Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the upcoming, realistic battlefield first-person shooter. As the leader of a four-man fire team, it’s up to you to successfully direct your men to their objectives and accomplish them with minimal injuries to your troops. Along with the standard campaign, Dragon Rising will also feature a multiplayer component to expand the warfare to friends or friendly competition. At a recent event, I got a chance to check out both the campaign and multiplayer, and tested the controls as both a squad member and a team leader.

For those of you who don’t know about Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the game takes place in the near future where China has invaded a small island called Skira off the coast of its mainland for its recently discovered oil. China’s justification for its actions is that the land originally belonged to the country from the 1400s, when it was originally discovered by Chinese explorers. However, Russia has controlled Skira since the end of World War II, leading to regionalized tensions that could erupt in full scale war as both countries amass their armies along their mutual border. The US deploys troops to Skira in hopes of averting this conflict, putting you squarely up against the People’s Liberation Army. While you can play the game by yourself, it’s possible to take three additional friends and deploy into a new campaign as a squad, each player taking on the role of one of the members of the fire team.

A battle ensues among groups of government spy teams in an underground facility after their boss is assassinated.