The original Operation Flashpoint was hailed for its realistic combat in an age of almost arcade shooter dominance, and the true sequel, not considering ArmA and ArmA 2, continues down that path.  If you’re into pick-up-and-play shooters, you’ll need to look elsewhere, because Dragon Rising is gonna take a while to learn; lots of time and dying before you complete it.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising takes place in a fictional Russian island that has been invaded by the Chinese, and the single-player campaign follows you and your squad as you fight your way through the island, re-taking it. The 11 missions are well made and thought out, but they’re fairly tough, so don’t expect to beat every level on the first try, even on the lowest difficulty setting. The missions are also rather lengthy, and will take you anywhere between 30 mins to a whole hour to complete, depending on your skills.

The missions take place out doors, spanning over a large area, and objectives will be thrown at you as you advance. There are vehicles in the game, but some are close to impossible to control, like helicopters. It seems completely illogical to take “realism” to that level, and flat out make certain aspects of the game impossible, like controlling a helicopter. This frustration pop up in different aspects of the game as well, all related to it being too “realistic”, as in too “unplayable”. The enemy AI is good, and will give you enough of a challenge, the friendly AI however, is rather dumb, as your teammates will often ruin your stealthy approach. And even worse, they’ll often get in the line of fire.

The multiplayer portion of the game consists of co-op, where you can play the campaign with three friends, and a dedicated versus multiplayer feature, with classic modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and so on. It’s also possible to have a squad of 3 AI teammates in multiplayer, however, the AI issues from the single player campaign carry over, so you’re not any better of. On the whole though, the multiplayer part seems polished and is quite entertaining.

Technically, the game looks great, and is very similar to Battlefield Bad Company, sans the destruction. The outdoor environment is rendered well, and everything seems to be realistic, again, sans destruction. The audio is great as well, and the mission briefings are short and to the point. However, we did experience a few bugs and hiccups with the game, including frame rate issues. In all, the game can be recommended to hard core shooter fans who crave for realism, but for everyone else, it’s a notch too realistic, often resulting in sheer frustration. The single player campaign is well made and the quality of the story and structure is welcomed, the multiplayer likewise is decent, but again, if you’re not into realistic combat sims like Arma, you’re in for a lot of frustration.

The Good:
Good campaign
Realistic

The Bad:
Some realistic aspects ruin the gameplay
Occasional bugs and glitches
Some vehicles are downright unplayable
AI has issues at times

Overall score: 6/10