In recent years realistic squad-based shooters have made the transition to consoles in a big way with games such as 'Rainbow Six' and the 'Ghost Recon' series, but before that they were made with PC-gamers in mind. The original 'Operation Flashpoint' was one such game.

Unfortunately a split between original developers Bohemia and Codemasters resulted in Codemasters keeping the 'Operation Flashpoint' name while Bohemia went on with the spiritual sequels, 'ARMA'.

We were pleased to see, however, that 'Dragon Rising' doesn't stray too far from the original game.

The one question on many fans' minds would be whether the game would be dumbed-down for console gamers, but the honest answer is: for the most part, no.

The demo starts with your squad being dropped in a hilly, grassy area, with trees dotted around the landscape. The first few seconds are easy-going, with the game throwing a few hints at you: "press this button to pick up ammunition; try it with the box of ammunition near the wall".

'Dragon Rising' looks okay, but this could also be attributed to the plasma screen it was being outputted to at rAge 2009, resulting in a vaseline-like, blurry effect. Draw distances are fantastic though, with the game stretching off into the distance ? 35kms according to the developers. 'Dragon Rising' also displays the classic trait of seventh generation gaming: brown and green colours all around, though it's understandable given the subject matter.

Your mission entails taking out an early warning radar system and then legging it to a location 2.6 km away ? a seemingly easy task. Planning my route as I went along, I decided to head to a nearby hill to get a better view ? where I got my first taste of combat.

"Support gunner! Twelve o' clock! 200!" calls out a fellow squad member robotically ? almost exactly like in the first game. Instructing your squad mates becomes key in these moments and so I tap the right bumper to bring up the tactical menu.

The menu is laid-out well-enough, though it takes some getting used to. In the heat of the battle I often found myself selecting the wrong option; formation settings instead of 'flank right', 'move here' instead of 'suppressing fire'. It's not exactly as simple as pressing a number or two on a keyboard but it does its job.

Just pull the trigger already! On page 2!