OperationFlashpoint 2: Dragon Rising - Review
Well I must say that I have been looking forward to this games release for several months. Politics regarding the developers aside, I was worried that maybe it was not going to live up to its predecessor. As far as game-play however it meets and exceeds my expectations. Firstly you notice that the graphics are fairly well done, and run on a mid-range system quite nicely. While some may say that the textures could use some work, I disagree. It is quite a feat making every mission take place with the whole island being a possible battlefield, that the fact that a few textures are slightly off is a minor detail in my mind. I like having free range in terms of games. I dislike being scripted and led through a maze of pre-defined pathways in order to complete a mission. The campaign is nicely laid out and well structured. The AI often have me pinned behind a tree or pile of logs trying to get a shot at them from around a corner or over a ridge. The game feels very real. Concussion waves from nearby explosions can shake you and cause you to even fall over in some cases. All in all it generally feels real. Some of the initial issues I came across were only slightly annoying. Upon giving a command, the command menu does not disappear. This causes problems, because you can often forget you have it opened, and then issue commands with your movement keys by accident when you go to move. Other issues would be that sometimes the AI would be standing there, looking straight at you, and not engage you at all. Or sometimes walk straight past you in broad daylight. Other then that, everything else seems to flow pretty well for single player. And I am sure that those issues will get patched soon. Some issues with Multi-player are that there are no dedicated server tools available. Nor are there any anti-cheat devices in place. In the editor, there are also some issues or restrictions which I think are a tad depressing. You have this whole Island - Some 25 kilometers long - on which you can place troops and items. And plan out a battle... Yet you are only seemingly allowed to place up to and including 13 Echelons (on either team) of 5 soldiers MAX? But no more? Otherwise I get a Grey / Green screen of doom when I test the map file - and have to terminate the application in order to exit it. Surely this has to be a bug? Otherwise 2 small tank columns, and you have used up your allotted amount of soldiers you can place for a mission. I also think that 5 soldiers per group is a tad small. Perhaps for co-op playit is alright, but for versus play, or single player custom maps, I would like to see more soldiers available under my command. This way I can assign more tasks and flank and such with just one Echelon. Sure I could use Squads... But where is the fun in that :P I am a tad confused about some aspects of the editor. I am trying to learn as much as I can about it, but documentation is lacking. For example what does "TOO Dummy" mean in the unit properties. It seems to cause the unit to disappear? Once I understand everything better, I shall write a bit of a tutorial for the mission editor. Until then,I would appreciate any advice about it. Anyhow, go out and buy the game. It is only 40 bucks! And honestly, it is well worth it! Minimum System Requirement Hard Drive Space : 8 GB Operating System : Windows XP SP2 or later Processor : Dual Core CPU 2 x 2.4 GHz RAM : 1 GB Video Card : Shader 3.0 (GeForce 7900 GT / 256 MB VRAM or higher) Recommended System Requirement Hard Drive Space : 8 GB Operating System : Windows XP SP2 or later Processor : Quad Core CPU RAM : 2 GB Video Card : Shader 3.0 (GeForce 8800 GT / 512 MB VRAM or higher), DirectX 9.0c