When launching the single player campaign for the first time, Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 warns you of a level deemed uncomfortable and controversial, giving you the option to opt out of playing it without any effect on the story or your GamerScore. I’ve not played too many games where I’ve been directly impacted by something harrowing happening in-game, and I certainly wanted to savour the full Modern Warfare experience. Needless to say, I decided to go ahead and play it.

The controversial level is upon you sooner than expected, with the third level (if you have indeed agreed to play it) being the culprit. I have to admit, a sick (or simply curious?) part of me was eager to specifically see what it was Activision were talking about, and when I nonchalantly swaggered out of an elevator with my comrades and proceeded to calmly slaughter every innocent civilian in sight, I knew this was it. Yet I wasn’t shocked.

What did get me, however, was the eerie way in which my men mercilessly meandered through a pile of dead bodies, picking off every scampering civilian in sight. And I was expected to do the same. I came across an injured man slouched against a gory wall, his legs spread out on the floor, drowning in a pool of his own blood, his life slowly slipping away. Should I finish him off? Or should I leave him to suffer simply so I can avoid the bloodstains of yet another innocent civilian on my hands? You see, for those who are reading this and ignorant of spoilers, you are in fact playing an undercover mission where you are required to get close and gain the trust of a nasty Russian; the guy responsible for this massacre. So whilst you are temporarily part of a team of ruthless killers, you are of course the good guy. Yet I lined my crosshair up with his head, both in keeping with my undercover disguise and also wishing to help him out of his misery, and I ended it for him.

Moments later as we waded through yet more lifeless bodies, I peered over the landing to look at the ground floor. I had noticed one of the guys spraying bullets from there only a moment earlier, which, by the looks of things, had taken out most of the civilians. I could see a few on all fours, dragging themselves out of sight, screaming both in pain and out of fear, but there lives were never spared. Everyone in that airport - including security - were dead by the time we had escaped.

Going back to how I felt about this level, surprisingly I wasn’t shocked by it. There are of course people who have been deeply offended about this level, and of course I can understand why that is. But despite the ridiculously gorgeous graphics, I was of course aware throughout the entire duration of ‘No Russian’ that I was simply playing a video game, and that the people I was killing, the person I was playing as etc were all fictional. There were moments, like the ones mentioned above, that made me feel uneasy, but it wasn’t a sensation I hadn’t experienced before with a video game.

What’s your take on it? Have you played it, and how did it make you feel? Or did you choose to skip the controversy altogether?

Tonight I’ll head to the midnight launch in Greenock, which won’t be too bad considering I’ve booked tomorrow off work to give my undivided attention to this /geek. If a video games drags you out of the house at midnight to drive into town, it must be special. It has to be. I hope it lives up to my expectation.

Video game themed weddings, eh? Apparently some people do that. In front of 4,000 zombie impersonators no less. The undead couple also honeymooned in New Orleans, and it’s no coincidence that New Orleans is where the upcoming sequel to Left 4 Dead is set. They were also transported to their honeymoon in a hearse kitted out with a ‘Just Infected’ sign, and a wreath that read ‘Left 4 Dead 2′. Morbid? Yes. Crazy? Also yes. Whether it was a mutual decision, or the hubby’s hardcore game addiction that bullied the bride into splattering blood on her dress, I can only wonder if the marriage will last after the inevitable fight for who gets to play Left 4 Dead 2 first commences. I sure hope so.

Designed to realistically portray modern infantry combat, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising - the second in the OpFlash series - is a first person, squad based, tactical shooter. Are you trying to turn me on?! Seriously though, bundle the aforementioned elements into one game and you have a product I’m very interested in. Granted OpFlash hasn’t come about at an optimal time for a military shooter. Modern Warfare 2 is just around the corner, and most gamers are biding their time, not to mention sealing their wallets, until the 10th of November is upon us. But many are missing one minute detail; Dragon Rising isn’t trying to be Call of Duty. It’s a different breed of game altogether, but is it worth a look-in?

The entirety of Dragon Rising takes place on the Japanese island of Skira, with your squad of 4 - including yourself - advancing through open terrain. There’s virtually no character development, so at no point will you bond with your allies as you endure the hardships of military life, nor will you understand the background or history of the soldier you control. In fact, in a game with zero cutscenes between campaigns (yes, you read that right), emotional attachment seems to have taken a backseat entirely. Yes, Dragon Rising really is all about the apathetic side of war. This will definitely be a problem for some, especially on the harder difficulties where voice acting is completely absent from the game leaving you with little connection to those around you, but OpFlash requires your mind to be on other matters. Get the mission done.

You are given free reign as to how you approach missions, and the depth of control you have over your squad is impressive. That’s not to say commanding your men is confusing; OpFlash allows you to stick with the basics first explained in the introductory mission if you so wish, or you can explore other commands and utilise your squad to their full potential. Order allies to follow, flank, suppress, drive, even call in air strikes etc. And, for the most part, your squad will get the job done.

Something that put a big grin on my face with Dragon Rising, and you can rightfully call me a masochist, were the guns. Or more specifically, if you get hit by one you’re likely going to die. None of this replenishing health shit we see so much of these days. If there’s a clean bullet to the head, you’re out. If you’re lucky enough to get hit on your leg, you can patch it up by crawling into cover and applying a first aid kit, but you won’t be able to run after that. No, your leg is now fucked. If luck isn’t on your side, but it’s not quite your time to die, you can call on a medic who’s a part of your squad to patch up the damage if unable to do so yourself.

Speaking of squad, with AI being such a prominent part of the game, it has to be near enough perfect. In many shooters that require allies to aid you in advancing, the dubious AI can leave much to be desired and result in a whole bout of frustration. And cursing. Man, don’t even get me started on Michael and Jung from Rainbow Six: Vegas. For the most part OpFlash pulls it off, and it even went so far as impressing me in some areas. My squad dutifully obeyed the orders given, and the opposition formidably fought back. You can even instruct your allies to engage the enemy without pulling your trigger once. My men didn’t demonstrate foolish behavior like running into the line of fire, nor did they get stuck behind trees or other objects. But as I progressed I did encounter a few annoyances. Notably enemies who couldn’t see you despite being inches from their face, as well as enemies who would disappear and reappear through your crosshair. It didn’t happen often, but there’s no room for glitchy AI in any game. On the bright side, at least it was with the opposition and not my squad.

Another dent in Dragon Rising’s armour is in the form of level design. Sure, everything looks pretty enough, and I had fun trekking across Skira with its vast, wide open terrain. But because the game takes place on one island, there’s very little variety in level design. I can’t imagine there being much replay value with missions because of this, even though the thought of playing through on Hardcore with friends in 4 player co-op is appealing.

The Achievements are fairly easy with all of them - bar one - being offline (the other is a playthrough on co-op). Codemasters has the idea right here, eliminating irritating MultiPlayer Achievements that require you to play on empty servers. This is especially a wise move with the imminent release of Modern Warfare 2. There are MultiPlayer modes available in the form of Annihilation and Infiltration, but I’m not the biggest online gamer so haven’t given them a look-in.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is certainly no GRAW, but it has enough substance to make fans of squad based, tactical shooters warrant a purchase. What’s really held it back from being a great game, for me at least, is the lack of variety in level design. But the missions you are required to carry out are entertaining, and I’m looking forward to gathering a group of people for a playthrough on Hardcore (having your HUD stripped away and mission briefs displayed purely in text should be interesting). OpFlash lets you tackle missions how you feel comfortable doing so, which is why newcomers to the series, like myself, may take time getting used to open terrain over which you have free roam. I guess what I’m trying to summarise, is that Operation Flashpoint is essentially a grower; you won’t fall in love after the first few missions, but if you take the time to master it, you’ll likely take a lot away from it.

With every game comes a treacle of easy Achievements; ones worth little that are unlocked by completing the simplest of tasks. In Skate you hop aboard your deck, move a few meters, and you’ve unlocked your first Achievement. In Brothers of Arms, you insert the disc into your tray on the 17th of September, and you unlock an Achievement. You haven’t had to work for these - they’re just spoon fed G’s. Trials doesn’t have many of those, and in fact most of the Achievements require a lot of blood, some sweat, but most of all, copious amounts of tears.

It’s one of those games where, much like Guitar Hero, you approach it for the first time and, upon diving into the harder difficulties, believe it to be impossible. Which isn’t great if you’re intending on unlocking all of the Achievements, as you’re awarded for completing every track on Hard and Extreme. Trials HD definitely requires skill to unlock certain Achievements, but it’s the kind of skill that’s developed over a period of time simply from playing and familiarising yourself with the tracks. Again, similar to Guitar Hero. Having said that, I’ve obviously not being playing enough considering I still have two to unlock. Either that or I suck.

The jump from Medium to Hard is intense. And the jump from Hard to Extreme is insane. It’s worth noting, however, that you do grasp a feel for all tracks with each progressive playthrough. Take the final track in the Extreme category, Inferno II. Upon my first attempt I was stuck on the second obstacle for the entire 30 minutes (or 500 faults). My second attempt saw me get about half way before getting stuck for the remainder of time. Now I get to the very last obstacle where I can actually see the finish line, but I’ve yet to make it. Also, it bums me out that those who have done it make it look so easy!

To break it down, 3 people on my Friends List out of the many who have played Trials HD have actually completed the final track. And considering that isn’t even the toughest Achievement… Well, you can imagine how many of my friends actually have the 100% completion percentage. One of them.

I typically blast a few hours into Arcade games here and there, which is why you don’t often see me playing Xbox Live Arcade, but because the difficulty of unlocking Achievements in Trials is so unforgiving, I’ve put more time into it than I usually would. It keeps you coming back, and personally I’d like to see more games in line with the challenge Trials presents. No, I don’t think you’ll see me fully completing the game any time soon, but I’m going to have a lot of fun trying.

What’s your take on the Trials HD Achievements? Are you one of the lucky few who has earned every Achievement? Are they too hard, or is the difficulty just right?

My console refuses to read discs. All discs. Even though there are zero scratches on these discs. My console requires to be booted up three times before the game actually begins, simply because my console enjoys freezing on various parts of the process (the Xbox logo, the dashboard, the game etc). My console prompts for discs to be inserted, despite there already being a disc inside. Give it up, Xbox! Can’t you just work?

I’m on my third Xbox 360, which, given the fact I’ve been gaming on the Xbox for 4 years is a poor, poor figure. Especially as the above symptoms suggest I may well be heading into 4th RRoD territory. This time I’m not going to threaten I’ll jump ship because I now own a PS3, and I certainly won’t be trading anything in for a Wii, but I will be very angry at myself for remaining loyal to Microsoft. I’ll be even angrier towards them for being, well, shit. I dream of the day Apple make gaming consoles (I kid, I kid).

This is the opening sequence of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising as well as part of the first mission as played by me, CandyStoreRock. It will give you an idea of the tactical gameplay and graphical style of the game. If you’re sitting on the fence as to whether to pop into GameStation and purcase OpFlash this Saturday morning, hopefully this will help you decide either way.

Leading up to the release of a game I’m particularly interested in, I’ll deliberately avoid previews and development reports of how the game is panning out. I’ll inevitably hear or see tidbits as I’m scanning Twitter and perusing my feeds, not to mention I’ll obviously know the basic premise to be interested in the first place, but I never actively seek out information or spoilers. I leave any surprises ’till I have a controller firmly in hand, and this even includes the story, which generally means I’m rarely disappointed due to initial expectations not being met, because I haven’t had an opportunity to form any.

Tomorrow, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising hits the European market. I’ll be buying it based on… Well, I don’t actually know, because other than it being a tactical shooter known for its realism, I don’t know anything about it. This is how I approach gaming, because I believe conforming to the buzz media places around certain games can actually affect your enjoyment of them.

The perfect example is Assassin’s Creed, a game that was wildly praised by 50% of critics, and horribly berated by the other 50%. Opinion was split down the middle, and that even extended to gamer’s opinions as well. After much dissuasion from friends to avoid the game, I played Assassin’s Creed knowing little about the plot and any aspects gamers were particularly excited about (and subsequently ‘let down’ by), and expected nothing more than an average game solely judging by the reaction. Because of this indifference the game actually over delivered. Zero expectations meant that when Assassin’s Creed threw something at me that seemed a little out of place, I didn’t scoff, berate or condemn the game, I just went with it.

The truth is, if Assassin’s Creed had little attention payed to it leading up to its release, I believe it would have been one hell of a sleeper hit. MetaCritic’s average rating would have rocketed well above 80. It’s just a shame that such hype leading up to its release caused every aspect of the game to be overly scrutinised (which is a natural effect of hype). And to further cement what I’m talking about, I quote a gamer on MetaCritic as writing “…After all the talk about this game I wasted my money.” All the talk about this game caused every insignificant flaw to be harshly emphasised. If there hadn’t been much talk about this game I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have rated it a 1 out of 10. Regardless of whether you felt let down by Assassin’s Creed, you can’t argue it wasn’t a well made game.

Fable is another victim, though that was more so self imposed. While I’ve never played the original, I have heard all about the drama regarding its release; about how Molyneux talked it up big style and over promised things, got gamers ridiculously excited, then disappointed them by under delivering on a game that had spent 4 years in development. Molyneux admitted he overhyped Fable, and he did a massive disservice to the game by doing so. Naturally, expectation goes hand in hand with hype, and the buzz that Molyneux had created meant gamers were playing Fable with a very specific idea of what to expect - they were then surprised when it didn’t meet their expectation. In a nutshell, hype was arguably the downfall of Fable.

There are of course exceptions to the rule, Bioshock being one of them. Bioshock was hugely anticipated, and for good reason. I remember on release day most people on my Friends List had booked the day off work and were underwater in Rapture (where as I was prancing around Talta Village as a 16 year old boy in Blue Dragon). Bioshock didn’t disappoint. It was a true 10 out of 10 game, and while perfection doesn’t exist, it was as close to perfect as a game can get. Every ounce of hysteria surrounding Bioshock was well deserved, and while hype generally means every aspect of a game is harshly criticized, Bioshock pulled it off by being a flat out amazing game.

I believe games should be approached with a fresh slate and an uninfluenced mind, even if it’s the latest addition to a popular franchise a la Grand Theft Auto IV. It’s natural for benchmarks to be set and expectations for a game to conform to that, but I personally try and shake any preconceived notions. This approach to gaming serves me well. The next time you hear of a game that may pique your interest, avoid all news and reviews until after you’ve played it and formed your own opinion, which hasn’t been influenced by the media’s buzz.

The bottom line is, hype leaves little room for even the smallest of flaws in a game, and thus unfairly damages the reception to generally well made games. It also strips away the element of surprise that should very well be prominent when losing yourself in a fictitous environment. I believe hype can be the downfall of most games, and for this reason I approach games from an unbiased place. I encourage you to do the same.

Are you the opposite to myself in that you devour all previews/trailers/reviews beforehand? Or do you approach video games in the sense that I do, with surprise being at the heart of your experience?

Grand Theft Auto IV needs no introduction. It also doesn’t need another review, which is why you’re not going to read one here. But with such a notable reputation, and consequently a (climatic?) build-up to finally playing it, I feel I should at least note some of my thoughts accumulated over my current 20 hours of gameplay (which only clocks in at 31% completed. Wow).

Admittedly the last GTA game I actually played was the 2D, top down ones on the original PlayStation (I can hear you all gasping). GTA IV was new territory, and having loved the simplicity of the original, I wasn’t sure how I’d take to the maturity in gameplay and environment. Sounds crazy, I know, but Sonic The Hedgehog continues to prove that some games just work better in 2D. Add to that my uncertainty of Niko Bellic (I didn’t find him instantly likable), and you have what can only be described as apprehension. Ultimately, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

The Combat - GTA got off to a bad start. Earlier missions are all about hand to hand combat, which turns out to be GTA IV’s major weakness. Having that exposed immediately didn’t bode well for initial impressions. Firearms are easier to handle, but I found myself cursing the auto-lock system all too often. When certain missions require you to take various fleeing gang members down in a busy street, accidentally locking onto a pedestrian instead, which happens more than it should, leads to a lot of unnecessary frustration

Auto-lock. I’ll never understand it.

The Hype - My first mention of GTA via Twitter spurred the most replies any of my Tweets has ever had. The words “tedious” and “boring” cropped up a lot, and hazarding a guess, I’d say most people haven’t had the desire to even finish the main plot. So with a bad experience in combat, and a ton of criticism directed towards the game, I wasn’t too excited about advancing.

The City - Okay, so the free roaming nature and incredible environment is GTA’s flagship feature, right? GTA IV - unlike most games - feels real. When I’m swaggering around Liberty City in my cheap tracksuit, I actually feel involved in the surroundings, especially as it’s very possible to eavesdrop in on pedestrians interesting conversations (”So… Did you actually go down on that girl?”).

I’ve played and enjoyed Saints Row, and while they’re both similar games, Saints Row (I can only speak for the original) didn’t pay attention to detail like Rockstar has. Quite literally no corner is overlooked, and this doesn’t go unappreciated. Each area of the city has its own personality, which makes quite an incentive for exploring the island. What I thought would be a possible downfall of the game (was I going to find it too much?) has turned out to be the element that’s impressed me most. And as I unlock more of the city, it only gets better.

The Characters - I didn’t find the idea of playing as Niko Bellic remotely exciting in the beginning, especially with his constant whinging about his disappointment regarding the ‘American Dream’. He was, in a nutshell, instantly dislikable. But his cousin, Roman, was much more exciting; an unattractive and under-achieving middle aged man who believes the ladies adore him. Bless.

His rapport with Niko is worth watching unfold, and it was actually this rapport that warmed me to Niko. I stopped wishing for Bellic to transform into the cliched video game protagonist, and just accepted him for who he was. Now, I actually like the fact he’ll murder a man without a blink of the eye, or that he’s so wishy washy about everything, including his relationships with women.

The Missions - Sometimes I feel there’s too much to do. In fact, scratch that. I feel there’s too much to do all the time. Keeping everyone in my contacts happy, advancing with the plot, progressing with side missions, dating, socialising, answering calls, responding to emails… Give me a break! And as I’ve spent some time alone around the city, shopping for clothes, topping up my ammo, recharging my batteries, I’ll inevitably get that call. You know, that call? “Hey Niko, it’s your cousin, Roman. Let’s go see some titties, huh?”.

Whilst GTA offers a massive environment to explore at your own peril, it feels for the most part to be one big tease; you’re only going to get interrupted and called away on your next duty. It feels akin to the days you could only ‘go out to play’ after tackling your school homework. Except your homework never actually ends. Such is the life of a criminal.

Ultimately, I’m super impressed with the latest in the GTA series, and I’m happy to have finally made the (long overdue) jump to 3D Grand Theft Auto. With each session, of which I’m putting in 3-4 hours each sitting, I can feel my addiction growing stronger, and at 20 hours in I think I’ve seen it all, but then again, I’m going to assume you can never get too comfortable with life in Liberty City. That said, I won’t be giving up on the missions irrespective of how “tedious” they become. Why? Because there’s so much more to do. And that is the sheer beauty, and excitement, of Grand Theft Auto IV.

How far did you get, and how many of you actually completed the game? Is there anyone who finished the plot, 100% the game, and played the DLC?