Operation Flashpoin 2 - Dragon Rising - Review

[Husky42]

First, let me start this off with that I am a huge Armed Assault fan and original OPFP fan from back in 2001 up until well very recently really. Probably one of my favorite games.

With that said, Operationg Flashpoint Dragon Rising does not deserve the name Operation Flashpoint HOWEVER - It is still a fantastic game.

The Graphics: I have seen people complain about the graphics but with the open ended environment i beleive the graphics are quite nice indeed and I wonder if some people are forgetting to hit F1 and go into the advanced tab and set everything on high. Personally I think the game looks great.

The AI - Ok so the AI is abit dumb not really the opposing AI although they do scatter funny but I'm taking about my squad mates, however the AI is only as smart as I can command it I guess but sometimes when having to duck from helicopter cover the AI never went down fast enough for my liking (though they never set off the alarm) However 90% of the campaign was also played in Co-op with two other players in which IMO this game came alive.

It is sim enough in terms of realism to make it a challenge and fun for the average war simmer.

I enjoyed it immensely there is enough variety to make it fun however the campaigns do seem repetitive, that said I highly await the campaign.

To some the game may seem too short. It is only 11 campaigns and can be beaten in around 9 hours - Mind you this is with 3 Human players in Co-Op.

I have seen some reviewers say you can Rambo in the game, not really.. some of the defense missions need to be setup just right or your going ot get over run, you try and storm in and take your objective you will be shot, that said we did have some rambo situations.

Night Stealth assault we came up behind two cards and capped them. Took the jeep and ran right through the objective hollywood style, bailed out and watched my AI get killed when the Jeep hit a fuel truck. We were all hurt though and had to hide for awhile until the AI respawned (co-op thing i think)

Overall if you can get away from thinking of this game as a Operation Flashpoint Game and as a fun tactical shooter in which its realism lays between Project Reality for BF2 and Armed Assault (1 and 2) I think you will greatly enjoy the game. I did and as such it gets a 8 out of 10 from me with its only marks being the slightly dumb AI and the fact that it is not 100% Op Flashpoint.

[gtr2_race_pro]

is project reality more real than ARMA 1 and 2?, i have only played PR so i wanna know if its realer than that or worse xD

Also how dose it stack up against ARMA 2 in multiplayer tactics/stragity

I really like PR for the squad tactics when u get a server full of grown people and not just kids

[Husky42]

Originally Posted by gtr2_race_pro

is project reality more real than ARMA 1 and 2?, i have only played PR so i wanna know if its realer than that or worse xD

Also how dose it stack up against ARMA 2 in multiplayer tactics/stragity

I really like PR for the squad tactics when u get a server full of grown people and not just kids

PR is less real for sure, ARMA II is probably the most realistic I have ever played. I actually only had the Demo up until today as I was still playing ARMA and Queens Gambit for the longest time but now been enjoying ARMA II for the last few hours and it is utterly brilliant (that is if you can get beyond the odd sounding voices (same as in the old op flashpoint)

PR is great fun and pushes BF2 to the limits but ARMA II just kills it for that "real" experience.

Even with two 4870's i seem to be having issues with performance but by disabling the second GPU it seems the game prefers one GPU (unless there is a work around) really has increased my desire for the 5 series cards even more. I installed it on the Media center and that 5870 smokes everything but that is kinda like the communal media pc and its tri monitor support with appropriate HDMI really is the only reason it has the 5870 otherwise it would be in my gaming PC.

I have to say while Dragon Rising is fun and is a cross between PR/ARMA/COD4 that if you want realism ARMA II is still the best.

Not tried the ARMA II multiplayer yet, still doing the campaign.

[gtr2_race_pro]

ah k, yah i know what u mean about PR, the BF2 engine holds it back from being a completely awesome game, i been looking at ARMA 2 and wondering if i should get it every time i got into the computer store, i like the realism of these games, running and gunning was never my style.... my only concern is my computer, were did u get the demo for ARMA 2

[MaddmattH]

Originally Posted by gtr2_race_pro

my only concern is my computer, were did u get the demo for ARMA 2

What are your specs? Demo is here:
http://www.arma2.com/arma-2-demo_en.html

[Husky42]

Originally Posted by gtr2_race_pro

ah k, yah i know what u mean about PR, the BF2 engine holds it back from being a completely awesome game, i been looking at ARMA 2 and wondering if i should get it every time i got into the computer store, i like the realism of these games, running and gunning was never my style.... my only concern is my computer, were did u get the demo for ARMA 2

Well what are you specs?

The game runs fine mind you but it takes some tweaking and if you turn the foliage down (ground details) you get a nice bump in frames. Plus there is an app that helps maintain a good feeling in the game ie not losing too much IQ

I run it all on Very High which is why i complain about frames

Best bet is to get the demo though and mess with the game options there, plus from what i've read the multiplayer is better due to the CPU AI calculations not being present, overall though it is simply amazing and true to BIS game styles.

[gtr2_race_pro]

well i run CoD4 on low, so what u think?.

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz
2 gb ram
and GeForce 8600 GT 512mb

i ran the can you run it thing, it said i meet the minimum but not the recommended so i dono :S

i was looking at some other games and my CPU really sucks... time to upgrade that u think?

[Husky42]

Hmm if your forced to running COD4 on low i'd say Arma II is a pass for you at this time.

9800GX2's are torn to pieces by the game.

[gtr2_race_pro]

mmmmk, u think i should go 9800gt or new CPU first

[Viper]

Slightly off-topic... You say ARMA 2 is the most realistic. How realistic is that exactly? One shot one kill kind of realistic? And I'm not talking about headshots.

[Husky42]

Originally Posted by Viper

Slightly off-topic... You say ARMA 2 is the most realistic. How realistic is that exactly? One shot one kill kind of realistic? And I'm not talking about headshots.

Well you end up wounded, how ever a well place round in ARMA 2 will disable the enemy or you and you need to be healed or call for a corpsman to treat your squad.

This is actually one area where I thought Dragon Rising got it better, there is plenty of one shot kills op's in ARMA 2 but typically its two rounds center mass to take down the enemy one shot to the head for the oh so loved head shot.

In Dragon Rising you can take a bullet to your leg and you can no longer sprint, you also bleed out and when incapacitated you can be revived but only within a set amount of time or you die. A shot to the arm slows down your reloading and a shot to center mass will cause you to bleed out.

Of course, I'm about 4 missions in ARMA II now and not been killed or wounded yet, just a team member and even then he was still able to do everything but was bleeding out so I cannot accurately judge that aspect yet. I know in ARMA I it was emphasized pretty well so I assume it to be the same in II.

Dragon Rising when you combine all factors falls between PR and ARMA series with a little bit of COD4 epicness thrown in - I'd say it favors hollywood cinematic more then focusing on overall realism where as ARMA II is opposite.

As far as all military sim shooters are concerned I do not feel that ARMA II can be touched by anything - But there are of course titles i may not have tried yet and if you know of any do share

EDIT

I just thought of something else here - The destructive environments in Dragon Rising are much better then ARMA II - That is another area that is lacking, everything is pretty much destructible in Dragon Rising and ARMA II leaves a lot to be desired in this area.

[Husky42]

Originally Posted by gtr2_race_pro

mmmmk, u think i should go 9800gt or new CPU first

ARMA II is more cpu dependant. But honestly to get the most were gonna have to wait for quad core 5+ ghz cpus or something with a highly refined transport/new tech as the AI really suck up the CPU calculations - Its a shame it is not physx enabled now that us ATI users can use old NVIDIA hardware for physx (speaking for myself here) it really would be a benefit in this game.

Like said though, there is the FPS optimizer application that removes animations from plants and trees which really is supposed to help in FPS.

Though I believe that BIS wit their patching will optimize the engine as they further develope. The one thing about BIS titles is they support them far after there release dates and by the 4th or 5th patch the titles usually run much better.

[oyman]

Originally Posted by Husky42

I just thought of something else here - The destructive environments in Dragon Rising are much better then ARMA II - That is another area that is lacking, everything is pretty much destructible in Dragon Rising and ARMA II leaves a lot to be desired in this area.

isnt it impossible to run over trees and bushes with tanks in DR?

[Husky42]

Never got to drive a tank so dunno

[oyman]

heres a video I found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHdU9v05wqU#t=1m04s
atleast in arma2 trees,bushes and the grass you run over can be flattened.

[gtrNL]

Let me tell you this:

I have OpFlash 2 and I've just completed mission 10. A sniper mission.

I killed a soldier from 850 meters away using a M82 with night scope. I had to aim pretty darn high, so much in fact that I couldn't see the soldiers torso.
By the team the bullet hit his head, my gun had already stabilised so I could see the small pink (white, through my scope) poof of blood of what used to be his head. But only just after a fighter jet landed a big fat precision bomb on a radio tower, killing 20, on my orders...

If this sounds like something you want to do (in a game), get Dragon Rising. It's great.

[MaddmattH]

Originally Posted by Husky42

I just thought of something else here - The destructive environments in Dragon Rising are much better then ARMA II - That is another area that is lacking, everything is pretty much destructible in Dragon Rising and ARMA II leaves a lot to be desired in this area.

I don't agree with that. As well as the trees and bushes in ArmA 2, many buildings can have sections of them destroyed. For example you can make new entrance at the back of the church using a tank cannon...

@gtrNL: You can do all that and more in ArmA 2

I'm biased, I'll admit

[Husky42]

Originally Posted by MaddmattH

I don't agree with that. As well as the trees and bushes in ArmA 2, many buildings can have sections of them destroyed. For example you can make new entrance at the back of the church using a tank cannon...

@gtrNL: You can do all that and more in ArmA 2

I'm biased, I'll admit

Your actually right I suppose, however no broken windows kinda sucks in Arma II, seriously why can you break everything but windows and other set objects like the buildings (not scriped portions but nearly every building) like in DR.

Like i said though ARMA II is the most realistic and better title, and DR is good ol fun with some realism thrown it, in racers terms its more simulation then shift but not quite on the level with iracing.

[gtrNL]

Originally Posted by MaddmattH

@gtrNL: You can do all that and more in ArmA 2

You can't, I tried ArmA 2 and never made a successful shot from more then 100 meters. I tried some snipering and all that happened were bullets going meters past the target. You could say this is realistic (and I guess it would be) but the wind makes a bullet miss by 3 meters to the left, and one second later it goes 3 meters right (with the same aim). That ain't realistic.

If I make a successful headshot in OpFor 2 I go: 'YEAH!'
If I would extually have done it in ArmA 2 I would have gone: 'Finally!'.

I'm usually someone who wants 100% realism in a game, but in a fps, I'll take 75% (i.e. OpFor 2).

[oyman]

Originally Posted by gtrNL

You can't, I tried ArmA 2 and never made a successful shot from more then 100 meters. I tried some snipering and all that happened were bullets going meters past the target. You could say this is realistic (and I guess it would be) but the wind makes a bullet miss by 3 meters to the left, and one second later it goes 3 meters right (with the same aim). That ain't realistic.

sounds like you activated FADE, im guessing you got yours "free."

[gtrNL]

Originally Posted by oyman

sounds like you activated FADE, im guessing you got yours "free."

Yes I got mine free. I always download a game first to try it out.
I didn't like ArmA 2 so never bought the original.

[Smuckers]

arma2 FTW!!!!! ****ing codemonkies cant do shit right

[ALEXZANDER]

what is wrong with the picture, looks fine to me.

[Smuckers]

the picture is skira island from dragon rising in arma2

[ALEXZANDER]

Im still confused. So your saying that both games have the same islands?

[Roush9]

I beat Operation Flashpoint DR in about 7 hours, offline on experienced level. Wasn't too bad of a game, but game developers really need to start making longer games. If I can beat a game in less than 24 hours of gameplay, it's not long enough.

[ALEXZANDER]

+1, I like games that are open ended, where there is no end.

[bramski]

I'm loving OFPDR in co-op, I just wish it was more moddable, people are making some progress in modding it but codies have zipped all the content up real good in 500+ 8mb win_000.000 files. Probably because all the stuff they promised would be in the game is locked up in there waiting to me drip fed via DLC packs.

[Husky42]

Originally Posted by ALEXZANDER

Im still confused. So your saying that both games have the same islands?

No a modder is working at putting the island in ARMA II.

ARMA II sucks with its default content by the way, it is the addons scenrious/missions and mods that make it freaking awesome.

[ALEXZANDER]

Originally Posted by bramski

I'm loving OFPDR in co-op, I just wish it was more moddable, people are making some progress in modding it but codies have zipped all the content up real good in 500+ 8mb win_000.000 files. Probably because all the stuff they promised would be in the game is locked up in there waiting to me drip fed via DLC packs.

If they put the DLC in the game from the start, then make you pay more money over the purchase price to unlock it, that is BS and should be illegal.