My copy of Operation Flashpoint 2 arrived a few days ago and I found some hours on seperate days to check it out. Right now I'm on the fifth or sixth mission and so I can give you an opinion on the first part of the game.
When you've read Personal Gaming from time to time you might know that I've been very interested in this game. I visited the Codemasters Operation Flashpoint 2 dev demonstration on Games Convention Leipzig in 2008 and this year on new found GamesCom Cologne I had the chance to play ten minutes of the first mission. I also posted every little video I found on Personal Gaming, so yeah, I was very excited and hyped up for the game.
Operation Flashpoint 2 is a simulation, i's hard to consider it as ego shooter, because that gives you the idea of run and gun and arcade like action and entertainment. A simulation is pretty sober and can be boring. I really had to get used to this game, to how it is meant to be played and what it's design philosophy is. It's a war simulation and the first thing you'll learn is that no matter what a bad ass marine you are, one shot can kill you. And in the vegetation enemies are hard to spot. But now I've gotten used to try a segment of a mission often until I can make it by trying different strategies. And strategies definitely are the strong part of the game, it's rewarding when you're plans work.
The graphics are quite awesome. The world of Operation Flashpoint 2, the island of Skira is looking so natural and beautiful, it's a joy if you have an eye for the beauty of the nature.
Anyway, there are a few bugs and glitches in it, that frustrate me. For example the shadow of helicopters is wrong (the blades are stiff, when it flies), I witnessed weapons hanging in the air, but there are some bugs that do more than scratch the beauty of the game. I'm in a mission now and I don't know how I should ever make it through because on a certain point I can walk through walls. The dumb thing is that my enemies can see and even shoot through as well. So a scenario with massive oil tanks becomes a flat plateau and you don't have a chance to survive. I demand a patch for this mess immediatly, Codemasters!
I had false hopes for this game that confused my first session with the game. I hoped for a serious story with rememerable characters, but instead Operation Flashpoint 2 stays even more political than Tom Clancy games like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. You are a soldier and don't ask 'why' or 'because of what', you do what you are told do, questionless. Not that this would wonder me in a war simulation but I'd liked to have a few characters you can link to. Like Joker in Full Metal Jacket. I even have the assumption that the character you are playing changes from mission to mission.
The game was called Open World and with that I thought of a game design as you know it from Open World games. You know, go anywhere you want and take missions from whom you like. But Op Flash 2 is strictly parted into missions. The missions are your windows to Skira and theoretically in the course of a mission you can go anywhere you want, but the goals of the missions stress you in so far that you can't explore the whole, giant island on your own. I'd hoped the game would be more like Far Cry 2 designwise, with sidemissions and weapon buying, but that's not the case.
Don't get me wrong, it was hard to get into the game, but when you understand how it works, it actually is fun. But I think some other choices in game design would've made a more entertaining experience. People who are thinking about buying this game should check it out first, propably give it a rent first.
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