Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a tactical shooter that offers more options that you can shake a stick at. Sequel to the popular PC title (Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis), it puts you in charge of a four person squad, and it’s up to your to decide how you go about achieving your objectives.

With a huge island to conquer, missions vary from destroying SAM sites, to assisting friendly forces advance on enemy targets, with enough variety to please most hardened gamers.

While running and gunning may be the first thing most people will try to do, OF:DR will punish you for your poor judgement, and such tactics will frequently end with a bullet to your brain pan (can I say “Squish”?). Instead you’re encouraged to think first, often scouting for enemy patrols, and avoiding them as you progress towards your mission objective. While that may sound dull, it leads to heart pounding gameplay as you constantly try to out think opposing forces while keeping your four man squad alive.

Picture the scene if you will, I’m crouched behind a rock on a hill overlooking a valley. An enemy patrol is carefully making it’s way through, completely unaware of my presence as I carefully line up my first target in the scope of my sniper rifle. My counterparts next to me calling each target out, their distance and position, it takes only moments to re-adjust my aim and gently squeeze the trigger. It couldn’t feel more real, until I realise I have to shoot the same soldier two more times in the face before he finally falls to the ground.

Wait… what?

As a game that promotes itself as being “as close to war as you ever want to get.” I’m left scratching my head as to why it would take three shots to the face to kill an enemy. Ok, so he’s tough, we can live with that, right? Well, what about the guy next to him that’s dead… only he’s standing bolt upright pointing his weapon at you? He’s not moving, shooting, or shouting (though at this distance, it was hard to tell), but he’s definitely dead. Maybe rigor mortis set in…

It’s when things like this happen, that it becomes harder to remain immersed in the world that Codemasters so carefully crafted, and while the above are perfect examples of bugs that should have been caught during testing, sadly they’re not isolated. Some missions will suddenly end, unless you’ve done the objectives in a certain order. AI team mates will repeatedly fail to follow orders, either leaving you to bleed out and die, or sit in a certain spot despite telling them quite the opposite; resulting in their deaths.

While I would love to commend Codemasters for the finished product (superb graphics, physics, sounds, & a solid campaign), the aforementioned bugs along with the sometimes fiddly controls all lead to an extremely frustrating gaming experience; one that could have easily been avoided.

I’m willing to admit that Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising had some pretty big shoes to fill, and with expectations from the community so high, I had hoped that OF:DR wouldn’t fail to impress. However, with game crippling bugs in both the single player campaign, and the multiplayer modes it’s hard to be anything other than shocked as I pick up the pieces of my shattered dreams. Broken from the moment you take it out of the box, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising could have been so much more. While most of its issues can be fixed in future patches, it’s difficult to picture anyone sticking around long enough to see their benefit.

6.5/10

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