From the PlanetXbox360.com feature review:
"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 the island into turmoil. 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; and it's one of the most rewarding you'll play in quite some time. Be warned – Dragon Rising is not an easy game – nor is it a short one."
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
"Shots fired" sounded like a broken monotone record that continued for minutes on end.("shots fired") Heal wounded?...ok...my medic would eventually ("shots fired") make it to my squadmate only for said squadmate to pause then repeatedly ("shots fired") run to another point, pause, medic follows then the wounded takes off again..("shots fired")...again and again without getting healed...then gets killed. ("Shots fired") I could go on and on about ("shots fired")the flaws in this game.("shots fired") The AI blows cok unlike anything ("shots fired")I have ever ("shots fired") played before. Get in vehicle? sure they ("shots fired")will...but in actuality ("shots fired") no matter how much I forced them to enter, they run off ("shots fired") to god knows where as I proceeded to shoot them in the back for cowardice. I had to ("shots fired") restart ("shot fired") the checkpoint a dozen times at least. I could ("shots fired") go on and on.
"Negative Dagger 1 we have run ("shots fired") out of artillery ammunition and the Chinese have full air superiority ("shots fired") at all times...that single ("shots fired") enemy gunship is too strong for U.S. forces...we CANNOT assist...I repeat we ("shots fired") CANNOT assist. In ("shots fired") order to kill the few dozen ("shots fired") enemy soldiers on Skira, you will have to rely on your sh!tty rifle the ("shots fired") army has provided to you, or scavenge the ("shots fired") enemies weapons ("shots fired") as we are on a super tight budget for this entire mission. Dagger 1 do you copy? Over" ("shots fired")
"Command this is ("shots fired") Dagger 1, that's a hard copy, furthermore go fvck yourself, and interrogative, how can we enjoy ("shots fired") this sh!tty rushed over-hyped game with ("shots fired") so many annoying fvcking issues? We are UNfortunately ("shots fired") Oscar Mike. Over. ("shots fired")
I'll be "Oscar Mike" to the store ("shots fired") for trade-in very ("shots fired") soon. ("shots fired") Damn it!