Editor's note: Matt won our contest for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising back in October. The prize? A quid pro quo: We sent him the game and he wrote us a review. Here's what he thought of the game. -Brett

"As Close to War as You Ever Want to Get It"

I realize that Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising means business when I read this awkwardly phrased header on the back of the box. These guys were apparently so busy recreating the hellish experience of war that they didn't have time to proofread. But hey, if they can deliver blisteringly difficult action, I don't care if the writing sounds like someone hit the "Translate to English" button on Babelfish.

I stick in the game and choose the Hardcore difficulty setting at the main menu. The game warns me that this is for experienced players only. I'll have no HUD, no checkpoints, and when my squad mates die, they'll die for good. Do I want to proceed?

You bet I do.

Insertion Point

I'm immediately dropped into a field with my team. What's going on? The controls feel familiar enough for any Call of Duty player, but I struggle to issue commands to my team. While I appreciate the potential speed of the menu rosettes Operation Flashpoint utilizes, they seem needlessly deep when I only have four options per level. I trudge on as my team kills everyone without my input. I blow up the appropriate radar site and proceed to the extraction point, where enemy reinforcements quickly shoot me in the face.

No checkpoints? So far it doesn't bother me. The mission is short and to the point; a checkpoint would only interrupt the flow. We'll see if that feeling lasts.

On my second attempt, I still find myself adjusting to the controls. I take another bullet to the head. But on the third try, I have a solid handle on how to play, and I'm able to appreciate the design of the game. I make a speedy approach to the radar site, a small hill concealing my squad from the bulk of the enemy troops. After we destroy the radar, I call in an artillery strike on the main forces in the nearby village. A secondary team draws the fire of the few remaining enemies, and my men mop up the stragglers. We proceed to the extraction point and circle around the enemy reinforcements. We maintain our vantage point and quickly pick them off before they can return fire. The intensity of the battle makes the thrill of a hard fought victory even better.

No HUD, No Problem

Operation Flashpoint has some interesting and effective ideas for giving the player feedback without onscreen gauges or indicators. A red border around the screen and increasingly blurry vision indicates that you've been shot. Leg injuries result in the complete inability to sprint, while arm injuries impair your aim. Injuries can be self-treated with a field wrap or healed by a medic, who stabs you with a needle and shouts, "Wound treated!"

I also appreciate how subtly and effectively the game handles sprinting. After running for a few moments, you can hear your character panting. Seconds later, the controller starts vibrating, mimicking an accelerated heartbeat. Resting will cause your heart rate to slow in a convincing manner.

Getting Back into the Fight

After plugging away at the Hardcore mode, I must admit I'm stuck. I appreciate the realism, but the game repeatedly kicks my ass. With Brett's blessing, I restart the game on Normal and find a dramatically changed experience.

For starters, my firing is now aided by a crosshair. I try shooting from the hip. After peppering the area around my enemy with bullets, I realize that hip-firing isn't so useful. Aiming down the barrel remains the only effective option.

Secondly, when approaching my target, I follow the new onscreen waypoints -- until I realize that they've led me straight into an ambush. I make a large circle around them to maintain my cover in the darkness. Though technically optional, the siren call of the waypoints takes a bit of the creativity out of your approach.

And as for those checkpoints I scorned earlier as breaking up the flow? Forget I said anything about that. The more checkpoints the merrier!

Case in point: After a difficult battle to take a village, I'm tasked with defending the town from a counter-strike. I furiously fire from my mounted machine gun at the PLA reinforcements when I hear that both the northern and eastern perimeters have been breached. How am I supposed to defend an entire village when I can't even depend on the other fireteams? I leave my machine gun post just in time to be run over by an enemy jeep. Thankfully, I'm able to restart from the point I captured the village rather than replaying the half-hour battle that got me there.

Breaking the Illusion

Now for some bad news: Numerous glitches mar my experience and break the impressive illusion Operation Flashpoint creates. Sometimes enemies stay upright after I kill them, making it more difficult to identify threats. My teammates can be inconsistent in following orders and occasionally confuse the shrub at their feet with the PLA troops.

But I'm most frustrated by friendly fire issues. While I understand it's theoretically realistic in a Platoon sort of way, I end up shot and killed an absurd number of times by my own squad.

One incident particularly sticks out. I'm lining up a shot with my bazooka when BOOM -- I die just as I'm about to squeeze the trigger. My death cam pans around to my brother-in-arms, who had just shot me in the back with his own bazooka. Et tu, Brute?

Hindsight

I found Operation Flashpoint flawed but entertaining. In most shooters, the game guides players through a series of set pieces to create the illusion of battle. Operation Flashpoint, on the other hand, guides players to a variety of scenarios that develop based on how the player approaches the battle. This less controlled experience better mimics reality and provides an alternative to the stale tropes that plague other shooters.