Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (single player)

Operation Flashpoint is the unofficial brother to 2001’s Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and a “cousin” of the ArmA series. This game follows it brother and cousin in its tactical warfare via its game play and setting. The setting of this title is of the fictional island of Skira which is based on the real life island of Kiska which is located on the western end of the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska. The game paints a picture of an island that is has switch hands from China to Japan to Russia since 1905. The game states that due to a massive economic downturn in China that they have decided to attack and attempt to occupy the Russian Federation held Skira which happens to be oil rich. The Russia Federation asks for the United States assistance, so the U.S government sends a force of Marines to help which starts our game.




The game has you play has a Special Forces officer as well as a regular Marine Sergeant as you take back the island. These characters as the rest of the “cast” are forgettable, but of course with most tactical shooters the story takes a back place to game play. This game does attempt to have a story (though thin) which comes out as plausible so I have to at least give them credit for that. The game has you jump back and forth from the characters as you take destroy radar to enable air support or weaken defense so that American armor can progress, you even take a couple of town back, as well as a airfield and even a naval base. Unfortunately though it’s over to quick, with 11 missions and on normal can be completed in roughly 10 hours.



The game play is pretty normal for tactical shooters, with the standard emphases on tactics rather than run and gun. You’re given command of a fire team with 3 team mates that you can give a variety of orders ranging from there Rate of fire (hold to fire free), to how they stack up on you (tight or apart via radial menu which is bitch to use in combat and can be awkward. The A.I is okay, nothing special or horrible there, though I noticed you’re squad mates speed varies and can be annoying such as when you need to run to an extraction point and your men are basically hobbling along, and when you want them to assault a position they move like snails and just take pot shots at the enemy till you say fuck it and do it yourself. The enemy is okay as well, nothing special, nothing great, and nothing more to say about that. The game also let's you drive/fly a variety of vehicle's ranging from HUMVEEs to an Abrams tanks, and even gunships like Apaches and gunboats. Unfortunately driving sucks, any thing with wheels feels like you're on white grass with any movement over 5 MPH can send you out of control. Flying just feels awkward which too me a while to use and just like driving. To fight the Chinese threat you use a variety of weapons both American and Chinese. These weapons are well done with the sounds and the effects spot on.



The Good
• Great graphics

The Bad
• Too short
• Driving/flying controls suck

The Ugly
• Plausible yet thin plot