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You and your squad are pinned down and taking heavy fire. You managed to take out the enemy anti-air squad, but your location has been compromised. Just as you're about to lose hope a voice breaks over the radio. Allied airstrike is incoming! As the enemy closes in, the whistling sound of death from above fills the air and your foes are swept away in a massive explosion. These are the kinds of situations you will be faced with in the modern warzone of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (OF: DR).

OF: DR is a military simulation shooter brought to you by Codemasters. The game's setting is based around an island called Skira. This island is a new rich source of fuel and is a former territory of the Chinese. Currently, Russia and United States have managed to gain access to the hard to reach fuel reserves of Skira. Due to the global economic crisis, China has become more militaristic and wants the oil reserves for themselves. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) move in and take the island of Skira. Russia, facing war with China, calls for aid from the United States and the American military moves in to retake Skira Island.

When you first begin the campaign mode of OF: DR you are treated to some images of past wars and the fictional canon leading up to the beginning of the game. The presentation of the images has a very similar feel to the way Call of Duty: World at War (WaW) presented its storyline between each mission. This isn’t a bad thing, but unlike WaW, OF:DR doesn't use the voice over narration that made the WaW mission briefings interesting to watch. Instead the story is told through the images, but a little narrative audio would have gone a long way in this section.

One thing that OF: DR offers that sets it apart from games like the Call of Duty franchise is the open world design that gives the player freedom to roam around the map. Sure you have your objectives for each mission, but how you get to each point isn't as linear as it is in many games. You can choose to come at the enemy from a number of directions and you can even just roam around and explore at times. You can find an assortment of vehicles, weapons, aircraft, enemies, and other fun little toys along the way. There are some missions that require you to be at certain places at certain times, so the freedom to roam as you wish is not absolute.

Cautions

Some things you need to be aware of about the game are it’s not very newbie friendly. There are some minor tutorial points when you begin the game, but there are no weapon overviews, and learning to fly will be a challenge in itself.

The development team put together a nice radial wheel for you to issue commands to your squad during combat, but the wheel itself can be slow to operate and this can be problematic in heavy combat situations. It’s very easy to have an enemy creep around the corner while you’re fumbling around the radial wheel and before you can shut it down your head has already been turned into a cereal bowl.

Squad AI could use some work as even with the hefty amount of options provided by the radial wheel, the squad AI doesn't always perform with the greatest efficiency. This band of bumbling miscreants will at times find a way to do what they want regardless of what you command them to do.

Multiplayer mode is certainly where a lot of the fun for the game is, but it suffers from connectivity issues at times. You can occassionally get dropped and there can be some major choppy lag depending on the game.

OF: DR doesn’t play like your typical run and gun shooter. The pace is a bit slower and the focus points of battle are a bit wider. The gameplay can be compared to games like Arma 2 and Battlefield rather than Call of Duty, but the game is a decent shooter once you learn how it operates.

OF: DR simulates battle conditions on a realistic level. You can be killed by a single shot or you might be able to take a couple depending on where you’re hit. You can be wounded and if you go untreated you will bleed out and die. Various parts of your body can be injured and affect you in different ways. For example, taking a hit to the leg can prevent you from sprinting. Luckily, with a little first aid treatment, you can eventually regain the use of your injured limbs over time. Think you’re safe in that armored vehicle? Think again, one shot from an AT Soldier and they’ll be roasting marshmallows over your corpse and the smoldering Humvee.

Combat is probably more realistic than some might like. Camouflage is certainly an easily usable benefit as the landscape blends with a player or NPC pretty effectively. Add to the fact that unlike in games such as Call of Duty, where an enemy is clearly displayed by the red name tag over their head, you will not find that here. In fact, it’s very hard to tell a bush from an enemy and often times you won’t realize the tree you just walked by is armed until after it has unloaded a round into your left butt cheek. This makes finding enemies rather difficult and at times very frustrating because the computer controlled enemies can always spot you, even through dense forest and brush. You might think there is nothing out there, but then a big, bright green tracer round will fly through the trees and provide you with an instant third eye socket.

The campaign mode will send you on a series of mission objectives around Skira Island to help advance your troops deeper into PLA held territory. When you’re ready to make your way through the campaign you can complete the primary and secondary objectives. You don’t always have to complete all secondary objectives, but at times they can benefit you during a mission and punish you if you don't. In some cases, eliminating anti-air defenses as a secondary can open up air support for the mission.

In the second mission, remaining undetected by the PLA is a secondary objective and one you would be wise to follow as they will hunt you down without mercy if you get spotted. I should know, I made the mistake of getting spotted and before I knew it I had five soldiers coming up one side of the hill, three coming up the other, and an assault gunship helicopter raining all types of unholy hell down on me and the 3 unfortunate NPC saps that got stuck with following my lead. As you can tell, this can make finishing the mission’s primary objectives a lot harder than it needs to be.

Between each mission you will get a short briefing detailing your objectives and you can choose to receive a more detailed briefing for storyline if you want it. There are no entertaining cut-scenes, so you move pretty quickly from briefing to mission. Unlike many other shooter games, you can’t choose your weapon class or specialty with each mission. You pretty much have a predetermined build. Luckily, there are plenty of weapons to be collected elsewhere, so you’re not restricted to simply carrying what you’ve been given.

Once you’ve headed out into the world you can find a variety of vehicles that can be used. If the vehicle is damaged you can even repair it to get it mobile again. Unless of course the vehicle has exploded, then it’s pretty much toast. You also have to be mindful of vehicles that have not exploded, but have been heavily damaged. If a vehicle badly damaged sits too long there is a good chance it’s going to explode, so don’t be standing there turning a wrench when it happens.

There are some decent scripted battles in the game and while some of the battles can be fun, combat isn’t really all that exciting. However, the game does have its own fun moments where it can engage the player with a few surprises. The scripted events can be pretty fun and the open world really allows the game to shine. When you finally meet the enemy in one of those fun little battles, your squad is there to back you up…Well, some of the time.

The AI squad members are where I really found my heaviest frustration points. These guys don't always do what you tell them. Codemasters added a nice series of commands to the game with a radial wheel function to allow you the power to issue commands to your squad. Unfortunately, the AI isn't always in step with your commands.

A lot of shooter games have started to use squad-based AI to give the player more options and control over their fellow members. While the squad AI for OF:DR offers many options for the player to choose from when assigning their members tasks, the AI sometimes provides more of a headache than a benefit. Squad members at times have a hard time following commands. There will be times when your loving band of misfits will stroll off into the night leaving you trying to figure out which way they went. And may whatever god you believe in help you if they get shot while out of range. Believe me when I say it’s hard enough to find a downed squad member in the dense brush that’s near you as it is. If there’s some distance between you they are pretty much screwed.

During my run through the campaign mode, to be more specific the third mission, you and your squad must hold a village, I got shot about five minutes into the battle and I was incapacitated. On the radial wheel there is an option to call for a medic if you go down, so I did and my happy little helper ran up, squatted down, and just sat there with a first aid kit in his hands until I bled out completely. Other times the medic simply ignored my cries for help. How helpful. Unfortunately, this type of thing wasn't the only AI issue. Ordering your crew to defend a certain spot could still send them scurrying around the map until you lose track of one of them only to find out later they had gotten themselves shot a good distance away. This went on for a while as I made my way through the campaign mode and sometimes the guys would do as you tell them and work fine, but at other times you will have some kind of issue. Is it possible to yell so loudly that the NPCs in the game can hear you; because I tried really hard last night.

The squad radial commands are a great idea, but squad AI could use a little work. The radial option itself could use some adjustments as to issue some commands you usually have to navigate through at least 2 tiers of radial options. This can take a bit too long if you’re engaged in heavy fighting and can most likely result in you getting shot while fumbling around the radial wheel.

The medic in your squad is another problem. Yes, more about the medic. You pretty much have to instruct him to do anything as he is incapable of acting for himself. When you or a squad member goes down, you would think the medic would consider doing his job and jump into action, but no, you have to cycle through the radial menu or just go do it yourself. If you do assign your medic to heal he will often times have to chase down the target if they aren't incapacitated as they tend to spread out when close to each other. If you do this during a firefight they can both easily get shot. I believe this is likely a conflict with the formation commands, but it's something that could use a quick fix to avoid the issue.

The squad's AI can lead to some serious frustrations while playing as the game uses a checkpoint system which can sometimes be placed at long intervals and you can very easily lose a lot of time due to a minor slip of the AI. As I was playing through the third mission, my squad AI was causing me grief while trying to defend the beachhead village point from the incoming waves of enemy troops. This little event lasts somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 minutes to complete and it took me about 20 tries mainly due to my squad getting themselves killed and not properly following my commands. This can be compounded by playing the game on hardcore where there are fewer checkpoints. Talk about fun.

Squad AI is certainly one of the game’s more frustrating issues, but it’s not the only one. The game lacks a basic overview of weapons and doesn’t provide a lot of tutorial introduction to things and this is a major blow to new players. You’re pretty much left to figure a lot of this stuff out on your own. Luckily, you can pick up on most things with a little practice. If not, there's always the Internet.

The game’s graphics look pretty good despite the bland mixture of the landscape at times. Vehicles have a good design and when you take to the air the scenery looks really nice. When you’re in combat you can actually make use of camouflage as your uniform meshes nicely with the designed landscape. This can make it hard to spot enemy players and NPCs, but I guess that’s all part of making it more realistic.

While the graphics aren’t on the same level as some of the more popular shooters such as Call of Duty, it comes off well and the overall look is good despite the sometimes bland look of the land.

When it comes to realistic sound this game has some of the best. From the guns blasting to the helicopters flying overhead, OF: DR has some of the most detailed sound effects of any shooter game out there.

If you like music with your games you will be a bit disappointed to know that once you get past the title screen there isn’t much music to be heard. This actually goes well with the military sim-styled gameplay and the game uses the sounds of weapons fire and explosions to fill the void. All too often you will find yourself trying to sneak by an enemy only to hear a transport truck drive by or an enemy gunship fly overhead as you lie prone in the grass hoping they didn’t see you.

There's more! Don't miss the second half of our review.