Worth the buy?

[Lightspeed~SPARTA~]

Ppl loving it?

 

Enough missions?

 

Should I wait?

 

Good game?

[MedicSN6]

Yes

 

So far

 

Up to you

 

Yes

[MH6~SPARTA~]

OF:DR is a fun game. I will not, however, be giving up ArmA2 over it. I do prefer OF:DR's infantry combat over ArmA2's, however.

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

What do you mean by infantry combat, MH?? Are you talking about individual, small teams as opposed to Arma's large scale assaults with 20-30 people?

[MH6~SPARTA~]

What do you mean by infantry combat, MH?? Are you talking about individual, small teams as opposed to Arma's large scale assaults with 20-30 people?

 

When reading, keep in mind I've only had the game a day, and some opinions may change over time.

 

I'm talking about having enemy AI that is about as accurate as the player (no headshots from 600m with a pistol, for instance), and actually being able to fight inside buildings. Engagements are generally at closer ranges overall too. You can actually do some damage with iron sights (as opposed to in ArmA2, where you sit twiddling your thumbs while your team, outfitted with DMRs and M107s, cleanses the town from afar). The vegetation and grass look nice, but I'm not sure how they affect the AI's detection.

The controls are a bit wonky though; you can tell it is a console port (no matter what the devs say otherwise).

 

Vehicle combat on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired. Especially due to the fact that joysticks are not supported at this point in time.

 

As I've only played with 4-man squads, I'm not sure how the large-scale battles are. Guess we'll find out when they get around to releasing a dedicated server. I could see it being pretty fun though.

 

Now, if Codemasters and BIS teamed up, they could probably combine both OFP and ArmA and make one kick ass game.

Alas...

Edited October 8, 2009 by MH6~SPARTA~

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

I had to give up on the idea of doing a video review for OFPDR because the game doesn?t get along well with Fraps. So, after finishing the entire campaign, spending a bit of time with the mission editor, and getting a small taste of online play (all within 30 hours downloading it from Steam!), here are my thoughts on Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising?

 

Let me get my biggest beef out of the way right now: there is no Save Game function whatsoever in Hardcore mode. In fact, even in the Experienced mode, Checkpoint Saves are few and far between. I understand that Codemasters made this decision to give the Hardcore mode a greater sense of realism, but I don?t think they realized that doing so could lead to more frustration and less fun. The game is difficult; you will die at some point, and/or you won?t complete certain objectives in a timely fashion, and either scenario means you have to start over from scratch.

 

I finally gave up on Hardcore mode after spending three hours trying to complete the third mission, so the next step down was Experienced. This made me feel like I was cheating for two reasons: there is a compass at the top of the screen that always shows the direction of any spotted enemies, even after they move out of visual range; and your crosshair turns red anytime it?s placed over an enemy location, even if that enemy is concealed by cover or inside of a building.

 

Now that I?ve had my chance to air my biggest frustrations about the game, I?ll try to be more objective.

 

Those of you who already have Arma (which is pretty much all of you, right?) should be aware that, for all practical purposes, you already have OFPDR, only on steroids. Anything that OFPDR does or tries to do, Arma does better. The only exception I can think of is the Radial Menu used to issue orders to your team; while not perfect, it?s much easier to use than Arma?s command system. Part of this is due to the fact the OPFDR is less complicated and doesn?t place you in charge of anyone else except for your own team. There are a couple of missions where your team will be augmented by a few people (I won?t spoil anything by saying more), but those additional people will simply follow the same orders you give to the rest of your team. As a general rule, your entire team will follow given orders, but you can also issue commands to just one or two members as well.

 

The campaign is pretty straight forward; each mission is a linear progression of ?move to this location and complete this objective? scenarios. The fact that everything takes place in a big ?sandbox? seems irrelevant, because if you travel outside the fringes of any AO, there is nothing to see but open, unpopulated terrain. While the campaign does attempt to make you feel that your team is an integral part of a much bigger operation, it?s not very often that you?ll work closely with other units, and even when you do, it?s only for a brief period of time. The scale of the conflict therefore feels much smaller than what I think was intended by the developers, and the game suffers a bit because of it. There?s also nothing that I found that lends any sort of emotional impact to the game, even among your team members; the only dialogue that takes place among the four of you are your orders and your team?s acknowledgment of those orders. Heck, two of your team members even look exactly alike, and the only way to tell them apart visually is by the equipment they carry.

 

The campaign also denies you the ability to customize your load-out in any way; you start each mission with whatever the designers thought would be necessary to complete your objectives, and the only way to get different equipment is to take something from the bodies of dead (mostly enemy) soldiers or from ammo crates (also full of enemy gear). Those of you wanting a bit more variety with missions that allow you to use assets such as tanks or combat helicopters will also be disappointed; the very first mission allows you to fly a transport chopper, but doing so is completely unnecessary, and the controls and physics both leave a lot to be desired. A couple of missions let you use a Humvee, but other than that, you?ll get from Point A to Point B on foot, or else someone else will taxi you to different locations. Otherwise, you?ll have to rely on custom missions to try your hand at the limited selection of vehicles and to use a load-out of your own choosing. And pilots beware: aside from the keyboard and mouse, the only other controller that OFPDR allows you to use is an Xbox 360 gamepad, and you can?t even customize its configuration; those of you with any other preferred control methods are out of luck. And while it was probably to be expected that TrackIR support would not be included, the fact that there is no sort of Independent Look option whatsoever is very disappointing.

 

The AI is something of a mixed bag. At times, it can seem unnervingly human, with enemy units making use of cover or executing flanking maneuvers. At other times, the AI is mind-numbingly dim; enemy units will sometimes continue to stand in place even after you hit them, and while you can clearly see them and even hit them from 400m, they often don?t seem to recognize your presence even as you move directly across their field of vision unless you?re at less than 200m distance. On the occasions where you are spotted at mid-or-long range distances, I?m pretty certain it?s because of triggers activated by entering a certain area and not because of the observational powers of the AI. I tested this with the Mission Editor by placing myself about 400m out from a PLA sqaud; I continued to walk around them in circles, in broad daylight and on plain flat terrain, closing my distance as I moved. The enemy units didn?t start firing at me until I was perhaps just inside the 200m boundary.

 

Graphically, the game is somewhat bland. It?s not terrible by any means, and with the detail settings at their highest, the models and textures look okay. The biggest problem is simply that there really isn?t anything interesting to see on Skira Island. The view distance is great, but all you?ll see in any direction are the same rocks, trees, and hills, and this serenity is broken only occasionally by a few very small installations. As far as the value of the game is concerned, this wouldn?t be as big of an issue if the Mission Editor allowed you to place buildings to create your own custom towns or installations, but the best you can do with the editor is to place tents and a few barriers to create small camps that don?t otherwise exist on the map. On the plus side, you can actually enter almost all of the buildings that have doors (but not the tents), and although those buildings are otherwise empty, the mission editor makes it easy to place units inside of those buildings, creating the possibility for some really good user-created Urban Operations missions.

 

The included Mission Editor is quite good and easy to use. Without even glancing at the Help file or any documentation, I was able to quickly create a nice little PLA camp, populate that camp with a bunch of bad guys, and create my own little team that followed my orders to assault the camp. And although multi-player games are limited to four players for co-op or eight players for versus games, each player can command his own four-man team, and additional AI-controlled units that are allied to either side can be thrown into the mix as well. While not integrated into the game itself, the game will load very quickly so that you can test and tweak your custom missions as you go.

 

The overall impression that I get from OFPDR is that the developers started out with a lot of ambition and great ideas and tried to squeeze everything they could into this game. Then, as the game became more polished, playable, and closer to completion, they began to realize that they were up against some serious limitations for the console versions, but instead of removing some gameplay elements while improving upon others, they left everything in that they could and made compromises all around. Of course, I have no way of knowing if this is what really happened, but it certainly feels that way.

 

To be fair, the game is quite satisfying when it stays focused on SpecOps-style missions, since the interface and engine are well suited for it. I think the game would have been much, much better if they had done away with the open-world environment and instead focused on operations in more limited but much more varied and detailed locations. This was definitely a lost opportunity.

 

Since the game is supposedly identical on all platforms (save for the Mission Editor), I would still recommend this game to console owners who want something more than a run-and-gun game. Compared to most games in the FPS genre, it still requires a lot more thought and places much more emphasis on strategy and tactics than it does on twitch skills. And for any PC owners that don?t already have Arma, it?s not a bad choice either, especially since the life of the game will be extended by custom missions and mods from the community, and at $40 it?s a pretty decent bargain. The game will also have a lot more to offer PC players that want to spend a lot of time playing online because of the Mission Editor, provided that you have friends to play with. But if you want something more, well, you probably already have it.

 

Since this isn?t a formal review, I?m not going to give the game any sort of rating; besides, such things are always very subjective. Personally, I was disappointed with the campaign, and if there had not been those pesky PLA soldiers shooting at me, Skira would have been a very dull place. On the other hand, I?m looking forward to the possibility of some fun multiplayer games, and I?m excited to see what the modding community will come up with for this game.

If you have any questions about OFPDR that I have not addressed, please feel free to ask.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Fatal_Papercut

[MedicSN6]

I am in the process of creating some missions that will let us explore the vehicles and weapons of the game with ease. One will be "west" and the other "east."

 

Hopefully this will be used as a type of demo and/or training tool.

[Rocky]

Please contact FRAPS and ask them to sort out the issue, they will I am sure.

 

I just can't face reading all that text, and I so liked listening to your voice.

 

VID-EO!

VID-EO!

VID-EO!

 

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

Bloody hell, well written bud.

[Krambo]

This is not my opinion but I read a little review about it in the paper today. Made me chuckle, im still gonna give it a shot...

 

OFP is now just for the real hardcore - the sort who buy army surplus gear and night vision goggles to creep about the garden. If that sort of person is you, then fine. But me? I know i dont want to be in the Army - its way too dangerous. I just want to pretend.

 

[Lightspeed~SPARTA~]

i would disagree with that - this is nowhere near the milsim of Arma2.

 

feels very dumbed down - but thats my impression after 5 minutes.

 

will try it some more tomorrow.

 

the quick control is nasty first up - hopefully in time i will get it.