OpFlash: Fun But Flawed
Designed to realistically portray modern infantry combat, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - the second in the OpFlash series - is a first person, squad based, tactical shooter. Are you trying to turn me on?! Seriously though, bundle the aforementioned elements into one game and you have a product I’m very interested in. Granted OpFlash hasn’t come about at an optimal time for a military shooter. Modern Warfare 2 is just around the corner, and most gamers are biding their time, not to mention sealing their wallets, until the 10th of November is upon us. But many are missing one minute detail; Dragon Rising isn’t trying to be Call of Duty. It’s a different breed of game altogether, but is it worth a look-in?
The entirety of Dragon Rising takes place on the Japanese island of Skira, with your squad of 4 - including yourself - advancing through open terrain. There’s virtually no character development, so at no point will you bond with your allies as you endure the hardships of military life, nor will you understand the background or history of the soldier you control. In fact, in a game with zero cutscenes between campaigns (yes, you read that right), emotional attachment seems to have taken a backseat entirely. Yes, Dragon Rising really is all about the apathetic side of war. This will definitely be a problem for some, especially on the harder difficulties where voice acting is completely absent from the game leaving you with little connection to those around you, but OpFlash requires your mind to be on other matters. Get the mission done.
You are given free reign as to how you approach missions, and the depth of control you have over your squad is impressive. That’s not to say commanding your men is confusing; OpFlash allows you to stick with the basics first explained in the introductory mission if you so wish, or you can explore other commands and utilise your squad to their full potential. Order allies to follow, flank, suppress, drive, even call in air strikes etc. And, for the most part, your squad will get the job done.
Something that put a big grin on my face with Dragon Rising, and you can rightfully call me a masochist, were the guns. Or more specifically, if you get hit by one you’re likely going to die. None of this replenishing health shit we see so much of these days. If there’s a clean bullet to the head, you’re out. If you’re lucky enough to get hit on your leg, you can patch it up by crawling into cover and applying a first aid kit, but you won’t be able to run after that. No, your leg is now fucked. If luck isn’t on your side, but it’s not quite your time to die, you can call on a medic who’s a part of your squad to patch up the damage if unable to do so yourself.
Speaking of squad, with AI being such a prominent part of the game, it has to be near enough perfect. In many shooters that require allies to aid you in advancing, the dubious AI can leave much to be desired and result in a whole bout of frustration. And cursing. Man, don’t even get me started on Michael and Jung from Rainbow Six: Vegas. For the most part OpFlash pulls it off, and it even went so far as impressing me in some areas. My squad dutifully obeyed the orders given, and the opposition formidably fought back. You can even instruct your allies to engage the enemy without pulling your trigger once. My men didn’t demonstrate foolish behavior like running into the line of fire, nor did they get stuck behind trees or other objects. But as I progressed I did encounter a few annoyances. Notably enemies who couldn’t see you despite being inches from their face, as well as enemies who would disappear and reappear through your crosshair. It didn’t happen often, but there’s no room for glitchy AI in any game. On the bright side, at least it was with the opposition and not my squad.
Another dent in Dragon Rising’s armour is in the form of level design. Sure, everything looks pretty enough, and I had fun trekking across Skira with its vast, wide open terrain. But because the game takes place on one island, there’s very little variety in level design. I can’t imagine there being much replay value with missions because of this, even though the thought of playing through on Hardcore with friends in 4 player co-op is appealing.
The Achievements are fairly easy with all of them - bar one - being offline (the other is a playthrough on co-op). Codemasters has the idea right here, eliminating irritating MultiPlayer Achievements that require you to play on empty servers. This is especially a wise move with the imminent release of Modern Warfare 2. There are MultiPlayer modes available in the form of Annihilation and Infiltration, but I’m not the biggest online gamer so haven’t given them a look-in.
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is certainly no GRAW, but it has enough substance to make fans of squad based, tactical shooters warrant a purchase. What’s really held it back from being a great game, for me at least, is the lack of variety in level design. But the missions you are required to carry out are entertaining, and I’m looking forward to gathering a group of people for a playthrough on Hardcore (having your HUD stripped away and mission briefs displayed purely in text should be interesting). OpFlash lets you tackle missions how you feel comfortable doing so, which is why newcomers to the series, like myself, may take time getting used to open terrain over which you have free roam. I guess what I’m trying to summarise, is that Operation Flashpoint is essentially a grower; you won’t fall in love after the first few missions, but if you take the time to master it, you’ll likely take a lot away from it.
It took me ages to get around to playing the original Mass Effect, but as soon as I did it was a case of “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!”. I’ve been looking forward to the sequel ever since, and it’s not disappointing. What can I say? It’s good to have Shepard back in my life.
Anthony Woods