Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a tactical military simulation game for Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and PC designed to realistically represent modern infantry combat. It released October 9th, 2009.

This game takes place on a small, real island located off the north coast of Japan called Skira in the present day. The island is a contested territory between Russia and China and becomes the center of an armed conflict when one of the largest untapped oil and gas reserves in the world are discovered there. The game begins as the player arrives as part of the American military who is tasked with capturing the island on behalf of the Russians from the Chinese military.

There is a full environmental damage model built into the game. Every building can be partially destroyed or reduced to rubble. Vehicles and other environmental objects like tractors, bulldozers and boats can be similarly destroyed. This destruction is permanent throughout the entire campaign, so it is possible to "burn your bridges" by destroying buildings unnecessarily and then the player is without cover in a following mission. This feature adds to the realism of the game by allowing players to see the cumulative damage that days of modern combat can create. This is particularly noteworthy as the developers have stated that every structure on Skira is actually there in real life. All buildings on Skira can be entered, both by the player and by the enemy AI. Vehicles that are found on the battlefield can be commandeered, and weapons and ammunition can be scavenged off of corpses.

AI is the key to Operation Flashpoint's unscripted gameplay. In order to avoid scripting, the AI, for both the opposition and the player's squad mates, must be very self sufficient. Developers create missions only by specifying what the enemy forces are composed of and what their objectives are. The AI must decide how it fulfills those orders based on the information it has available (it is not omniscient). To accomplish this, the developers have taught the AI tactics out of US training manuals so that it can respond intelligently to tactics used and changing circumstances. The AI value their lives and will not just hold their ground if retreat is the best tactical option. Killing enemy officers who help coordinate the enemy AI will often lead the enemy forces acting in a slower and less cohesive manner. Additionally, both the enemy and the player's squad have morale systems. They are affected by the perceived quality of their leadership. So, the player's squad may complain and eventually abandon them if they persist in, for example, running across open fields at machine gun emplacements. Additionally, the AI responds to suppressing fire and may get pinned down if it judges that it cannot safely return fire or maneuver. As is stated above, the AI is very self sufficient and is able to take care of itself. In fact, it is possible to command the AI as much or as little as the player likes as the AI will seek to follow the best course of action even if they are never given an order. Orders can be given both before the mission, when a battle plan is laid out, and in play. It has been reported that there are a large number of detailed orders that can be given to AI including some orders which are not typically available such as splitting the squad into more than one group. Additionally, the AI is designed to follow orders intelligently so an order to guard a specific area will not result in the AI character standing in the open at the precise spot indicated, but instead will result in the AI taking up some nearby cover from which it will best perform the order it was given. Also if a soldier is disabled but not killed they will still try to kill the enemy forces. Also following the open world theme, if a member of the player's squad dies they don't reappear in the next level. The AI in Operation Flashpoint pays attention to a large amount of information and engages players differently than AI typically does in FPS gaming. First, as many modern weapons, including assault rifles, can fire and be effective over hundreds of yards, the AI will engage at this distance which is significantly further than AI typically engages.

According to Game Informer there are over 70 real life weapons in game, all supported by a realistic ballistic system. These weapons available in the game range from pistols and sub-machine guns all the way to artillery and 2,000 pound bombs. They can be modified and equipped with optics, grenade launchers, laser sights and suppressors. The ballistic system, which simulates the effects of each weapon on buildings, vehicles, and people is based as much as possible on the real specifications of each weapon in the game (information on Chinese PLA weapons and vehicles is limited in some cases) and also takes into account flight times and effective ranges for each projectile. The balance of these weapons, therefore, is not artificially created by the game developers, but was created by their real life designers. Learning the best usage of each of these weapons will be a significant part of the challenge of the game. All firing sequences from lifting the weapon up, to placing it on the shoulder, to firing are all faithfully simulated, as well as reloading. These sequences, along with getting into and out of vehicles, have been motion captured using soldiers who have been trained to use the equipment in real life. Reloading weapons with partially empty magazines will, eventually, result in loading partially full magazines of ammunition, which, along with realistic reload sequences and timing, make reload management tactically important. There are over 50 different land, air and sea vehicles. There are usable helicopters, tanks, boats and APCs along with a few vehicles/weapons which cannot be used directly, but which can be called to the player's aid, such as fighter jets and artillery. Each of these vehicles has its own distinct roles as well as having their own strengths and weaknesses.

The developers have created large numbers of faces for the characters involved in the game. The equipment that is carried by each character is accurate and, where applicable, distinct to that character's role. For example, communication specialists can be readily identified by the radio they carry. There are no 'magic pockets,' which means that everything the player's squad members are carrying is visible. All of this visible information is designed to allow better command of the squad mates as the player will be able to recognize them as a person by their face or by their equipment allowing them to give the best orders to each member of the squad.

Difficulty levels are primarily differentiated not by changes in AI intelligence or weapon damage but by the visual information given to characters. At the easiest level fairly standard FPS information is given to the player about weapons, ammo, squad health, compass direction along with cross hairs for when not looking down the weapon sights. Additionally the location of enemies who have been spotted by the player's squad is indicated at the lowest level. Higher levels of difficulty remove this information until none is left on screen. Ammunition counts must be remembered as well as the health of the squad. Locations of enemies your squad has spotted must be determined by listening to AI squad mates and using other visual cues like the direction they are firing. At the highest difficulty the player will most likely be killed by the first bullet wound.

The game has a draw distance of 35 kilometers. Fire, smoke and dust are simulated based on effects of each weapon. A 2,000 pound bomb will throw up dust which will make it difficult to see for minutes or more. Similarly fires created will burn for some time when set. These effects are part of the simulated nature of this game and contrast with franchises like Call of Duty or Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter where visual effects for explosions last for a second or two.

As stated in the Difficulty Levels section at the highest difficulty the player gets a large portion of their information visually, but not through a HUD. This is called "hardcore" mode. At high difficulties visual effects become more important particularly at a long range where smoke or dust can help to display areas which are dangerous.