Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Comments by Dan Whitehead

BANG BOOM RAT-A-TAT BOOM!

The Operation Flashpoint was very good and ambitious for its time, and I really enjoyed it, although it was a little buggy even after all the patches. I remember that 100 man mission causing my PC to literally grind to a halt but, wow, it was epic! :D

I have my eye on this sequel, although I hope the PC version isn't too dumbed down because of the consoles in the same way that F.E.A.R. 2 was for example (no leaning, poor resolution support, no quick save, etc.).

Looking forward to this. I loved the original game, although I have to say I won't mind if they make a few concessions for the console market - the original was way hardcore.

Should hopefully be one of the best FPS this year.

"Catastrophic damage"

Sorry, I'm only interested in MASSIVE DAMAGE.

I'm afraid that since 2001 halo and gears of war etch have ruined my ability to spend literally hours running from one mission objective to the other. What if I now find that.... boring?
1st game was great but so are rose tinted glasses!

Keep it up :)

OOOOOOOOOOOO!!! he says in a homer simpson like impersonation.....

sounds tasty. like a do-nut. ummmmm

I'm afraid that since 2001 halo and gears of war etch have ruined my ability to spend literally hours running from one mission objective to the other. What if I now find that.... boring?
1st game was great but so are rose tinted glasses!

Er, it's not like faster-paced action games have been an invention of 2001 onwards and replaced a different genre in some sort of natural progression.

I am really not sure what your point is.

"For the purposes of the game, the global economic crisis forces the Chinese to adopt a more aggressively expansionist worldview, which brings them to Skira and into battle with Russian forces there. Players take the role of a US Marine Corps unit intervening in the conflict."

I'm sorry, but I just don't find the idea of Americans swanning around the world getting involved in shit that doesn't concern them believable. A bridge too far, methinks.

@guernican - It will probably help sell the game in the US, that's why. ;)

So this is done by a different team that did Armed Assault? Is it better?

Looking good. With the old guard working on ArmA2 and these new guys really showing off with this new Flashpoint, I think 2009 could be an excellent year for realistic shooters.

Clive Lindop, the game's senior designer, AI specialist and a veteran of the original Flashpoint team.

Umm say what now?

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/team/team....

Loved the original ( apart from bugs ) . I will be getting the 360 version . which should be capable of running the original op flashpoint . if it is as good as that I will be happy . I dont think the 360 D-pad is up to issuing ' combo ' orders to your squad , you'll probably end up with your ass getting ' supressed ' by your AI teanmates . I would dearly love to have a shooter that models the balistics of the weapons ( not wind , just the gravity bit ) including deflections and penetrations ( oooo-er sounds rude ). I hope they dont model the shot in the legs and crawl for 30 mins only to get shot in the sweed by an invisible sniper part of the original .

The US come and save the world....once again....

Then again most of these FPS are so lucking in geopolitical imagination.....same stories over and over. What about a group of rebels trying to restore democracy in Venezuela against Chavez? Or an italian insurrection against Berlusconi....the french fighiting Sarko and Carla??

That would be fun to play....not the same crisis in africa or the bad chinese and russians.

Can't wait for this but can't decide which to buy, the Xbox or the PC version.

@ulov3

The reason for this is the massive amount of cash that the Americans spend on new toys for their military coupled with the intended audience. Usually the first mods that start coming out for these games are re-skins and the like by modders making troops from their country of origin, so I guess not everyone wants to "oo-rah" their way around the world wearing stars and stripes undercrackers....

"So this is done by a different team that did Armed Assault?

Armed Assault and the original Op Flash were created by Bohemia Interactive, Op Flash 2 is a Codemaster's internal team.

"Is it better?"

Bit early to say really :)

It's going to be different, that's for certain. For example, the preview states that vehicles won't have simulation difficulty, while anyone who has played ArmA knows that learning how to handle aircraft and tanks takes a lot of work because they are very complex. I'm sure it'll cause accusations of dumbing down for consoles, but if you're concerned OpFlash 2 is dumbed down then go play ArmA.

Really looking forward to both this and ArmA 2, they're going to fulfil different needs. This is going to be a slightly shallower, more accessible Op Flash, while ArmA 2 will retain the insane scale, complexity and flexibility of the original. It's nice to have the choice.

very much do want indeedy

I am so looking forward to this I really enjoyed the first one and this looks great.

loved the first one which i only played on the xbox which i thought did a reasonable job. never tried it on the pc as i don't use a pc for gaming for several reasons best left alone.

hope this is good as the tension from the first game was truly like no other shooter available... for consoles at least. you did get that feeling of vulnerability and scale like no other game. yes the vehicle controls were a bitch and i never could fly a helicopter with any finesse.

fingers crossed.

I hope the mulitplayer is good. How sweet would 100 vs 100 or something be, with vehicles and the works.

@ulov3

because those kind of conflicts are very different to what everyone really wants; some good old nationstate on nationstate action.

there are enough messy little insurgencies in the real world thanks.

I just hope it doesn't force me to drive tanks and fly helicopters with quite the same pace-breaking ruthlessness as the original. I hated those missions with such a passion. Why force me to do that shit when running about in the woods is infinitely more fun?

...erm @ peeps moaning about it being US Marines:

Quote from Page 1.
"As with all things Flashpoint, few liberties have been taken with the facts: the Marine unit in question is the one actually stationed in Okinawa which would respond to such a situation"

AH CANNAE WAIT!

the first one is one of my all time favourites

Can't come soon enough, tbh.

"There's no doubt that it's an impressive undertaking."

QTF. I'm really looking forward to this, and applaud the devs for their progressive multiplatform stance.

"I'm sorry, but I just don't find the idea of Americans swanning around the world getting involved in shit that doesn't concern them believable."

I really hope you are being sarcastic.

The Original Operation Flashpoint is the reason I bought a PC, there had never been anything like it!

Im keeping tabs on both ARMA2 & OpFlash 2 - so cheers for the news!

"I'm sorry, but I just don't find the idea of Americans swanning around the world getting involved in shit that doesn't concern them believable."

Hehe. I got it :D

/polishes irono-filter.

It's going to be different, that's for certain. For example, the preview states that vehicles won't have simulation difficulty, while anyone who has played ArmA knows that learning how to handle aircraft and tanks takes a lot of work because they are very complex. I'm sure it'll cause accusations of dumbing down for consoles, but if you're concerned OpFlash 2 is dumbed down then go play ArmA.

I think it might be a good thing in this case. I always wanted a game that combines the comparatively simple controls of a game like, say, CoD, with the scale and freedom of something like O:FP.

I so want this to be very awesome.

I just hope that as well as online co-op they work split-screen co-op into the console versions.

4 -way split-screen would be awesome. I'd probably never be able to get my friends out of my house...

Much more encouraging than the first EG preview, which droned on and on about how realistic the terrain was.

"I think it might be a good thing in this case. I always wanted a game that combines the comparatively simple controls of a game like, say, CoD, with the scale and freedom of something like O:FP. "

Yup I'm anticipating this for the same reason. And there will always be ArmA for when you want to act like a real soldier.

Can't really see how anyone on a console is going to be able to play this game properly. The original game was quite ruthless, especially in player made missions even for players using mouse/keyboard. A control pad is obviously inferior, however good the command system can be you are still aiming with what is basically a joystick and that doesn't come close to the precision of a mouse.

I just hope it's not dumbed down in some way to allow for the console gamers since so many games that are developed with both sets of hardware in mind almost always end up feeling silly for those of us playing them on the PC.

The real question is, will these be superior to ArmA 2? I have a feeling it could be a debate that lasts long after they are both released.

"We're gathered in the meeting-cum-demo room at Codemasters' rural headquarters, and arranged menacingly on the table is a veritable arsenal of life-sized weaponry. They're mostly replicas and airguns"

So some of them are real...?

lol, the new batch of screenshots clearly shows how the jaw dropping original pics were just target renders.

edit:
Comment deleted because I confused a couple of games. :p

@Eraser, yeah totally, they must be pretty embarassed seeing that gallery everywhere alongside the bland true screenshots.

That said, if the blandness means the game runs smooth and they've concentrated on the mechanics and kept the depth of the original, this is a definite purchase.

As others have said, the key will be whether to get it on Xbox for the Co-Op or on PC for the better game/mouse controls.

Oh, and up against Armed Assault 2? Well Armed Assault was the most bugged unprofessional unoptimised piece of software I've ever had the misfortune to own, whatever gem they hoped to create was well and truly buried, unless the personel has changed I don't imagine they'll be able to do anything better.

"Can't really see how anyone on a console is going to be able to play this game properly. The original game was quite ruthless"

I don't think it's going to be a lot like the original at all. It will be streamlined for consoles and it will not be as tough or complex, largely because that wouldn't sell to the mainstream. They're not going to get the CoD4 crowd interested if it requires you to understand military tactics and spend hours learning to fly a helicopter.

Anyone who enjoyed the original should pick up Armed Assault.

"The real question is, will these be superior to ArmA 2?"

Don't think it willl matter, I suspect they're both going to be very different from each other.

Man, these idiots need to get their replica guns out of their hairy arses and ship this quick. I can't wait till the bloody summer.

The 4 player co-op isn't some hard limit in the game is it? Some of the co-op sessions the Eurogamer crew used to do in the original were far bigger than that and they were excellent.

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ik...

Clive Lindop was never involved in the development of Operation Flashpoint (the first one, not this second one that carries the same name) in any way as far as I can tell. I think it's a very legitimate question to ask Eurogamer and Codemasters what work he did in the original Flashpoint team. And what of his work is in the game he apparently created?

He was never part of the Bohemia Interactive team, his name never, ever came to my attention during the whole period that we developed Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (with myself as the project lead) and from what I gather he only joined Codemasters in October 2005, after we completed our last project with Codemasters; Operation Flashpoint: Elite for Xbox, despite the fact he lists himself as “Art Director” for Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis on his Linkedin profile.

I believe it is very sad that Codemasters are not satisfied simply with owning the Operation Flashpoint name, but are also trying to copy everything that made it good and replicate it (how creative is that?) but they are also trying to behave like they really are the people behind the development of the original classic Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis.

I really like competition, so Operation Flashpoint 2 (or whatever it’s called today) is good additional motivation for us to make a better game, but this type of attitude is completely unacceptable to me.

I would like to repeat some facts: we worked on the first Operation Flashpoint for a very long time (since 1997), we signed the deal with Codemasters in August 2000 and the game launched in June 2001. I believe that speaks for itself. To anyone interested in learning more about the road to Flashpoint, I definitely suggest our post mortem over at Gamasutra.

I am fully confident that Codebastards will skank this up just like they did the original, with a ludicrous plot and rubbish linear scripted missions. The game was capable of so much more than the on-rails they forced it into, as many user made missions and the astonishing MFCTI mod show. My money is on the original devs and ArmA2.

Personally, all this could have been an editorial mistake. Or don't people make mistakes any more?

I for one, will be looking forward to this title and as for Arma 2...outdated PS2 title?

@Grimrita We confirmed the quote with Dan first before making any comment.

As for the anti ArmA2 trolling, weak.

@ Placebo

'We'? Who is 'We'? Do you work for eurogamer?

I've been following both games and of late lost interest in Arma 2 as it looks outdated compare to most FPS titles that I have seen and played and its my personal opinion that the graphics in Arma 2 just dont stack up. If you dont like that view, you know where you can go.

We = Bohemia Interactive.