Translated from French to English by me.
May PC Jeux magazine OPF-DR exclusive! I was walking through the magazine section of a shop when I saw this. I borrowed money from all my friends to get this to you
They actually played the game, so this is their "Hands on" review or whatever, according to them...
Ten years! It's been around ten years since Operation Flashpoint came out on the PC. Ten years during which the community never ceased being active, strong mods, and some amateur content propelled this game to GOTY. So not surprising that Codemasters is launching a sequel to it. Because, if we believe Bohemia Interactive (Which made the first "drift" to a different name), Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is not the sequel to Operation Flashpoint but just a new game with the same title...nothing else! A confirmation we've received when we were able to play the first "Demo" of this revolutionary game! If the English aren't showing the best experience in creating war simulators, their "know-how" in the automobile simulation is reassuring that they're so apt to making immersive games. So it's automobile specialists that will be working day and night on this game. A very long hard development which is explained by Codemaster's perseverance to not disappoint their fans (SO STOP COMPLAINING GUYS!). This long period of development has permitted their teams to make the ultimate game and to assemble the best functions andfeatures worthy of of success, for which they will stop for nothing.
First of their list to complete is certainly the most difficult: the realism. So if you have even briefly played OPF1 you obviously know what they're talking about. In this game, don't even think of running out in the open. The slightest mistake will quickly put you in a world of pain. Just like in a real conflict (or what we can imagine of it), the bullets actually kill unlike some games I don't need to mention. It seems evident to say, but in OPF, the ballistics were so real. Hit in the leg, the character was limping and walking less fast and stumbling. In the arm, your aim was hindered. A wound to the head is a synonym of "Game over". Anyway, no question of trying to complete objectives without support. You're part of a real army, and only the proper orders and teamwork can assure victory on the field. But still you get anything you will need at your disposal to complete the mission. Setting up an ambush and taking advantage of cover offered by dense vegetation or, on the contrary a frontal assault are some of the choices you must make yourself. The dev team has obviously done their homework to properly simulate the weapons, vehicles, uniforms (which they often changed), or codes [SIZE="1"](me: "codes"? wat?)[/SIZE] used by the two armies in this game (U.S. Marine Corps and PLA). For the Marines, it was easy to get information concerning their equipment and all, it wasn't the same for China, this was a particularly big problem, which was very hard to get any information from concerning their military strength and equipment, even though the country was kind enough to give us some information. Luckily nothing can stop motivated devs: le level or realism is already amazing, especially the breath taking effects. Where most FPSs make their grenades mini-nukes, DR limited them to the sad but deadly reality: the radius is reduced, but if one is near you, the damage is pretty nasty...
The obsession of the dev team's realism is so that even the theater of operations is from a real place. The island of Skira, where the fighting takes place, is situated north of the Nippon archipelago. However, the satellite info used for the model are, actually, from an island near Alaska and the geopolitical context, thankfully much different. Because, unless some world scale war begins, China isn't going to invest in this Russian island with American forces in Japan for the reasoning of "Freedom and justice", no they want more. According the the scenario imagined by Codemasters, Russia weakened by a financial crisis, has one of it's islands invaded by China. Unable to respond with military force, it's the American government who comes to intervene with the Chinese to try and "Fix" the situation. That's where the players start the game through two campaigns.
The first will put you in the boots of a regular G.I. Joe. In the heat of combat, the player will follow the orders to the letter, and will be, often, supported by other battalions. We will find every element that made the first game (OPF1) a success., with much much more still unknown. The second, will have you behind enemy lines as an American special forces soldier. He will have to keep a low profile and perform surgical strikes instead of mindless (but fun) total destruction of enemy forces like the first campaign. Because, throughout the majority of these missions, only your 3 team members will be keeping you company, and you will be able to call in air strikes or an artillery barrage to have fun blowing the crap out of a too well defended enemy position or base. You will be able to play any mission you want with a friend via the COOP system.
The second key element having assured fame and fortune with OPF1: a feeling of liberty added with the feeling of being in a total all-out war of huge scale while playing. And these events will be happening parallel to your mission, without directly seeing them, but you will hear them mostly. You see the consequences though (huge smoke columns from burning vehicle carcasses...). A feeling of total global war which CM confirmed having kep in this game. Unfortunately, during this hands-on play of the game, most of the missions were not finished. So only a few important elements were present, so the decor wasn't finished. If this absence is confirmed, DR could lose a lot of it's immersive aspect, and by which, they would disappoint the fans. Thankfully, the AI isn't changed. It will be even surprising you a lot. Just like we were able to see, a wounded soldier will scream for help. But unless you're in a proper position for a MEDEVAC the AI will still try anything to save him. Even if it means risking more men, which can, unfortunately happen often if you're not careful.
Other then the fact that the AI helps each other out when they hear a fight start, your enemy will use vehicles and any cover they can to make your life miserable. They even use the smoke blowing in the wind of burning vehicles to flank you.
The AI is so vicious, that the first moments of an ambush were pure hell. One soldier got his arm blown off when the bullets didn't end up in his face as usual. Also, very annoying, apparently the AI can see through smoke or hit one of my mens' heads from hundreds of meters away. Thankfully, some "Softcore" options help us find where the enemy is with a GPS which will constantly show where the enemy is that has been spotted, so long as any ally still sees him. This little unrealistic feature is a real a life saver, it's God Sent. Adding to this, the possibility to rapidly give orders to your fire team, and the progress in this order system is simply amazing. Lets all thank CM's effort in for it's easy-to-use tactical interface. Fruit of hard work is that this system also works very effectively with consoles as well. Circular, it proposes 4 branches to pick from each time, which will either execute an order or branch through the various orders. After some practice, telling your team to take cover, use suppressing fire, or attack a position and/or get in a vehicle becomes second nature with this wonderful order system. A tactical aspect as necessary as the amazing realism needs it to be, no question of sending men to their deaths like in Armed Assault when you order them to engage a target.
Because in Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, the life of a soldier is just as precious as how easily he can be killed [SIZE="1"](me: errrr I donno if I translated that right)[/SIZE]. But to successfully shoot a target at several hundred meters is far from easy. So the wounds are frequently deadly, which explains why CM made that a 3rd priority on their get-right list. Each wound is different, they will each have different consequences. Light wounds, only entail little damage, so they aren't life threatening, but the person hit won't be as combat capable as somebody in perfect health. Critical wounds entail internal bleeding which must be stopped within a short time. A tragic ending that we had the misfortune of meeting several times (the game takes getting used to). the best way to avoid frontal contact with an enemy is to flank. Suppression is a must. You must not hesitated to send several dozen rounds downrange. This will suppress the enemy, in many cases it will then be possible to flank without (many or any) losses. Because once killed, your men don't have a second chance. So you must protect them like they were real human beings. We weren't able to see the medic system in detail because few things were implemented in this first playable mission. The surprising absence, to not say "Disturbing", is that it's only one of several elements that aren't in the mission yet. When the final version however, will have too many vehicles to count, from tanks to little jeeps, lest we forget aircraft (helicopters only). We weren't able to control any of these. Their behavior is simply wonderful though (damage system, physics).
Between what we were able to see and what was confirmed to be implemented, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is the game you absolutely must buy. Though the quantity of work done by this team, and the many ideas they've left us with, such as how awesome this game will be: leave us to believe Codemasters hopes to make this THE best war simulator that will set the notch for future games in this genre. Mostly because of their statement with the mission editor (None for consoles), they cannot afford to screw up. That CM has confirmed to us that there will be one to download for free after release until January 1st 2010 (for consoles, YAY!). The "bad tongues" will say it's their way of finishing the game, but we prefer to think it's simply to satisfy people who want the game ASAP.
May PC Jeux magazine OPF-DR exclusive! I was walking through the magazine section of a shop when I saw this. I borrowed money from all my friends to get this to you
They actually played the game, so this is their "Hands on" review or whatever, according to them...
Ten years! It's been around ten years since Operation Flashpoint came out on the PC. Ten years during which the community never ceased being active, strong mods, and some amateur content propelled this game to GOTY. So not surprising that Codemasters is launching a sequel to it. Because, if we believe Bohemia Interactive (Which made the first "drift" to a different name), Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is not the sequel to Operation Flashpoint but just a new game with the same title...nothing else! A confirmation we've received when we were able to play the first "Demo" of this revolutionary game! If the English aren't showing the best experience in creating war simulators, their "know-how" in the automobile simulation is reassuring that they're so apt to making immersive games. So it's automobile specialists that will be working day and night on this game. A very long hard development which is explained by Codemaster's perseverance to not disappoint their fans (SO STOP COMPLAINING GUYS!). This long period of development has permitted their teams to make the ultimate game and to assemble the best functions andfeatures worthy of of success, for which they will stop for nothing.
First of their list to complete is certainly the most difficult: the realism. So if you have even briefly played OPF1 you obviously know what they're talking about. In this game, don't even think of running out in the open. The slightest mistake will quickly put you in a world of pain. Just like in a real conflict (or what we can imagine of it), the bullets actually kill unlike some games I don't need to mention. It seems evident to say, but in OPF, the ballistics were so real. Hit in the leg, the character was limping and walking less fast and stumbling. In the arm, your aim was hindered. A wound to the head is a synonym of "Game over". Anyway, no question of trying to complete objectives without support. You're part of a real army, and only the proper orders and teamwork can assure victory on the field. But still you get anything you will need at your disposal to complete the mission. Setting up an ambush and taking advantage of cover offered by dense vegetation or, on the contrary a frontal assault are some of the choices you must make yourself. The dev team has obviously done their homework to properly simulate the weapons, vehicles, uniforms (which they often changed), or codes [SIZE="1"](me: "codes"? wat?)[/SIZE] used by the two armies in this game (U.S. Marine Corps and PLA). For the Marines, it was easy to get information concerning their equipment and all, it wasn't the same for China, this was a particularly big problem, which was very hard to get any information from concerning their military strength and equipment, even though the country was kind enough to give us some information. Luckily nothing can stop motivated devs: le level or realism is already amazing, especially the breath taking effects. Where most FPSs make their grenades mini-nukes, DR limited them to the sad but deadly reality: the radius is reduced, but if one is near you, the damage is pretty nasty...
The obsession of the dev team's realism is so that even the theater of operations is from a real place. The island of Skira, where the fighting takes place, is situated north of the Nippon archipelago. However, the satellite info used for the model are, actually, from an island near Alaska and the geopolitical context, thankfully much different. Because, unless some world scale war begins, China isn't going to invest in this Russian island with American forces in Japan for the reasoning of "Freedom and justice", no they want more. According the the scenario imagined by Codemasters, Russia weakened by a financial crisis, has one of it's islands invaded by China. Unable to respond with military force, it's the American government who comes to intervene with the Chinese to try and "Fix" the situation. That's where the players start the game through two campaigns.
The first will put you in the boots of a regular G.I. Joe. In the heat of combat, the player will follow the orders to the letter, and will be, often, supported by other battalions. We will find every element that made the first game (OPF1) a success., with much much more still unknown. The second, will have you behind enemy lines as an American special forces soldier. He will have to keep a low profile and perform surgical strikes instead of mindless (but fun) total destruction of enemy forces like the first campaign. Because, throughout the majority of these missions, only your 3 team members will be keeping you company, and you will be able to call in air strikes or an artillery barrage to have fun blowing the crap out of a too well defended enemy position or base. You will be able to play any mission you want with a friend via the COOP system.
The second key element having assured fame and fortune with OPF1: a feeling of liberty added with the feeling of being in a total all-out war of huge scale while playing. And these events will be happening parallel to your mission, without directly seeing them, but you will hear them mostly. You see the consequences though (huge smoke columns from burning vehicle carcasses...). A feeling of total global war which CM confirmed having kep in this game. Unfortunately, during this hands-on play of the game, most of the missions were not finished. So only a few important elements were present, so the decor wasn't finished. If this absence is confirmed, DR could lose a lot of it's immersive aspect, and by which, they would disappoint the fans. Thankfully, the AI isn't changed. It will be even surprising you a lot. Just like we were able to see, a wounded soldier will scream for help. But unless you're in a proper position for a MEDEVAC the AI will still try anything to save him. Even if it means risking more men, which can, unfortunately happen often if you're not careful.
Other then the fact that the AI helps each other out when they hear a fight start, your enemy will use vehicles and any cover they can to make your life miserable. They even use the smoke blowing in the wind of burning vehicles to flank you.
The AI is so vicious, that the first moments of an ambush were pure hell. One soldier got his arm blown off when the bullets didn't end up in his face as usual. Also, very annoying, apparently the AI can see through smoke or hit one of my mens' heads from hundreds of meters away. Thankfully, some "Softcore" options help us find where the enemy is with a GPS which will constantly show where the enemy is that has been spotted, so long as any ally still sees him. This little unrealistic feature is a real a life saver, it's God Sent. Adding to this, the possibility to rapidly give orders to your fire team, and the progress in this order system is simply amazing. Lets all thank CM's effort in for it's easy-to-use tactical interface. Fruit of hard work is that this system also works very effectively with consoles as well. Circular, it proposes 4 branches to pick from each time, which will either execute an order or branch through the various orders. After some practice, telling your team to take cover, use suppressing fire, or attack a position and/or get in a vehicle becomes second nature with this wonderful order system. A tactical aspect as necessary as the amazing realism needs it to be, no question of sending men to their deaths like in Armed Assault when you order them to engage a target.
Because in Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, the life of a soldier is just as precious as how easily he can be killed [SIZE="1"](me: errrr I donno if I translated that right)[/SIZE]. But to successfully shoot a target at several hundred meters is far from easy. So the wounds are frequently deadly, which explains why CM made that a 3rd priority on their get-right list. Each wound is different, they will each have different consequences. Light wounds, only entail little damage, so they aren't life threatening, but the person hit won't be as combat capable as somebody in perfect health. Critical wounds entail internal bleeding which must be stopped within a short time. A tragic ending that we had the misfortune of meeting several times (the game takes getting used to). the best way to avoid frontal contact with an enemy is to flank. Suppression is a must. You must not hesitated to send several dozen rounds downrange. This will suppress the enemy, in many cases it will then be possible to flank without (many or any) losses. Because once killed, your men don't have a second chance. So you must protect them like they were real human beings. We weren't able to see the medic system in detail because few things were implemented in this first playable mission. The surprising absence, to not say "Disturbing", is that it's only one of several elements that aren't in the mission yet. When the final version however, will have too many vehicles to count, from tanks to little jeeps, lest we forget aircraft (helicopters only). We weren't able to control any of these. Their behavior is simply wonderful though (damage system, physics).
Between what we were able to see and what was confirmed to be implemented, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is the game you absolutely must buy. Though the quantity of work done by this team, and the many ideas they've left us with, such as how awesome this game will be: leave us to believe Codemasters hopes to make this THE best war simulator that will set the notch for future games in this genre. Mostly because of their statement with the mission editor (None for consoles), they cannot afford to screw up. That CM has confirmed to us that there will be one to download for free after release until January 1st 2010 (for consoles, YAY!). The "bad tongues" will say it's their way of finishing the game, but we prefer to think it's simply to satisfy people who want the game ASAP.
Last edited by Bradt3hleader (2009-05-07 09:36:34)