Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

[Ginger Lord]

Theres a recession on don't you know.

[D3ads]

Got my copy from Play for 18squid, let's hope the Royal Mail aren't so epic fail with bringing me my OFP goodness :E

x18?

Yes that's right, I gave Play.com 18 squids for my copy of OFP:DR.

Pssst, it's slang for £18

[D3ads]

Ok I've got the game now, just finished the first mission after a lengthy playthrough (about 3 hours +) thanks to being capped in the head one too many times. I'm running on mostly low-medium settings 1024x768 about 30 fps average which isn't ideal but at least I can play it.

Firstly other than the excellent animated intro about the history of Skira (which has been on Gametrailers for weeks now) there isn't much of an introduction to the game, as soon as that's over you start the mission straight away. I would have been better if there was some kind of helicopter intro like the Arma II demo mission.

Next the graphics whilst not being as bad as some people make out are less than ideal, I read about people on the codemasters forums setting everything to max and it looks only slightly better than what I'm playing, I've got textures on the highest they can go and things still look blurry up close which is lame in this day and age and tree LODs are rediculously under detailed, it's like a game from 2004. The lighting is annoying too, everything either looks blue, green or orange which drowns out the colours a lot, a Far Cry (heh heh) away from Arma II's beautiful colouristic landscapes. Also the FOV makes it look like you're constantly zoomed in which isn't very practical especially when you're inside a house and the walls look like you accidently left the scope on the rifle on. Outside it's not so bad but still unecessary.

Graphics aside though there's plenty to like about the game. The gameplay is a nice balance of the original OFP and COD as was anticipated, which means it's not too complicated but not exactly a walk in the park either. The menu system is very easy to use, unlike Arma II's 10 button menu command setup which is headache inducing and the squad responds and acts accordingly to what you ask of them. AI for both the squad and enemy is a little rusty, often Chinese soldiers crouched behind cover with their head visible over the top so it wasn't hard to get a headshot often, unfortunately they can do the same and they'll easily spot you about 900m in the distance and land an instant kill which you had no chance of seeing thanks to the annoying grass which sways about and unlike Arma II's, doesn't flatten when you walk on it.

The "blood" system works quite well and if you don't bandage some wounds asap you'll bleed out in no time which adds to the tension. Enemy bodies seem to vanish in about a minute so when you drop one, you need to sprint to their body if you want the ammo and supplies... to which you'll probably end up getting shot in the cranium from another enemy nearby.

I encountered a horrible bug in the game too, at one point I suddenly got stuck inside one of my teammates so that when they were running I moved with them and I couldn't get out! I tried hitting the use key to free myself and proceeded to be thrown 1000ft feet into the fucking air and died instantly when I hit the ground, I sat there for about 5 minutes with a look of dismay on my face.. I'd just spent 40 minutes prior to that driving to the objective location and clearing out a base and was seconds away from blowing up the SAM launcher nearby. Probably not as bad as Arma II's insect fest but.. FUUUUUUUUUUU..

So far so OK but that's about all...