Brand new preview

[JRD]

A new preview. Just to make me even more anxious!!!
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Prepare yourself for a juicy video game pub quiz fact: Operation Flashpoint was the first FPS with vehicles. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Well I didn't, anyway. But I did know that Bohemia's 2001 classic was a technical marvel, a hardcore military sim for hardcore military sim fans. There was no compromise. No quarter given, and the great gaming public loved it.

Now, eight years later, Codemasters has, with the OpFlash IP held firmly in its grasp and Bohemia off doing its own thing, set about emulating Bohemia's original with its own internal development team and a hot new sub title: Dragon Rising. But questions have arisen: the original, free from cross-platform concessions, was able to concentrate fully on the PC, perhaps the chief reason it's still considered one of the most technically impressive FPSs ever made. DR is a multi-platform game, coming out on the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC. Will the follow-up disappoint as a result?
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Absolutely not, says lead AI designer Clive Lindop during a detailed demonstration of the game at Codies' cavernous Warwickshire HQ. "The whole point in investing four years in tech is when we say cross-platform it's in the proper sense," he explains, 360 pad in hand and the game's title screen projected onto a giant screen behind him. "It's the same game." Perhaps inevitably, if you're a PC gamer you won't, as Clive describes it, "need a £2k rig to play the game". But if you do, you will be able to "turn that dial up to 11 and have an awesome experience". The PC version will, ultimately, provide the best graphics, and it'll come with a mission editor, too.

As Clive boots up the game on a "mid-range DELL", his claims can't be argued. A four-man squad is stood huddled in a forest draped in early morning sun. Green hills are nearby, and, even further, mountains can be seen. The draw distance is incredible, the fidelity of the grass almost photo realistic. "The whole game is about reportage", Clive says, smiling. "About being realistic, not cinematic." Turns out that draw distance is an eye-watering 35km. I take a closer look: is that mist? Yes, answers Clive. And it's real mist (in the virtual sense, of course), as opposed to draw distance fog. Nice.
We're keen to find out what the vehicles are like to pilotWe're keen to find out what the vehicles are like to pilot

Clive describes what we're seeing - this is a four man fire team, but on average the game will give you 40 men to command, divided up into four squads, with each squad made up of four teams. In a team you've got yourself, a radio guy, a gunner and an MP5 sniper. A close look at your buddies reveals they're accurately dressed - in DR if you use it you must carry it. This realism even extends to your ammo and grenade pouches, which will deplete depending on usage. If you think this sounds like a bit much, well, get used to it. Being able to quickly recognise what type of enemy you're up against based on what they're carrying will prove a life-saving skill on the battlefield.

Talking about the battlefield, your buddies will react to what you're doing, as well as the orders you give them. So, if you run around like a maniac Halo style, they won't follow you. They'll even, according to Clive, tell you to f**k off. They're well within their rights to be so blunt, when you think about it, because rushing in will get you killed. Quickly. Like the first game, the AI shows no mercy when it comes to dealing the player death. There's absolutely zero scripting in the game, either - the AI figures out everything for itself - so there's no success based on trial and error. So, actually, you've got quite the job on completing the game's missions.

Clive begins his attack on a group of about six or seven red dots. He seemingly sprays gun fire randomly in the distance - it's deliberate. "Very rarely in real life do you fire your weapon to kill someone," Clive explains. "It's to suppress, mainly." It doesn't w@&k - Clive is quickly gunned down from some holed up sniper. He never saw it coming.

But wait, is he dead? Not quite. In DR you have a certain amount of pints of blood in your body, and if you're shot you'll start to loose it. There's a brief window of opportunity for a medic to patch you up before you die. Even if you are saved, you'll have to continue without the blood, and this will be reflected in game - the screen might turn black and white, or you'll be limping about. There is no healing up, or recharging a shield behind a rock in this game.

Clive tries again, this time on easy. He says the light and sound of the bullets that killed him are accurate, to the point where you'll hear a bullet but not a weapon. There's clearly a real sense of vulnerability that runs throughout the game - a sense of mortality brought about by the stark fact that it only takes a single round to bring you down. And just because he's on easy, it doesn't mean the game will actually be easy. The AI is an absolute ba$t@rd no matter what difficulty you play on. Only the UI changes, to the point where, on hard, there's absolutely no aids at all. Ouch.
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And ouch is a word I find myself saying as Clive dies again and again. He gives up and gives us a glimpse of the game's "vehicle playground", the Raskova Airfield. He nips in a Cobra Helicopter, lifts off using dual analogue controls that recreate actual helicopter controls, and that 35km draw distance smacks you in the face like a virtual left hook, the horizon beaming over mountains and hills that look too good to be true. "This is by far the best helicopter flight model ever seen on a console", Clive proclaims. I was too busy gawping at the hills in the distance to notice, to be honest.

He takes pot shots at the airfield buildings, showing off the fully destructible environments. Wrecked buildings are still available for cover, if there's enough of them left. Still - that might not be enough to save you: there's a bullet penetration system that works out if a piece of cover will stand up to a shot depending on its calibre.
The island stretches off as far as the eye can seeThe island stretches off as far as the eye can see

Then, Clive shows me something that's never been seen outside Codemasters HQ before: artillery. From a safe distance he calls in various types of great big bombs on the buildings that surround him. You see the explosion, then hear the sound, just as you would in real life. The torn apart concrete is nothing more than smoke, smoke that sticks around and blows on the wind, obscuring your view. Stunning.

Dragon Rising looks for all intents and purposes like a game that'll blow your socks off. But, given that we haven't actually played it yet it's hard to determine just how much fun it'll be to play. For some, the idea of getting torn about ten seconds after starting a mission (which, by the way, take between an hour and two hours to finish) will sound like the antithesis of fun. But for others, especially fans of the very specialised genre that the game fits into - the hardcore military sim - it'll be music to their ears. There are concerns, of course, that we haven't had the opportunity to quell, like, for example, just how intuitive it'll be to boss your mates about. We also have no real idea how the co-op campaign, "next-gen" de rigueur, will w@&k, or the multiplayer, which grants you control over a number of AI squad mates dependent on the number of players on a server (32 max on PC, 16 on console). Whatever happens, we've seen enough to know that Dragon Rising will be one of the most jaw-dropping shooters ever when it comes out. Whether that's enough to make it a worthy follow-up to Bohemia's masterpiece, well, we'll know soon enough.

[spaceboy]

those screen shots are beauties.  I really like what it says about you only have so much blood to lose, and even if your patched up you continue on without the blood you lost, limping around what not.  Sounds unlike anything I've ever played.

[PZ]

I agree - this one looks like a "must have" as well!

[RedRaven]

the vids have seen so far are prob best i`ve seen outside of hollywood films, not sure which vid its in but there is a bit where a soldier is carrying his comrade across a road, further down the road a vehicle blows up, and the skies arent quiet either.
looks like discovered Farcry2 forum and consequentley you guys just in time, and anything i can do/help with on this would be honoured.
cant wait....

[JRD]

Besides that text, I found another footage of actual gameplay on OFP2

[smg id=204 type=av]

Too bad its not from a player's perspective rather than a flyingthrough camera... but you can get the picture

Except for Art (as far as I know) the rest of us will have to read the small subtitles OR watch the vid... I suggest you either use your eyes or watch it twice
Another vid. This one shows actual first person view and seem truly gameplay footage.
It is not good quality image and sound, but gives the idea of how a player should feel fighting this war

[smg id=205 type=av]

Look how colors seems dim.... specially for us, used with FC2's vivid, bright African pallete.
It adds to the sense that war ain't a nice place to be!!
I'm still seacrhin for a reliable system specs or release date.
Only now I managed to sign in the CodeMasters official forum. They are having some tech problems and users are told to reset their accounts. I couldn't even create my own... had to try two different CM sites to finish my sign in.
Well... as new material is released I'll keep the board updated. Not too many user so far, but we'll grow as the war gets closer to its begin ;)

[Art Blade]

cheers JRD, nice research :)

You were right about the first vid (but even I had to concentrate because it was concentrated ;D )

I liked the English commentator in the second vid, who couldn't help slipping in a comment about "cuzzy" being a rubbish name LOL

[PZ]

Just for a second, one of them shows what appears to be a person in the drivers seat of a FC2 assault truck looking out at a tank - flashback there....

Also, the detail in the game is stunning - I can't wait to see how it turns out.  The snippet with the tank is actual game play?

[JRD]

Both should be gameplay footage. Although I'm always sceptic about vids where you are not seeing therough a player's eye.
The second one seems authentical, from a player's perspective.

On a side note, I downloaded a fan site kit and will be uploading a few items to the OFP2 board soon... stay tuned ;)

[spaceboy]

Great stuff JRD,  when he peeked around the corner to snipe the enemy -can't say "merc" I guess  :'(  it looked like he was tilting the weapon the you would if you were really peeking or leaning around a corner.  Very cool videos.

[RedRaven]

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