it almost feels wrong…

A big thank you to Nu-Metro for making the game available for review.

Tags: codemasters, Games, Operation Flashpoint 2, Review