First Person Shooters are now as essential a part of the gaming diet as some of those genres that have been around a lot longer. Wolfenstein started a revolution back in the days of the 486 PC machines and then onto the SNES, albeit subtly edited to prevent any hostilities. What you could say about the majority of titles that have been and gone since then is that realism was never really a thought or concern, as you slaughtered anything from aliens to, for want of a better term, malnourished Nazi skeletons.
The original Operation Flashpoint was very different to the trend when it arrived on the Xbox and personal computer. It had more realism than most people outside of Rainbow Six had seen and ruled with an iron fist, with a very unforgiving difficulty, which for console owners was as close to the cardinal sin as you’d dare get. Counter Strike and Rainbow Six 3 both pulled it off on the consoles because they made things more accessible and a lot simpler, but we move on to 2009 and find a big surprise… Codemasters haven’t read the script.
To start off with they had their own Cold War Crisis with the original developers, Bohemia Interactive parting company with the British software team due to disagreements, which left the Codies to do this one themselves. The island of Skira is our playground for this story of power, greed and corruption between the Chinese and Russia, who enlist the help of the UN to reclaim the oil drenched land back for themselves.
There are around 11 missions in all to start off with; and with only the first one being an exception, we see all of them taking place on the mainland. That may not sound very surprising, but the fact that you can travel across the whole island during each objective filled level certainly is. Only Fallout 3, Borderlands and Farcry 2 have really offered this kind of scope in terms of map size (and 2 of them are RPG based).
The Ego Engine that Codemasters have used already has a proven track record of great things, as Dirt 2 and Grid have shown, but instead of graphical sheen and polish being at the forefront this time, we see the size and scale massively increase, with the visuals suffering ever so slightly because of it. It’s not to say they’re awful, but it’s much like GTA back in the days of the PS2 in that it never looked as great as, say, Shadow of the Colossus, but when you considered what it had to shift round, you could forgive it not looking it’s best.
If you go through the landscape with a fine toothed comb you can see other little tell-tale signs of this. Most huts and buildings are barren and bare, with no interior objects to speak of and some of the enemies can look a little bit like cardboard cut-outs, especially the jeep gunners, but when you consider things on the grander scale, such as having many vehicles to cover such a HUGE landscape, not to mention the draw distance and constant climate changes, it’s more a reviewing niggle than a lack of effort.
The music is confined to the menu; with Flashpoint going for the same approach as No Country for Old Men (the creepy Coen Brothers film with the masochistic Spaniard in case anyone is wondering). All the sounds are from the in-game world and the people and weaponry that dwell within. Again we go back to this “total war” experience that we’re meant to feel and it does work well. Most of the army speak is good, relevant and convincing, but there will be some instances where your commander will sound more like the speaking clock having afternoon tea with a Speak-and-Spell.
What gave the original it’s almost cult reputation was the difficulty level and how it punished the gung-ho style that most Call of Duty and Halo types can’t seem to get out of their system. Nothing has changed. If you decide to do the old ‘run’n’gun’ technique then YOU WILL DIE!!! Flashpoint requires a very methodical and stealth filled approach, not to mention the constant ordering of your AI allies to help you in your mission. If you think Rainbow Six: Vegas for the hardcore aficionado then you’re pretty close.
The difficulty doesn’t change with the AI though. In a bit of a twist we now see things being made harder by reducing the visual aids. How it works is that in normal mode you will have your compass pointer at the top of the screen and a full layout of what weapon you’re using, the ammo count and the now customary visual crosshair. Shove the dial up to hardcore and almost ALL of this will disappear, leaving you with just your wits and judgement. It’s a refreshing idea and helps to bring people even closer to what the real life soldiers of today have to endure, perhaps even sparing a thought for those out there in the front lines doing this for real in other places round the world.
The multiplayer model consists of standard deathmatch (named Aggression here), the entire campaign in co-op mode alongside 3 other players and Infiltration, which is a bit like Call of Duty’s Search and Destroy, with a building being the target rather than a weapons cache. It’s enough to keep the online contingent happy and thankfully doesn’t feel like something which was just bolted on at the last to ensure all bases were covered.
If you are looking for something filled with Hollywood frills and spills, with an almost Terminator style lead character and a one way ticket to easy street then don’t look here because this is not that kind of game. What Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising succeeds in being is a no-nonsense, hard hitting piece of real warfare. To put it in context, if you compared this to Call of Duty or Halo, you would have to think of the gulf in difference between the A-Team and the Arnie led group of Mercenaries sent in to take out the Predator.
This is a tactical shooter and it’s proud to let the world know about it. We need stuff like this to come out on the consoles because it gives those looking for a real challenge the chance to really get stuck in and get more involved than some other games will allow. It’s big, serious and very immersive and keeps the series’ reputation as being the hard man on the block true. If you have the patience of a saint and have been chomping at the bit for something fresh on the tactical side then you need to be getting this. It offers something different to the norm and that’s a hard enough mission as it is.
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
