Less than it's competition and predecessor.
User Rating: 6 | Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising PC
having been a big fan of both the original operation flashpoint and the first Arma game, i was pretty excited to see a new game in the series. the missions unfold at a good pace but never seem to distinguish themselves from each other. everywhere you travel on the island looks exactly the same, and objectives never vary from 'travel here and blow this up' or 'travel here and kill these guys'. for a military sim, it's definitely the weakest i've played. giving orders is a pain in the ass that forces you to stop all movement while the battle rages on around you. once said orders are given your team mates (of which there are only 3) only comply about half the time. this makes storming a position pretty difficult as you might imagine. the only useful order you can give is 'follow me'. when your team mates are wounded there isn't even an option to have your medic heal them. if you yourself are in need of his services, he'll only perform his duties about a third of the time.
the graphics are certainly passable, but bland in comparison to what else we've seen in other games. every inch of the island is identical and the few buildings that there are are completely empty. i mean there is not a single thing in any one building on the entire island! while the game avoids the many bugs that plagued arma 2, it seems to have done so at the cost of any character.
the shooting works, the vehicles are all usable, and there is a functioning editor but in this day and age we need much more than the bare essentials to make a good game. even at $40 it's well worth your money to get arma 2 insted, or even the original arma as it's got just about as much detail with much more depth. 
