Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

There's a stigma in the gaming industry that a realistic simulation game has to be boring. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is here to challenge that notion. What it lacks in high intensity run and gun Call of Duty style gameplay, it makes up for in its tense, cinematic and fun experiences. If you've got the patience to approach the game's 11 missions as the developers intended - you'll find much to like here, but if you'd rather shoot first and ask questions later, you're in for one frustrating bug filled experience.

Dragon Rising takes place on the Russian occupied fictional island of Skira. After a previously hidden gas and oil line is discovered on the island, a battle between the Russians and the Chinese sends Skira into turmoil, and it isn't long before the Russians make a call to their allies located over in the States for backup. From here you can guess your chore (hint: it's "save the day") and embark on one of the most rewarding shooting experiences you'll play in quite some time.

Be warned - Dragon Rising is not an easy game - nor is it a short one. Each of the game's 11 missions will require you to complete multiple objectives, each of which can easily take more than 45 minutes to finish. Luckily, these missions are quite varied and you never get the feeling that you're doing the same thing over and over. One mission you'll be escorting an armored vehicle and the next you'll be providing cover fire for an allied unit. The key here is that you'll have to stop and think of just how you're going to approach a situation. If you go in half-cocked and ready to just shoot anything that moves - you're going to die... a lot. Most battles take place from a distance and you'll have to plot out your next move carefully if you want to win. It may not follow the most popular formula, but when you finish a section, it's incredibly rewarding.

However, if you don't finish a section it means starting over, and oddly enough, it's here where you can see some of the game's true beauty. Don't expect the situation to play out the same way. The game uses unscripted events and you won't be able to change what you did wrong in the last attempt and expect to survive. Interestingly, when you turn up the game's difficulty setting, your enemies won't get tougher - rather, the game strips away elements of your on screen HUD such as your squad mate's health and your map. Taking away these elements make the game feel much more realistic and you'll have to employ an even higher level of strategy. At the same time, the risk for frustration gets higher as one stray bullet can be the difference between completing a section and having to start over completely.

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cordex

This game is not bad at all. I am a hard core gamer that has been gaming since 1982. Over the years i have seen lots of good & bad games. However this game is all game play no hollwood movie cut scenes. You will ether like it or not. Now if you are a run and gun player you will hate it an if you play video games for the best graphics of the years you will hate. Now if you like hard core pain in the but challenge with strategy,tactics,Mathematics and good computer AI enemys all rolled up in to a modern war simulator. Than you have a game you could be happy with. With that said i own OPF (DR) and for a game that is not a COD title it was hard to get with out a per-oder. I did not per-oder so i had to go out of the way to buy it if that says much of any thing.

S4NDM4N_v2

No Dedicated Servers is a massive fail

4X4 KM map is a fail as well

And it is way less of a military sim than Arma 2.

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