The word simulation becomes a tag along word from time to time. Microsoft's Flight Simulator is probably the first to come to mind and when slapping the word at the end of a game title, a certain preexisting judgement comes along with it; the idea that since it is a close replica to the real thing, the amount of fun is limited. The 3 game series, Operation Flashpoint, while missing that word 'simulation' in all senses should have the word attached to its titles.Available for PC, PS3, and Xbox360, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising from Codemasters is a long awaited sequel with much to live up to. The first in the series, Cold War Crisis, was an amazing rendition of the pace, feel, difficulties, and distances of modern warfare firefights. Much of war is not fought at typical fpser's favorite distances of less than a hundred meters where the face of your opponent is clearly visible. OF games keep most battles at the realistic large distances where the sounds of ricochets and shrapnel scare, confuse, and pump adrenaline much like a forgotten pan of jiffy pop left on the stove. Scouting ahead with binoculars and popping smoke isn't just for voyeuristic wizards as OF allows for many different strategies, some of which work, and some of which force you into a grave or jail cell you dirty wizard you.
This sequel takes place on an actual island off the west coast of Alaska with its named changed to Skira. In an imagined or sadly possible future where oil becomes ever more rare, China claims original ownership of Skira after oil is found deep within and Russia defends their stance of ownership since gaining control of Skira during WW2. As things escalate, the proud eagle riding, stars and stripes waving U.S. steps in to aid their Communist hating, poor big brother Russia. And not only does the U.S. step in to help out their buddy and attempt to inflict pain on the country stealing the U.S.'s manufacturing jobs, but the favor of saving Russia doesn't seem to be returned during the entire campaign of Dragon Rising.
In Dragon Rising you take the role of a USMC sergeant in charge of three other troops taking a full campaign to fruition. This sounds as if it could last as long as a few previously known historical conflicts but this campaign ends up to be less than a week so no need to pack more than a few pairs of underwear. The main campaign includes much of what I imagine a true military campaign to entail, such as a special ops behind enemy lines precursor followed by the initial beachhead assault. Missions vary in difficulty and objectives range from simple 'destroy it all' to sneak and demo without being caught. Many missions gave me little to no trouble while some had to be retried over 10-20 times.
Much of the gameplay mimics the previous games and the controls translate well to the console controller setup. Most troop commands are simple to accomplish quickly and your troops react to changing conditions. A.I. of enemies and allies, however, is at times frustrating or idiotic or at least buggy. Beyond A.I. bug issues, I ran into clipping problems where objects and models could be walked through after respawns and A.I. could see and shoot through them as well (Xbox360) killing me from who knows where.
The amount of weaponry available is near the 70 range and all are of modern design. Vehicles are included as with all OF games but very little of the campaign missions involve the use of any beyond humvees or APCs. In Cold War Crisis multiple missions forced the player to become a tank commander, bomber pilot, and helicopter gunner where Dragon Rising's main campaign ignores these options and keeps you in your running boots. It did leave me with extra time to brush up on some old dance moves but left me craving for more and gave me a feeling I was missing the sense of a full war simulation experience. I also noticed the removal of character equipping prior to missions and couldn't find a valid reason for this missing component. In turn you are allowed to look at your starting equipment and that of your entire company but can do nothing to drop unneeded extra weight.
I did not take any time to attempt the co-op, mission editor, or multiplayer modes which all have the potential to make the game better than what I experienced. With the implementation of a co-op mode for the entire campaign the storyline development of your character becomes lacking. This would only be noticed if you had played the original; specifically the rising of your character's rank and subsequently responsibility for additional squad members during missions. Instead your rank stays stagnant and you stick with your four man crew.
I did still enjoy the overall game although I have a hard time seeing how this could compete against monster games with hype and advertising such as Modern Warfare. The visuals were done exceptionally well. Bombings leave large amounts of fire and smoke but still can't compete with true pitmasters. Gunfire and long battles give the movie-like response of thankfulness to still be alive. And the biggest bonus in picking an OF game is the openness of environment and objective completion much like Bethesda's games (ie, Morrowind, Fallout 3).
Want to run right at your waypoint guns blazing? Want to sneak through the woods and not fire a shot completing an entire mission without killing a single enemy (yeah sounds real fun but it is an option which I did accomplish on accident)? Want to steal a helicopter, kamikaze dive it into the ocean, bailing out at the last second and put in hours of swimming to reach the island again only to be shot and killed by an AA emplacement you somehow didn't see shooting you on your way out to the ocean making you want to commit seppuku for your shamefulness of time wasted because you thought grand theft helo is the only place GTA games can go next?
Well Dragon Rising will let you fulfill those fragile dreams. Its release did suffer from bad timing as its release was very close to MW2 and if your cash flow limits the amount of choices you can make, choosing the latter will guarantee a better choice. If you somehow happen to find some extra time to see how our red, white, and blue boys get things done in almost real-time, give OF:DR the good ol' rental. It will not compare to MW2 but it's differing experience that separates simulation from the rest.
Rating : 4.5 {on a scale of -10 to 10}
Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild
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