Give it a chance
Dragon Rising falls squarely within that genre of game, like hardcore Japanese RPGs, that deserves to be judged according to its aims and execution, even though some will struggle to see its merit if unfairly comparing it with other superficially similar war games like COD4 or Bad Company. This is essentially a simulation; and probably the best attempt on console to capture realistically what it is actually like to lead and fight as part of a small military unit.
The basics can be dealt with quickly: the graphics are solid - nothing flash, but entirely suited to purpose, and commendable in light of the open-world accessibility of the whole map; the day-night cycle is a nice touch; the sound is excellent; the presentation is slick and the interface is as good as could reasonably be executed given the limitations of a console joypad - there are some nested sub-options that can be difficult to access, and in the heat of real-time battle one can find oneself executing the wrong order with usually catastrophic consequences, but practice and patience will overcome this.
The enemy AI is impressive: hostile forces will not only take cover and re-group, but will actually mount realistic counter-offences and adopt strategic formations. It is quite refreshing, and startling, to see that instead of politely standing behind the sand-bags while you circle behind them, the enemy will itself slip into the woods and circle behind you. And if you can see them, they can almost certainly see you. Your own team's AI is not always quite up to scratch and suffers from the kind of glitches that one often finds in this type of game (e.g. Brothers in Arms) - they will sometimes take-up defensive positions on the wrong side of the wall to which you ordered them, or take a circuitous to cover-points that exposes them to fire, and executing the 'heal' command will see them head-off to a 'safe spot' that is often anything but. That said, there is tremendous reward in carefully positioning and then executing an elaborate multi-pronged assault. Moreover, the enemy do not have pre-set positions or patterns that you can simply learn; retry a failed mission and you will find that they are distributed differently or respond differently.
Battle is often from a distance; just like 'real' combat, action is typically a relatively short climax to much longer periods of planning, reconnaissance and manoeuvring. Get it wrong, and things will unravel all to swiftly. 30 minutes of travel and planning can be undone by pretty much a single bullet from an enemy lurking 200 yards away behind a bush. I spent 45 minutes advancing on one position, flanking and carefully taking out each enemy soldier - thinking I was done, I blithely approached the SAMs with my C4 charge primed, only to find a solitary enemy crouched below the launcher. One shot - I was dead and back at the pre-mission check-point, 45 minutes of play erased.
And this returns us to the opening point. This is not COD4. Either you will relish this; or it will have you giving-up and throwing your joypad down before you even finish the very first 'trainer' mission. Not many will have played Demon Souls, which may seem a very odd comparison, but it shares with this an extreme difficulty that is, however, hardly ever cheap - you only really lose either because you lack the skill or the patience required (had I scoped the whole area, rather than just most of it, I would have seen the guy by the launcher). And all of this is on the 'easiest' setting...
As with Queen or rap, it is quite possible you simply will not 'get' this game. If your idea of fun does not encompass long stretches of travelling, positioning and planning, interspersed with brief but brutal exchanges, this won't be for you; if your idea of fun does not include edging forward 100 yards on your stomach to peer at the enemy installation below, this won't be for you; and if your idea of difficulty does not include seeing 30 minutes play lost through one mistake or slip, this won't be for you. But this is a 'game' that will challenge you, that probably provides a better insight into the field of small-ops warfare than any other console game, and, if you can embrace it, will undoubtedly provide you with far more for your money than the standard full-frontal blast through 8 check-pointed levels of obliging enemy fodder.