Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising

Dragon Rising is ultra-realistic, far from the medipacks of Medal of Honor and even further from the regenerating health magic of Call of Duty. Yes, it’s one of ‘those’ games, the ones where bullets make you absolutely dead, or where, if you’re simply grazed by some shrapnel, the wound will pump blood realistically all over your uniform.

Imagine if you were playing a war game and you suddenly noticed that the weapon you were wielding was held together by eight-sided nuts instead of the statutory six-siders. You’d naturally be horrified, the integrity of the experience would be compromised, and you’d probably never touch it again.

There is one question to ask, one question to answer even before the demonstration begins. One question that almost defines the development of Operation Flashpoint 2. “Can you do that?” We point at the incredible rendered scenes that the British developers, Codemasters, have made available to the press.

Currently feathering its nest with engine-refinements before presenting itself to the world in its full-motion glory, Operation Flashpoint 2 could be the most hardcore military sim weve seen in

Sept 26, 2007 The year isnt 1985 any more. The time is now. The place is an island, rich in oil, off the coast of Russia and Japan, of contested ownership between the Ex-Soviets and China. Supporting commercial interests are American Marines, who face an invasion. Youre part of a Rapid Reaction Task Force, trying to stop this flashpoint turning

A dozen soldiers are scouting ahead of a convoy of tanks through dense woodland. But this is not a pretty scene. There are no squirrels in this place: just men with guns on the way to war. Their rifle butts are square into their shoulders; they're aware that they're painfully exposed, their eyes alert, darting. You can smell the incoming ambush. The attack is ferocious, unexpected and entirely unfair. A missile, launched from an attack chopper some miles away, slams into the side of a tank.