It is the year 2010. Pretending that history says Sri Lanka was theirs, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has invaded this territory, on which there has recently been discovered a large oil reserve (it’s always the oil). You are the leader of a 4 group of US Marines, sent there to try to prevent the breakout of a major conflict between the Russians (the real owners of the island) and China. Why would the US interfere you would ask? Well that’s because here, America is Russia’s ally. The single player campaing takes you through 11 missions, in which you have to deal with different tasks. Of course that you do not hunt UFO’s in a game like this so the old go there and destroy that orders are still present. One thing that is pretty surprising is that your squad members change weapons with real ease. In some missions you are on full stealth using snipers and silenced guns, adopting a more silent movement, in some you are on full assault, being able to fly helicopters, drive cars around, giving you the impression that your group is somehow a omni-specialized one, a universal solider squad if you may say so. A thing that really disappointed me was the small size of the group that you lead. I remember that on the old Operation Flashpoint (cold war crisis.) you were able to lead a way larger squad, with clearly pre-established specialized men, and this was not done from the beginning. You had to work your way to the top, you started as a normal soldier and ended up being the one pulling the strings. This time, it seems that Codemasters has decided that the player evolution is not so important and so, the granted you the “leader” title from the very beginning.
Enough with the criticism (more to come soon), it is time to get down to the things that really stand out in this game. Like the other games in the series, Dragon Rising amazes with the degree of realism. You do not have to be hit by a full round of bullets to bite the dust. Some hits to just make you bleed while some can end your life instantaneously. The graphics also help when it comes to realism, although I am not a keen fan of all this HDR stuff I must say that the visual elements here are quite well done. Just like in reality, the bullets change their altitude, tending to fall towards the earth once they are fired, so you must take some variables into consideration before starting an attack. Having a draw range of up to 35 kilometers, you may often find yourself admiring the landscape, forgetting about the enemies that are closing in. Of course, the player will get back to reality once a gun is shot, as the sound of the weapons are very accurately made (quite loud). You have total freedom over how exactly you accomplish your objective, you choose where you are approaching the target from and how you deal with it. Your team mates also influence the mission is being carried out. Being a tactical shooter, you can tell your troops where to go what exactly to do. And here you have a quite a lot of options available: from establishing the way of engagement to hiding spots and attack formations. This is quite good for a game like this, but it has a downside as well. Team mates’ AI is pretty bad (not that the enemies are some kind of geniuses). If you do not tell them where to go or what to do, they just stay in a spot, even if they under enemy fire. I would have expected them to flank alone or to find some cover if the commander is not able to hand out orders, but it seems it is not like that.
But of course, that can be solved in an easy matter: the multiplayer co-op. There, the Ai squad members are replaced with real people, that making the task easier . The two other multiplayer game modes are Annihilation (team deathmatch) and Infiltration (destroy/defend different objectives), but it seems that others may appear some time soon. One other thing that should be mentioned about the game would be the map editor, a really useful tool that allows players to create their own missions.
Many fans say that this is not the actual sequel to the old Flashpoint game, mainly because the Bohemia interactive (the real developers of the old series) have split up with Codemasters, and they also came out with their own game (Arma II), but all in all, Dragon Rising is a game that deserves some attention and time .
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