When we first saw Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising this spring, the game was a bit too early to have been shown, a fact later admitted by Codemasters when we got a chance to see the title again a few weeks ago. Most of the assets seemed to be placeholders, AI was rough and glitchy, and the game seemed like it was a good distance from release. Even through those issues, what we saw was fairly interesting, but just not... done. Now, seeing it a few months later, it still doesn't look done, but it's getting closer.

The area we saw was actually the same location we had seen before: a small encampment. Dragon Rising is going to take place on a large, open island named Skira. A very, very large island. At 135 square miles, Operation Flashpoint might not be the largest game (Fuel has it beat by about 5,350 square miles), but it should give players plenty of room to stretch their legs. Thankfully, there's going to be plenty of reasons to explore the island, something I was told but didn't see. If you want to find out about the game's intricacies you might want to wait until the review, since all I saw was a battle.

That said, all it took was one battle to sell me on the game.


The commander walked to the top of a hill and looked down, his squad mates following in suit. Binoculars showed a small encampment, with a dozen or so soldiers walking around the area. It was heavily guarded, but wouldn't be an issue for a Master Chief or Soap MacTavish. The problem was just that: this isn't Halo, this isn't Call of Duty. In Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising bullets hurt. If he rushed in, squad firing at enemies and lead flying through the air, it would only be a few seconds before he would be torn down. Instead, he told his squad to hold, and moved around a hill.

Once in better position, he called down an artillery barrage. The encampment was leveled, with half of the enemy soldiers being killed in the chaos. That still left enough opponents that a head-on assault would be suicide, so he told his squad to move in while he flanked. On the screen, an indicator showed the squad's health, as he watched their approach. The plan wasn't perfect, however, and they were spotted on the advance. First one bullet was fired, then another, and before long, the echo of gunshots filled the air. The squad leader moved in and was able to take down the enemies before his entire squad died, but he wasn't fast enough. The indicator on the side of the screen showed that one man had fallen, and he wouldn't be able to save him. One shot, one kill. The game goes for realism.



And that's where the demo ended. It was short, too short, but gave a good representation of how a typical battle in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising will play out. Multiplayer details haven't been ironed out yet, but the final version will support online co-op, with up to four players joining together. I imagine that online multiplayer will be one of the best aspects of the game but, again, I didn't see it.

I saw Operation Flashpoint at the same event that I first saw Fuel, and had many of the same thoughts for both games. They're both big, they both look good, but I was nervous that they wouldn't be filled with content. Fuel wasn't, and that made me a bit scared about Flashpoint's chances. The difference, however, is that they knew to delay Dragon Rising, they didn't delay Fuel. Hopefully this means a more polished experience, and one that Operation Flashpoint fans can look forward to.