IGN writes - "Flashpoint is as close to war as you'd want to get. It's a game that will make you feel the fear of going to battle". So begins our introduction to the first proper hands-on with Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the long-awaited follow-up to one of the most realistic first-person shooters ever released. It's certainly a bold statement – is it really possible to feel proper fear when playing a videogame? – but one that should help assuage fan concern following the Flashpoint series' move from Bohemia to Codemasters' internal studio.
Twinfinite's Henry McMunn revisits Codemaster's military simulator and realises it was actually really great all along.
Dragon Rising wasn't bad, but it had a lot of questionable design choices. Red River was just horrible in every aspect, huge step down from DR.
Yup, Dragon Rising had some potential, but it was way too restricted from what I remember. Red River was indeed horrible. Wish I hadn't wasted the money on that one.
Ugh I just remembered this game and it makes me want to me sick in a bowler hat and drown myself in it....
The only good thing about this game was borderlands was out a week later!
Dragon Rising was a really great idea but with Codemaster's typically shoddy execution of anything not racing related. Their poor handling of the criticism, bugs and outright lies on the packaging was eerily similar to EA's BF4 flustercluck. The game was a breath of fresh air in many ways and was really the only truly tactical, open map shooter of it's kind on consoles. Anyone who played the original Flashpoint or ARMA games would feel pretty comfortable with Dragon Rising. It's just a pity Codemasters dropped the ball completely on the online portion, allowed several annoying bugs to remain to this day and lied about features in the game and later charged for these promised features as DLC. With the way they handled the whole situation, Codemasters earned the first spot on my ever expanding list of developers that I refuse to buy anything from them. Again, much like BF4, you can easily see the awesome game it could have been and yet it's still totally out of reach.
There are games wich shine with light. However, not all games have the same opportunity to receive support from their editors.
This results in remarkable games, even outstanding, which have been forgotten or, unfortunately, were never known by the mass audience. Even their reviews, do not capture the true quality of the title, since most anticipated games, are unfortunately better received in the newsroom.
Part I: Hidden gems in First Person Shooters
"I’m tired of the need for more 'realism' in games. I don’t want to hear about how realistic Call of Duty is while you’re cowering behind cover watching the red Kool-Aid disappear from your screen. I don’t care if Battlefield 3’s bullet drop somehow makes it a better shooter. Does it really matter if you play Forza Motorsport, Gran Turismo, or Need for Speed? They all look and feel fantastic; why does it matter if one is more realistic?
"You want to see a realistic game? Go play Operation Flashpoint on the hardest difficulty. After you’ve gotten out of the fetal position, tell me how enjoyable it was. Unless you happen to be a masochist, I’m going to bet you didn’t have a very good time. That’s realistic.
"We use video games as an escape, just like movies, literature, and music. They tell us stories, let us make our own, or let us live out an experience. I can’t drive a race car (heck, I don’t even have a license), but that doesn’t stop me from playing Need for Speed. The cor...
Exactly. I love the fact that you can jump and shoot with a .50 cal sniper rifle in COD. That adds to the fun whereas realism reduces the fun and makes the gameplay boring. Games aren't suppose to be realistic, we as human beings are very limited when it comes to abilities and powers and such and having game designers implementing what we fantasize the most in terms of technology and surreal action in video games make us people happy cause we get to experience our own "world", the world of fantasies and joy in those games which brightens our imagination and give us something to think about. If I wanted realism, I would rather stick to the life outside of home and drive a real car instead of playing GT5/Forza for instance. Realism ruins the fun, fun is surreal or simply like our folks at Epic Games call it, Unreal.
Some people would like the opportunity to "be" a soldier, so to speak, but without having to risk their life to do it. In that sense, realism in games is wanted. Some people would like to hop around in a land full of giant mushrooms and clouds you can stand on, and that's where "unreal" games come in. There's a place for all types of gamers in this world.
Doesn't an escape from one reality into another make all the more magic though?
Operation Flashpoint on hard is BOMB! I loved it! Intense! One of the few games that was genuinely hard and not just cheap like playing COD on veteran.
Most of my favorite games this gen are unrealistic
Valkyria Chronicles
Tales of Graces F
Disgaea 4
Atelier Meruru
Mass Effect 1
When all is said and done this year,PS3 will have the best FPS games,TPS games,RPG games and well the best of everything.3FIXME will have the highest failure rate yet,the most exclusive flops,and the largest amounts of annoying racist children in their pitiful online network.
I apologize to the xbots for not having the oppotunity to play the Playstation 3 and its collection of the best HD games this generation.
Maturity at it's finest
First one was excellent but just so that frustration doesn't set in, learning the disciplines of this non arcade shoot you dead with one shot like gameplay, is quite important - just a tiny bit frustrating for some i'd imagine
I already get my kicks from Halo3 but this is a lovely contrast to that more immediate experience
This looks very satisfying
"Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the long-awaited follow-up to one of the most realistic first-person shooters ever released" It's certainly a bold statement – is it really possible to feel proper fear when playing a videogame?
-Well those are bold words in the face of those who proclaim Killzone 2 "the most realistic FPS experience" Even the 1st OFP AI its more realistic.
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"As a developer you set soldier X to react when something triggers Y, causing target A to pop out from cover and so on." The problem with this system, he suggests, is that - over time - players learn the rule sets of the game and can predict how the enemy will react. "In Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising there really is an artificial intelligence – it's not HAL and it doesn't learn, but it does make for an experience unlike anything you'd played before." Another bold statement, but one Lindop is keen to demonstrate by loading up one of the simpler missions in the game. Playing through a couple of times, he demonstrates how the player really is part of a living world that's forever changing depending on the choices they make.
-Whoooaaaaa!!! Killzone2 AI debunked! I told you. How sad :(
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Before moving off, Lindop explained that any kind of 'traditional' videogame approach to the scenario would result in certain death. Obviously, Dragon Rising is no Gears of War and is even far more strategic than other team-based shooters like Ghost Recon, so a frontal assault on an enemy position would result in a quick, bloody death. Instead you need to think like you're in the military: the enemy reacts to sight and sound so you'll have to move silently and slowly using cover where possible – rattle off a shot and everyone within earshot will be alerted, intensifying their patrols and sweeping the vast island in teams until they pin down your location.
-Well its like i told you all those FPS War "Generic" Games are just Hollywood Movie Style game that entertaint you for a few months but the game realism and Gameplay influenced by the AI in this game its going to grab your neck and keep you playing it for almost 5 years.