Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising

Operation Flashpoint……. I think Operation Marmite is far more apt.

Like yeast extract some people love it other hate it.

I for one love it; lashing of that wonderful salty brown yeasty….. Seriously I love flashpoint, but I can see why some will and do hate it.

The premise is one of land and ownership. The game is set on an Island, Skira, which has had a bloody past, conquered throughout history by the Japanese, Chinese, Russians and pretty much anyone you can think of have invaded and shed blood over it.
In the not too distant future the Russians own it and find that it has a vast oil deposits all over it, the Chinese who are going through some major economic and political strife decide that they want a piece of that pie and invade it.
Bloody typically the saviours of the world; the US poke their big beak in and send their military might to help their once Red enemy. This is where we come in taking charge of various soldiers in the Marine Corps and Special Ops.
The plot only gives Codemasters a means to stage their fight; it has no bearing on game play, except for what uniforms and equipment to use. But considering what other plot lines there are for other FPS games it’s not too shabby.

Graphically, OF2DR is uninspiring, not that it sucks but there is nothing special, colours have a muted feel about them and even at 720p it’s quite grainy in places. The environment is huge, someone on live told me it takes about nine hours to cross the entire island on foot! I don’t know this and I’m not going to try not even for all the gamer points in the world sunshine.
Still I can’t help but feel I’m being too critical of the graphics and the effort into making this game vast, I mean the environments are detailed including hills, mountains, ridges, plains, forests, military and civilian buildings. Also the setting is a modern warfare battlefield, where realism is the driving force so it makes sense for everything to blend, I mean your trying not to get shot in the head, why make a target of yourself, having a blue camo gun will only get you killed here.

Game play is in the standard format for FPS, right trigger shoots, Left aims and the rest is quite simple to get to grips with and whiffs of GRAW2 in places. You control a squad of four well trained soldiers! That’s where it gets annoying, the AI isn’t all up to scratch, sometimes they will get stuck even though you just told them to assault a hill or lay down suppressive fire on a bunker, but on the odd occasion they will do as they are told and it is rewarding.
Deadly and methodical these words sum up OF2DR, it is deadly. Bullets kill fact, and the human body doesn’t fair too well against them. Speaking of the human body, it holds eight pints of blood, and on those rare occasions you’re not loading the last checkpoint after being shot, there are times where it is only a wound. If you get shot, survive and ignore to stop your bleeding you will die. This is represented in game by a red pulsing haze on the edge of your screen and a circle of red that diminishes in time. You have until this circle disappears to stop your blood loss. Plus, if you have already been shot and stemmed your loss that circle does not regenerate so eventually you’ll bleed out, unless you’re killed outright of course.
This is where the methodical part comes in; you need to be more than the strafing, jumping hero your normally are for COD4 and Halo. You need to be tactical, mindful and patient with this game, planning your route, scouting for the enemy, ordering your troops accordingly.
It’s these two elements that will make people love it and hate it. Personally I think these two elements push this beyond the typical FPS releases that all too often fall short.

Multiplayer is again, lovely and annoying. What I mean by this is death match is not fun; its not hardcore mode on COD4 – This game is not designed to be played multiplayer in that way in my opinion, it truly shone when you play 4 player co-op, where tactics and orders are barked through the mike and not by selecting various options on the d pad. Unfortunately you can only co-op with four players, which are damn right annoying, also you can’t select what kit you want to venture out with, but you can pick bits up on the way.

OF2DR is a great game, though I believe it will fall because of its merits, it is a digital contradiction. If you enjoyed GRAW 2, the original flashpoint or the R6 series get a copy soon. If you hate tactics and love p’wning someone with a headshot from the Light ‘fifty while jumping stick to what you know.

I’d rate this game as 8 out of 10, it has it’s limitations but it has great potential.

Palindromic bob is doing an offcial review of this title, so it will be interesting to compare the two. having 2 different perspectives

I like it. Not a lot I'd argue with you about (in fact nothing I can think of). My review is nearly ready. Gotta warn you though. It's a bit epic (like the game) and I'm going to try and cut it down a little 2moz before I post it.

I'm looking forward to reading your review mate.