operation flashpoint2: dragon rising

[CDBS14]

So there is some talk going around about this game and i thought maybe i can post some info on it. (most of the info is taken from a friend of mine, i added a few things) HOPE IT SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON THIS UNDER HYPED GAME. GAMESTOP HAS IT FOR RELEASE ON 5.23.09

 

PS. the random number on the sentences are the time in the video when that info is shown.

 

 

 

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Publisher: Codemasters

Release Date: Spring 2009

Genre: First Person Shooter

Website: http://www.codemasters.co.uk/flashpoint2/index.php

 

Story:

China invades an island called Sachalin, which is famous for its resources and is owned by the russians. The US tries to stop the invaders.

 

What is known so far

 

The Following information was gathered from a leaked E3 developer walk through video created by gametrailers.com. It stars Lead AI Designer and Senior Designer - Clive Lindop It has since been taken down but now can be found on YouTube. The Number Markers to the left of the link indicate the time in the video when the information is spoken. This is done for verification reasons.

 

On Style

 

* Game is styled to a more mature, war informed audience. - 0.21 to 0.27

* The developers aimed to make a down to earth, gritty, "reportage", "War through the lenses feel" to the game. - 0:28 to 0:40

 

On The Island

 

* The Island is named Skira Island

* 220 km squared of terrain

* Wide range of terrain types:

Swamps

Grasslands

Forests

Rocky Mountains

* Crumbling soviet era architecture

 

From here on in there are no slides

 

* This Island is Located North of Japan - 0:43 to 0:45

* This Island is part of a chain of islands called the scarlet islands. - 0:45 to 0:47

* This Island has a turbulent history of being liberated, First owned by China, taken by Japan and liberated by Russia in World War Two, and now is prized as the largest oil reserve in the world - 0:40 to 1:10

 

 

General

 

* The Research and Design team was sent to the island to collect photos and document the island - 1:10 to 1:36

* The Video shows a higher density forest with more ground clutter (bushes, logs, low grass, rocks) 1:36 to 1:50

* Nothing on the island has been created by mission designers or level designers. All places are real places on the island. This is done to ensure free flowing (non funnelled) tactics and strategy; As well to allow the player to feel more in depth knowing these places exist.

 

Destruction

 

* Buildings have a multi-stage multi-sectioned approach to demolition.

* They're damageable world objects.

Some have multiple damage states.

* Damage done to world objects and buildings is persistent. This pervasion of persistent objects extends throughout the mission and campaign. This is done to instill a sense of attrition that extreme firepower has.

 

Soldiers

 

* In Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising there is a great push to do as many unique looking characters as possible.

* This is done to support a level of attachment to your AI friends.

* As well it aids in easier command due to facial recognition.

* There is a great emphasis placed on the personality of units.

 

Animation / Motion

 

* Motion Capture was done with special forces personel.

* The Level of unique motions placed within the game is much higher than that of Operation Flashpoint.

* There are motions for mounting vehicles and even leaping over small walls.

* You can interact with many world objects - Example Doors: you can kick them in.

 

Gameplay

 

* Firing sequences from lifting the object up, to placing it on your shoulder to turning it on and arming to fire is all faithfully simulated.

* Reloading is as well faithfully simulated.

 

Weaponry

 

* All weaponry requiring an interface (Example Javelin) will have one. Highly detailed and functional.

 

* According to game developer any weapon that would need to be assembled in real life would also need to be carried and assembled on game before use.

 

* Weapons can be attached with scopes and grenade launchers among other things that are not known at this time. Weapon permitting - IE: A Javelin cannot be given a scope.

 

* Game Informer reports that over "70 real life weapons are included in the game, all supported by a realistic ballistic system. This simulates surface penetration based on material and armor values. You can even select different ammo types depending on whether [sic] you prefer knockdown power or armor piercing traits, for example. Players can carry two large weapons, a pistol, and a knife. If one of these happens to be a Javelin missile launcher, you'll have to save that one shot until it matters. Just like in real life, remaining enemies will follow the smoke trail back to your position, so be sure to hightail it out of there after firing."

 

Vehicles

 

* There are 50 vehicles

One would presume 20 a side with 10 being civilian, rebel or neutral units.

* There are air, naval and land units all faithfully simulated.

Vehicles react to terrain with varying levels of performance.

Strengths and weaknesses of vehicles are apparent and a strategy element in Operation Flashpoint 2.

The following elements are supported:

+ Crew positions

+ All Weapon systems

+ Detailed simulation and deployment of firing sequences

+ All weapon specific cockpit components, HUDs and interfaces

+ Passenger positions

+ Vehicles are extremely up to date to the current war in Afghanistan.

+ Details include ad-hoc modifications to vehicles now used, but outside original specifications.

+ Interiors of Vehicles are detailed as possible with the resource allotted to this feature.

 

Effects

 

* When firing the game utilizes a multistage animation feature that over a series of milliseconds provides a progressive animation that leads to realistic effects.

 

Multiplayer Gameplay

 

PC version will feature:

 

* 32 player (16 vs 16) in addition to the 256 NPC squad members (8 per squad per player)

* 8 player co-op in addition to NPC squad members

* 4 player Campaign + single mission co-op

 

Console(Xbox360 + PS3)version will feature:

 

* 16 player ( 8 vs 8 ) in addition to NPC squad members

* 4 player co-op in addition to NPC squad members

* 2 player Campaign + single mission co-op

 

1. Please note: aside from the number of players in multiplayer the content of this game will be the same across platforms.

 

[HairyNiples]

That shit looks and sounds incredible. It almost looks and sounds like some of the stuff I have seen and heard about MAG. Almost uncanny

 

[CDBS14]

That shit looks and sounds incredible. It almost looks and sounds like some of the stuff I have seen and heard about MAG. Almost uncanny

 

 

multiplayer is much smaller in size, and well MAG is not even confirmed to be FPS or Third person. But next to that yea it does sound like MAG :)

[CDBS14]

NEW VIDEO, i am amazed as to how this game has gone under the radar, it looks great.

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/46045.html

[Klutch]

Sooooooo sick looking, now the question is, do i buy for ps3 or 360?

[xRuthlessRebelx]

That was cool. *Fingers crossed for round based no respawn gameplay*

[CDBS14]

 

 

By their very nature, tactical military shooters are restrictive affairs that reward you for keeping your actions well within the bounds of realism. It's a genre where success is predicated on doing things by the book and sticking with a proven strategy for keeping you and your team out of harm's way. In other words, the genre is probably not your first choice for an open-world sandbox game--but Codemasters sees things a little differently. For its upcoming tactical shooter Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising--the sequel to the well-received 2001 game Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis--the English developer is aiming to give you the freedom that goes with 220 square kilometers of outdoor terrain while still keeping true to the series' origins as an authentic portrayal of war. The last time we saw the game was during a visit to Codemasters' studios last August, but yesterday we had a chance to check out an updated build and get our first hands-on time with it.

 

As we described in our last look at Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the story is driven by a fictional conflict between China and the US. China has invaded an oil-rich island off the eastern coast of Russia following a global economic meltdown, and now US marines have been sent in to forcefully drive out the Chinese. As with most shooters, the story is primarily a vehicle for explaining the setting--and that setting is what you'll really want to pay attention to. The island where the game takes place is called Skira, a 220-square-kilometer collection of mountains, grassy hills, and wet marshland that Codemasters claims would take a good three hours to walk from end to end. So yes, it's big, and that open terrain should amount to a nice, expansive sandbox for approaching each mission in a variety of ways.

 

The mission we got to try involved clearing out Chinese forces that had taken up camp in a small coastal fishing village. The mission begins with you and three of your fellow marines standing near the top of a rolling hill leading down to the village. There's a heavily patrolled road on the left-hand side of the hill that leads down to the village entrance where we were likely to be greeted by turret guns and angry guards. So instead of taking that path, we braved the right-hand side of the hill: a much steeper drop that offered lots of trees and rocks to use as cover.

 

How you approach the enemy base is a critical part of the mission, because with a realistic damage model where one-hit kills aren't entirely unheard of, you and your squad need to work as a tight team. The way you do that is by getting acquainted with the Quick Command radial menu. This pulls up a circular menu that controls, among other things, your various squad commands. You can order them to stay put, to follow you, to fire at will or only after your lead, and to assemble into various tactical formations. We pushed our way down the cliff using suppressing fire to distract the enemy forces, and then we dashed through clearings when the gunfire stopped. Eventually we made it to the village at the bottom, where the long-range tactics gave way to close-quarters combat.

 

Whereas the long-range firefights are like a chess game of planned advances and temporary retreats, close scuffles take on a bit of a different feel. We used the Xbox 360 controller, and the game controlled like a slower-paced Call of Duty--no sticky cover system, pull L to look down the iron sights--but with an added layer of tension provided by the jumpy camera movements and a blurrier line between dead and wounded enemies. In fact, what you might perceive as a dead body could actually be an enemy bleeding out while crawling to safety--or getting back on his feet to fire one last shot at you.

 

With 47-plus vehicles in the game, this mission could have easily been approached by air, water, or fully loaded jeep. But even without the aid of vehicles, we could have taken a much more bombastic approach to this mission using the aid of air strikes, M16-mounted grenade launchers, and a more aggressive group formation. The folks from Codemasters guiding us through the game were keen to stress that each attempt will play out differently, even if you attempt the same tactic twice in a row. That seems true, but considering the long, drawn-out missions that require patience and planning, you'll want to make sure you succeed the first time around.

 

We're interested to see what the rest of the island looks like and how much the varying terrain will affect the course of each battle. We'll likely have the chance to do that before Operation: Flashpoint is released this summer. You can expect to see it arrive on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going into the demo of Operational Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, I had doubts. I was a big fan of the 2001 original game that was developed by Bohemia Interactive, but now Bohemia is off doing the ArmA series while Codemasters is developing Flashpoint 2 internally. However, after Codemasters' event in San Francisco this week, I'm excited again. This new Flashpoint looks incredibly promising for those who are looking for a more authentic take at military operations.

 

Don't get me wrong; I like military-themed shooters like Call of Duty 4 and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. But when you get down to it, those games are essentially camouflaged action games. In them, you ride roller coasters for the maximum number of thrills per minute. What I loved about Operation Flashpoint, and what I'm seeing in its sequel, is the sense freedom. When you storm a village in Flashpoint, it's not about running-and-gunning and blowing up everything you see. That'll get you killed faster than you can unload a full magazine.

 

Operation Flashpoint requires a more cautious and thoughtful approach than most shooters.

The story in a nutshell is that the game is set on a fictional Russian island in the Northern Pacific that has been invaded by the People's Liberation Army and the United States has sent the Marine Corps to assist the Russians. You get to play as the Marines, and it sounds like there are two acts, one that focuses on Special Forces and the other on the Marines. In addition to being able to be a grunt, you can jump into civilian and military vehicles, and there's pretty much the entire inventory of modern Chinese, Russian, and American military toys at your disposal, including M1A2 Abrams and Seahawk helicopters.

 

In Flashpoint 2, when you need to attack a village, you must first approach it, and given that the game world is a 25-mile long island, you can approach it from any direction you want. This is a game with realistic engagement ranges; in most shooters, you're busy blasting away at enemy soldiers yards away from you. In this one, you might come under fire hundreds of yards away from the objective, with the tracers keeping your head down as you scramble for cover.

 

The designers were kind enough to let me take the 360 gamepad and try it out for myself. (Rest assured, it's coming to the PC, as well as the PS3). Leading my fire team of four soldiers, I issued an order for the guys to fall into line as we ran toward the village, trying to keep a bunch of trees between the bad guys and us. Since this was a demo, they had turned invulnerability on for me , which is probably for the best considering otherwise I would have died about eight times. I issued an order for the guys to lay down suppressing fire while I got closer to the enemies defending the village. I sprinted closer, and then dove for the ground, hoping the tall grasses would conceal me from the Chinese infantry firing.

 

In true OpFlash style, there will be many accurately modeled vehicles and weapons.

Using binoculars, I called in a JDAM strike on a heavy weapons emplacement, and then used my M203 grenade launcher to pop grenades at squads of Chinese infantry. I then ordered my squad to move up while I sprinted into the village to engage in some house-to-house clearing. Yes, just like in Operation Flashpoint every building in the game can be entered. It makes urban combat just that much more nerve-wracking since the enemy can appear in any window. We're told the AI behavior is good enough that the designers didn't even bother trying to predict what the enemy would do. The good news is that if you're the kind of shooter player who hates squad orders, you can get through the game without giving orders to your squad; the AI will take care of everything.

 

If you do like barking out orders, then the controls take some getting used to, but they're pretty powerful. You can have the squad regroup on you, provide suppressing fire, advance to a certain point, flank in a certain direction, and much more.

 

Oh, but it gets better. The campaign is going to be mission-based, just like the original. The kicker is that it will support four-player co-op, so you can play with three others throughout the entire campaign, or by yourself. For fans that absolutely loved the hardcore nature of the first game, then yes, I'm told there's a difficulty mode where one bullet can indeed ruin your life. Of course, that kind of thing isn't exactly conducive to mass appeal, so there's going to be a more forgiving mode. With that said, there are no health packs. As one of the designers said, if your arm gets shot off, there's no magical power up that's going to give you a new one instantly.

 

The fictional setting is rich in visual details.

And I should mention that the game looks fantastic. The animations are a bit rough, but there's a nice amount of detail on everything, including faces. There's a 24-hour day and night cycle. The environments are destructible, so you can blow up buildings the enemy is in. And it just feels real. For example, as I was sprinting for cover in that enemy village, I noticed a Seahawk overhead; it was actually providing cover with its chain gun. But I only caught it in the corner of my eye, as the sensation of running almost feels like you're watching combat footage taken by a guy who is running with the camera.

 

Flashpoint 2 is being prepped for release this summer, but this is most certainly a game to keep an eye one, especially if you having more than a passing interest in what modern combat really feels like.

[IRISH BULL]

This game looks amazing. But I want to hold off total judgement until I see more actual gameplay footage.

[CDBS14]

IRISH BULL ]

This game looks amazing. But I want to hold off total judgement until I see more actual gameplay footage.

 

you want to see the vids? or have you seen them already?

[[RVN] 6raVIty]

I usually don't pay any attention to pre-release hype for any game... but this one definately catches my eye.

 

One can only hope the end result is inline with the expectations.

[CDBS14]

I usually don't pay any attention to pre-release hype for any game... but this one definately catches my eye.

 

One can only hope the end result is inline with the expectations.

 

actually this game is the least hyped of them all.

[IRISH BULL]

CDBS14 ]

IRISH BULL ]

This game looks amazing. But I want to hold off total judgement until I see more actual gameplay footage.

 

you want to see the vids? or have you seen them already?

 

No' date=' I want to see more [b']actual [/b] gameplay videos. Most of what I've seen is CGI cut scene and gameplay testing.

[Merlin77o]

I played OFP on PC when it first came out. This game was ahead of its time, its one of my favorite games. I will be picking this one up for sure. I know a demo is coming out in june i believe so we all get to try it out.

[Chili327]

So CDBS.. you posted two reviews, with two different system game boxes, but i dont feel like reading them.. but they look VERY similar.!

Is there a difference.?

Are both of those reviews identical, or did you not read them either.?

 

 

PS. it isn't THAT under the radar.. lol

http://www.urgentfury.com/uf_forum/index.php?topic=14282.0

[SgtJoeFriday]

xScoFieldx ]

That was cool. *Fingers crossed for round based no respawn gameplay*

 

It's not round based. If you die you go ALL THE WAY BACK. And in this game that means maybe ten minutes to get back to the battle. So the words TACTICAL BASED SHOOTER come to play here. It's not run and gun respawn, and it's not round based run and gun. It's Tactical based, use your frickin heads, and use teamwork based.

[Chili327]

Similar to Bad Company.?

[Merlin77o]

Chili-Palmer ]

Similar to Bad Company.?

 

The concept is similer but OFP is like a simulation. It would be like comparing Rainbow Six to COD in a way.

[mikejaxon]

Merlin77o ]

I played OFP on PC when it first came out. This game was ahead of its time, its one of my favorite games. I will be picking this one up for sure. I know a demo is coming out in june i believe so we all get to try it out.

 

I looked on gamestop's website they have the release date as 5/26/09

 

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=72875

 

So a demo should be sooner then June.

 

 

[Grinder]

I like the fact that you are always playing with the way there doing the respawn.

looks very good.

[CDBS14]

Chili-Palmer ]

So CDBS.. you posted two reviews, with two different system game boxes, but i dont feel like reading them.. but they look VERY similar.!

Is there a difference.?

Are both of those reviews identical, or did you not read them either.?

 

 

PS. it isn't THAT under the radar.. lol

http://www.urgentfury.com/uf_forum/index.php?topic=14282.0

 

it is not two reviews, the first one i put up was something a friend of mine and i did like last year, the last one i put up just shows the Box art of the game on both 360 and PS3, and i didnt write that one, it was an interview with the one of the game devs.

 

compared to the hype KZ2 and other shooters received, it is under the radar, also the links that joefriday put up were the links to OFP websites and their trailers on youtube, this game is barely mentioned on gaming websites.

[SgtJoeFriday]

This is what I'm saying, if you want information or videos GO TO THEIR SITE. I know it's novel to think to go to the source but hey it just might give you the answers you need.

[CDBS14]

Sgt.JoeFriday ]

This is what I'm saying, if you want information or videos GO TO THEIR SITE. I know it's novel to think to go to the source but hey it just might give you the answers you need.

 

yep, their site has pretty much all you need. Now what we need is some gameplay trailers and a release date ;D

[Merlin77o]

I found this on the official OPF forums, somebody translated the german magazine gamestar and this are the points from the preview.

 

° no muzzle flash if you use a silencer

° soldiers are very detailed

° the current state of the game is "„Feature complete“. Everything which is planned, is in there (Interface, GFX, Audio, AI, Vehicle, Weapons, Missiondesign)

° The "streaming" of the environment is still a big issue right now, there are a lot of "GFX Popup" (i dont know what's in englisch: "aufpoppen").

° still some AI bugs

° Dynamic weather (already know), but in morning there is ground fog.

° Good particle effects if you use tank (smoke and "dirt" in the air)

° Interface looks quite good (only the compass, weapon symbol and the icons for you AI)

° You can pickup 4 weapons (knife, pistol and two bigger ones, e.g.: Assault Rifle and LAW)

° Give orders for AI directly on the map, or within the HUD

° Different body hit points

° There will be a timer, after a hit, which shows the TTL (Time to live) *gg*

° OFPR will have two campaigns ! The first one you play as US Marine, the second one as SpecOps.

° OFPR will have 15 missions.

° sometimes you AI dont follow your orders, if they has (i call it): "morale downtime"

° Enemy AI speaks Chinese

° You can hear the enemy walk (ofp-like)

° in the n00b mode you will have some helping tools, like hit indicator and a auto sace function

° in Hardcore mode, no helping tools, and only some save posibilities during a mission (you have have to set it manually)

° The main focus within the MP is the Coop mode with max. 4 players

° There will be some other game modes like TDM, A&D and a kind of CTI

° Gamerelease planned until 21th of June 2009

° development status of the game (estimation by Gamestar): 60 %

 

One of the last words in the article is, GS dont believe CM can release the game this summer, because there are still a lot of work.

 

Source:

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=342059

 

[Chili327]

CDBS14 ]

Chili-Palmer ]

So CDBS.. you posted two reviews' date=' with two different system game boxes, but i dont feel like reading them.. but they look VERY similar.!

Is there a difference.?

Are both of those reviews identical, or did you not read them either.?

 

 

PS. it isn't THAT under the radar.. lol

http://www.urgentfury.com/uf_forum/index.php?topic=14282.0

[/quote']

 

it is not two reviews, the first one i put up was something a friend of mine and i did like last year, the last one i put up just shows the Box art of the game on both 360 and PS3, and i didnt write that one, it was an interview with the one of the game devs.

 

compared to the hype KZ2 and other shooters received, it is under the radar, also the links that joefriday put up were the links to OFP websites and their trailers on youtube, this game is barely mentioned on gaming websites.

No, the first one was Gamespot hands on, the 2nd one was IGN hands on. ;D

[IRISH BULL]

mikejaxon ]

Merlin77o ]

I played OFP on PC when it first came out. This game was ahead of its time, its one of my favorite games. I will be picking this one up for sure. I know a demo is coming out in june i believe so we all get to try it out.

 

I looked on gamestop's website they have the release date as 5/26/09

 

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=72875

 

So a demo should be sooner then June.

 

Does everygame release a demo before full release? Also, is there confirmation that a demo is coming out??