A couple of years ago, but an awfully long way back through the 1001 list, we went to war in the grandfather of military sims, now known as ARMA, then known as Operation Flashpoint. It was an experience, and one that I knew I wouldn't be any good at, but was glad to have played.
The lineage of Operation Flashpoint splits in two shortly after that game. Original developers Bohemia Interactive Studio go their own way, deep into the simulation side of things with ARMA, and publishers Codemasters wait a few years before reviving the brand with a more accessible, though still simulation-based, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.
If you, like me, think ARMA is something to try, but mind-boggling to get into, Dragon Rising might just be for you.
Fun Times
Dragon Rising is set in the near future on the fictional island of Skira. It's currently Russian territory, but as a historical montage shows us, China and Japan have all had their hands on it and, as we'll soon find out, someone wants their hands back on it once more.
It's the tail end of the 2000s, and even gamers know the importance of oil. So does China, who are creeping their armies toward Skira, and Russia find themselves in a position that really does set this game in a fictional timeline.
And here we are, coming to the rescue, the might of the US military. That's your backstory for Dragon Rising, and as you might have been able to guess, I'm playing v1.02 on the PC. That'll disappear soon enough but won't disappear are the hallmarks of Codemasters games in this period of video gaming.
This one is a little on the nose, isn't it? A military simulator keeping track of suicides, and almost proudly displaying the figure on screen, at random, during level loads. Let's hope we don't contribute anything towards that particular stat on our mission to help the Russians defend a Chinese invasion.
Dragon Rising kicks off not with elaborate briefing animations or gruff soldier talk about a terrorist, but a radio conversation and a sense of purpose. You're in command of three fellow soldiers in what is, so far as I can see, an accessible version of ARMA, a squad-based FPS where you'll be relying on your AI buddies as much as they're going to be following your leadership.
As I was prompted by the tooltips to get my squad moving up ahead of me, their eagle eyes caught sight of some opposition targets, and evidently, they're set to shoot on sight at the moment.
I'd blame it on the fact that I'm only playing Dragon Rising at 1280x720, but let's be honest, the truth is that war isn't for you and me. If you're not on the ball, you might not be coming home.
We've been tasked with taking out a radar site up ahead, and we're certainly armed for it. An underslung grenade launcher, grenades, plastic explosives... we've got the tools for the job and can pick up ammunition and replacement weapons from the battlefield should we need to.
But we're more professional than that.
After that's been dealt with, a nearby village needs clearing out, and we can call in some support to give us the advantage. Another radial menu gives us the option of calling in an artillery barrage, so let's have a look at how effective that is.
It took a while to come in - I suppose I should have expected that - and once it started, I was wondering just when it would stop. I know I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it, and when the dust settles and the earth returns to Earth, we're going down the hill to sweep up.
A press of the left trigger aims down the sights, and a squeeze of the right trigger lets a few rounds out to scream towards their target. Muzzles flash, vision blurs, and your only indicator of a successful hit is a few small white circles, and maybe that's just on the difficulty I was playing at.
You'll have to make use of both the compass up top and the radio chatter down below to know whether a target has been killed or not, as white indicators only mean a target has been hit and has fallen to the deck. They may still be alive, and may still be a threat, and so are still indicated as such on your HUD. You're looking for red indicators of a successful kill, else you'll have to walk over there and confirm it yourself.
Dragon Rising wouldn't be a simulator without a map to issue orders on, so it obviously has one that allows you to do just that. The LZ is hot, as they say, so we need to clear out a few jeeps and the soldiers that occupy them before we can get out of here after a successful mission.
Oh, look, there was a secondary objective. Ah well. Good job the radar was ineffective, making the surface to air missiles effectively useless. I hope. That's how that works, right?
Anyway, one tutorial-like mission done and we're up to speed with the gist of Dragon Rising. Do we like it? Yes, we do.
It's not an FPS that wows, per se, but it is a solid open world FPS that hasn't faltered and does give me a sense of competency about my skills. Dragon Rising is doing its job as ARMA-lite if you will, and that's all I want it to do right now.
So let's dive into the next mission.
This is a nighttime mission where stealth is essential. Chinese convoys roll past us as we scamper through the bushes. We could crawl and sprint, but sprinting is going to tire us out after doing it for too long, and I would assume that sticking out like a sore thumb against the landscape, even in the moonlight, would lead to us getting spotted rather quickly.
But I don't know how detailed Dragon Rising is in those regards. The difficulty levels start at Normal, but they only seem to remove various HUD elements. Death is still swift no matter what difficulty you're at, but as to what else changes, I don't know.
Our route is meandering, but with the help of eagle eyes and night vision optics, we can avoid getting into a firefight until we're in position, flanking a huge missile system that needs to be destroyed before the rest of our forces arrives in the morning.
It's nice to know I can rely on my AI squadmates to keep quiet, as it allows me to focus on staying quiet myself. I've not had to touch the order menu at all, nor have I had to babysit them as they try and find a path to my position.
Aren't these colours something? The menu design evokes the blacks of redacted documents and the yellows of a highlighter pen, which carries through to the HUD, but this moonlight and its silvery blues and greens are just lovely.
It's gritty and grainy and blurry when it needs to be, but it's something to admire when you get a chance. Again, though, it's not something that wows immediately or blows everything else out of the water, but it's enough to get you on board and immersed.
What followed my primary objective will need a debrief. There was a group of buildings over there that I had seen some targets through, and I had the option to call in some more artillery on top of them, so I did.
And then I forgot I did.
Walking across the field towards the buildings, I could have sworn I caught sight of a BTR or something, effectively a tank (more of an armoured personnel carrier, but try arguing that when you're looking down the barrel) hunting me down because we'd been spotted and had engaged some targets.
I genuinely thought I was seeing things and couldn't believe my eyes anymore, so I ignored it and pushed forward towards the buildings.
At this point, my screen started shaking. Violently. Very violently. I think I have just walked into my own artillery barrage. This isn't how you go to war. I should be dead.
But I don't think this at the time. I think, instead, that a BTR has definitely found me and is shooting us. Again, I really should be dead, but I turn around to find something exploding in the distance, and at this point, I'm in no hurry to investigate what it was, so I carry on following my objective markers and getting out of here.
Oh, and I remembered the SAM site this time out.
Can't get much more complete than that, can we?
Final Word
It's a no-brainer that I'm going to carry on playing Dragon Rising, but it's not for the plot. That's just a backdrop for the missions. There aren't any cutscenes to watch, nor characters to get to know. You're here to carry out the objective and that's that.
I'm not even going to play it for the graphics, which are worth having a look at but perhaps not worth worrying about if you don't get a chance to see them firsthand. If anything, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the engine for the DiRT games is being used for a military sim.
No, the reason I'm going to keep playing Dragon Rising is that it is easy to pick up and get stuck into. It is accessible, yet doesn't appear to hold my hand. Playing this game feels like how I imagine it feels to play ARMA were I to have any skill in it.
I'm not sure it should be called an ARMA-lite, but if that helps gives you a sense of what Dragon Rising is, then so be it. This is not Call of Duty, this is more Ghost Recon, I suppose. The older ones, not GRAW 2.
I don't know what the buzz was around Dragon Rising at the time - it certainly didn't come on my radar back in the day - so maybe this is more of an overlooked or forgotten title, but it might be just the sort of thing you're looking for.
FILLING YOU IN
I've played Dragon Rising for a bit longer now, but haven't actually managed to make any progress in what I thought was a more approachable ARMA-lite. If anything, the only progress I am making is in finding out just how lethal bullets are, at any range.
I was ordered to assault an airport, clearing out the tower of spotters and then defending the position from an onslaught of armour and even an attack helicopter - with a squad of four.
Alright, there were some vehicles supporting me, but they weren't supporting me for long, and nor were the rest of my squad when they picked up injuries (or worse). No matter which side I approached from, how careful I was, there was always an enemy ready to ruin my day, and when the HUD was clear of threats and it looked safe to push forward, a load more would spawn in and start shooting.
What I thought was an easy to get into simulator turned into a easy to get into but not easy to actually do well in simulator, which is probably for the best, as it confirms that I really am not cut out for warfare.
I think Dragon Rising is still worth playing as an entry point to the world of military simulators, but I'm stopping my run through of it well short of where I was hoping to, simply because I just can't hack it. Shame, really, because I was looking forward to it.
Fun Facts
The island of Skira is more or less a recreation of the real island of Kiska, in Alaska, and missions were designed around the landscape, rather than the landscape being designed around the missions.
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, developed by Codemasters, first released in 2009.
Version played: PC, 2009.