It's not perfect, there are little problems and niggles that can be found if you look for them, but none of them spoil the game or ruin the playing experience.

Almost everything in this game fits together: amazing graphics, realistic gameplay and awesome sound! Be aware of the difficult start, it is hard to become used to the handling.

As real as it gets in the modern military shooter genre, Operation Flashpoint demands your mind be as sharp as your aim. Those seeking an FPS experience that's evolved passed Hollywood's version of war should definitely enlist, but anyone annoyed by one-shot deaths should probably stick to Call of Duty's frontlines.

Operation Flashpoint 2 is a simulation, but it’s a simulation that is actually fun to play.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising’s best assets are strategy and realism. It is not an easy game to play, as it requires time to be mastered, but the effort is definitely worth it if you’re after a real war simulator!

Maybe it lacks some innovation and graphics appeal, as if time had made expectations too great, but it is a very good first step for the series to continue.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is something you don't see every day on consoles, and its uniqueness does offer a breath of fresh air amidst the myriad twitch and sci-fi shooters out there.

The stiff challenge of the single-player campaign and the deep multiplayer component will keep skilled, patient gamers playing for hours.

OpFlash 2 actually tries realism and gets the basics right.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising strikes a good balance between tactical sim and action. Its fluent gameplay is addictive, the missions are varied and it impresses graphically. Despite room for improvement, this game comes recommended for those who loved the original and for those gamers who're looking for something different than the abundance of contemporary "Rambo"-games.

In comparison to ARMAII, Dragon Rising is, though still very realistic and challenging, a bit more action-oriented and somehow "traditional". So while you don't get the innovative luxury of deciding what to do all by yourself, you are guided through eleven action-packed and comparatively linear missions. It's still fun though; especially when you team up with three of your friends!

Dragon Rising offers compelling real-world combat with few disappointing omissions. [Issue#26, p.50]

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is more accessible in comparison with his predecessor, but is still very hard. Succeeding gives a lot of satisfaction. Your teammates respond pretty well on your commands, but sometimes like to go their own way. On the visual side the game is awful and the missions don’t give you the chance to explore the big island.

Codemasters manages to do what Bohemia Interactive hasn’t been able to do with its two ArmA games. Dragon Rising is a worthy sequel to the worlds greatest war simulator, although it’s not as good as its prequel. Bugs manage to spoil some of the fun, but with coming patches and player created missions Dragon Rising will hold its place on computers and consoles all over the world.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a solid FPS, with nice graphics and an excellent online mode. It is a pity that not much has been done for the single player campaign, since the eleven available missions are too short and repetitive.

It’s got the freedom (partly) and it’s got realism (mostly) but it’s also badly designed with strict time limits, scarce checkpoints, bad AI, loads of bugs and a netcode that isn't worth a damn. It’s still rewarding though and it doesn’t have much competition on consoles. [Nov 2010]

The game can't keep up with Operation Flashpoint from 2001, everything seems to be smaller. There is also no real story, just one mission after the other. It's still fun to play and not bothering you with micro management problems.

We really hoped, that Codemasters would have been able to create a worthy sequel to the classic military-simulation OFP: Cold War Crisis. The first impressions have been great, but in the end, Dragon Rising is just a common tactical-shooter like a Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. It is far away from a real simulation. The campaign has its ups and downs, but you’re always just the leader of a little infantry-squad, you don’t fly exciting helicopter-missions, you’re not involved in huge tank battles. There is no storyline and there are no cutscenes that would give you the feeling of playing an important part within a big military campaign. You just finished one mission and get to the next, that’s it. The game has so much potential, but the developers just didn’t use it – a pity!

A schizophrenic game that would have been better-served had it focused on just half of what it sets out to do. [Dec 2009, p.86]

Out of the box, with some of the bugs hindering some player experience, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising needs a bit more TLC from the developers, till then we are in a hurry up and wait situation.

Authentic and credible soldier simulation builds a great atmosphere, but forgets the tactical part of the game and makes the story quite linear. [Nov 2009]

Anyone with a taste for realistic military entertainment will find plenty to enjoy here, but its hard to shake the feeling that Operation Flashpoint hasn't got the brave, superbly equipped sequel it truly deserved.

Smaller in scope than its predecessor, but still a competent psuedo-sim. [Christmas 2009, p.56]

Despite several drawbacks, Dragon Rising has its quality, and therefore a title to be taken into account by the fans of this genre.

An attractive and powerful sim that spoils itself by trying too hard to be a straightforward infantry shooter. [Dec 2009, p.98]

There is a lot of work that needs to be done with patching, and an SDK wouldn’t hurt. Hell, players might go ahead and fix everything themselves, a la Oblivion and Fallout 3. Right now, it’s certainly not worth full price, even if it is $10 less than usual.

Dragon Rising has enough silly conventions and simplifications to drive mad any die-hard fan of ArmA and the original Operation Flashpoint. On the other hand, its boring missions and poor multiplayer are a turn-off for those who just wants to shoot things. Releasing this game between ArmA 2 and Modern Warfare 2 is like spitting upwind.

I want to like Flashpoint 2, but instead, I just feel like the game is telling me: "war is hell, sorry."

Codemasters has proven that you can take a game like the original Operation Flashpoint, put it on the consoles, and make it playable - but that alone is not good enough.