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Powered by Unreal Engine 3, Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad aims to deliver unrivalled accuracy and attention to detail, along with gritty, vicious combat in multi-player, co-op and solo.
Red Orchestra 2:Heroes of Stalingrad developed and published by Tripwire Interactive.MY POORLY WRITTENINTRODUCTIONWorld War II first person shooter. If that doesn?t make youquiver with excitement?well, that?s understandable. The glut of online shootershas moved into modern times, seemingly fed up with the grand wars of historyand the untold millions of computer games covering the era. But, there isalways room for one more, as RedOrchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad hopes to offer an update to themod-derived hardcore shooter, where realism is chosen above the arcadeconcessions found in other shooters. Does this sequel deliver the goods forboth the realism fanatic and newcomer?GRAPHICS AND SOUNDRed Orchestra 2uses the third version of the Unreal Engine with decent results. Its startswith the character models, which are detailed up close, complete with all ofthe objects real soldiers come into battle with (hanging grenades, shovels,etc).
The soldiers of each side run differently, too, which makes them a biteasier to distinguish at range (Russians always grasp their weapons with bothhands). However, there are some instances of clipping into objects and othersoldiers that detract from the realism of the title. The gore effects are nicewhen grenades are in use (limbs go flying), but a bit understated whenheadshots are involved (no chunks of flesh). The weapons are detailed andseemingly realistic in their designs, and tank rounds glow as they soar throughthe air. Watching bullets impact a wall is also neat. Smoke is impenetrable,providing excellent cover for advancing troops.
The maps are quite detailed,with plenty of objects in reach room and destruction already in place: holes inwalls, piles bricks on the ground, trenches. You?ll rarely find an empty room,and this goes a long way into making RedOrchestra 2 feel like it is taking place in a real location. The gamesupposedly features destructible buildings, but I?ve only seen tanksoccasionally take out small chunks of walls; you can?t, for example, shoot outa wall or use explosives to create a new access point, which is prettydisappointing. Speaking of tanks, the full 3-D interiors are impressive andvery immersive. The game?s HUD provides limited information on suppression andstamina, plus a small minimap and useful tactical overlay to get your bearings.Red Orchestra 2has solid sound design: you can pinpoint enemy locations (and which weapon theyare using) using sound alone.
The characters use accented English voice work,which is a bit disappointing in a game that purports authenticity, but at leastthey have some amusing things to say. In addition, cries during the throws ofdeath are effective, if a bit over-the-top. RedOrchestra 2 advertises dynamic music, and it ends up being less varied thanI would have thought: there?s a small piece of music that occurs whenobjectives are captured and a change in tempo when the countdown clock is low,but overall it?s the same songs over and over again. Still, I found nothingoverwhelmingly offensive about the sound design in the game.ET AL.Red Orchestra 2:Heroes of Stalingrad features a series of battles over the city of Berlin.No, wait, Stalingrad. The single player game consists of two campaigns, one forthe Germans and one for the Russians that take place around the city ofStalingrad. The missions are unlocked in a specific order, and you must win abattle in order to move on to the next scenario.
This includes the tutorials,which, while informative, do not change the on-screen directions if youreconfigure your commands (no, left-control is NOT used for cover anymore). Allof the missions have you attacking or defending specific objectives (usually asub-set of those used in the multiplayer portion of the game), and the uniquefeature is the ability to take over other allies when you die. However, you donot get a choice as to which soldier you get next, and the game seems to stickyou with machine gunners while attacking and the assault class on defense. Thescenario is only lost if everyone is eliminated, but reinforcements come everyminute or two. So, if you are the last soldier left, you can just camp and waitfor the next reinforcement wave, the timer for which is handily displayed onthe tactical view.
The AI is absolutely awful, one of the worst I?veseen in any recent first person shooter ( Brink?sAI is almost scholarly be comparison). Granted, it?s difficult to make a decentAI in a team-based shooter, but things should be better than this. The AI ishopeless as an attacker: they never deploy smoke, charge out in the open, anddon?t work together. As a defender they are more competent, but during assaultsit?s you against the enemy while the rest of your teammates run around, failingto actually defend the objective. RedOrchestra 2 lets you see the next soldier you will control before you swapbodies, and this is where the shortcomings of the AI become most apparent:soldiers nowhere near the objective, using cover but aiming away from theenemy, being trapped in trenches, running back and forth in the open, and soon. The AI also seems oblivious as to what class they are, with machine gunnersrunning around in the open and submachine gunners laying back behind cover.It?s a comedy of errors, except nobody is laughing. Using commands (once youget promoted) makes things slightly better, but the AI will still ignore yourorders and avoid taking objectives until you clear out all the enemiesyourself.
In short, do not buy RedOrchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad for the single player campaign.On the multiplayer side of things, Red Orchestra 2 has up to sixty-four players fighting it out overseveral game modes. The first is territory, where two or three objectives aregiven at a time and must be conquered before moving on to the next set, inorder to concentrate the violence.
Countdown is similar, but each person islimited to one life per objective: this makes the games tenser, but the shorttime limit reduces the tactical caution you can exercise. Finally, firefight isa team deathmatch mode that features spawning near friendly units (but notnecessarily out of harm?s way) and some large maps not suitable for this kindof unorganized chaos. Each of the modes allow you to adjust the realism settingfor the server, turning off the minimap and friendly soldier names for a moreauthentic experience if you prefer.
Playing online can be fun, but not if theserver has PunkBuster enabled: this easily doubles everyone?s ping, whichresults in less-than-smooth gameplay. I?m not sure why the developers opted forthis antiquated anti-cheat program when VAC is already used by default,especially when it seems to cause significant performance issues. In addition,the server browser sometimes does not refresh if you quit an online game, itseems to display a random assortment of servers every time, and I'veexperienced crashes on occasion. Plus, unlocks are not working properly. Thesetypes of annoying issues would be sorted out if the game has a couple of monthsmore development time before widespread release.The game?s ten maps each feature a mix of open areas, narrowstreets, and multi-story buildings to sneak around. Machine gun nests aresemi-randomly spawned before each game, so you never are quite sure where theywill appear.
The maps in Red Orchestra 2are much smaller than their original counterparts, which lead to quicker fightsbut less tactical freedom and smaller engagement ranges. In addition, the short20-second default spawn times means reinforcements reach the objectives way tooquickly, leading to stalemates and tie games on most maps. Finally, being aderivative of a mod itself, Red Orchestra2 features support for user modifications, so it?s fair to assumecustom-made maps will appear quickly after release.Red Orchestra 2features a couple of enhancements to the typical first person shooter controlscheme.
The most noticeable is the new cover system, which I found to work wellmost of the time. When facing a wall or other object, an on-screen promptsuggests entering first-person cover by pressing a specific button. As youcrouch behind an object, you can do several things. Looking down your ironsights will peek above cover (or around a corner if you are in that situation);leaving iron sights or pressing the reload button will duck back down.
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You canalso blind fire your weapon or grenades from behind cover, and moving laterallybehind cover is easy to do. It can get a little dicey when walls aren?t exactlythe right height or objects are in front of windows, but generally cover worksas it should. Other options include the ability to mantle (jump) over lowobjects; and sprinting while prone will return you to a prone position when youare done running.Guns. Lots of guns.
Well, at least the guns used during theBattle of Stalingrad. They generally fall into several categories based onclass: submachine guns for the assault class, bolt-action rifles for theriflemen class, a sniper rifle, a semi-automatic rifle, and a machine gun.
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Youalso get grenades, squad leaders get smoke grenades, engineers get explosives,and anti-tank troops get anti-tank rifles. You can pick up weapons from killedsoldiers, but you are limited (by weight) to how many objects you can carry atonce. The game restricts how many peoplecan be in each class at a time, to provide a realistic balance and stick all ofthe new players with bolt-action rifles.
RedOrchestra 2 is one of the only games to compel you into playing your class:rifles are useless directly assaulting an objective, while submachine guns aremore ineffective at range (but still too effective, in my opinion). Thisrequires people to work together to achieve the next objective (andsignificantly more experience points are awarded for capturing objectives comparedto kills). The game does not provide an on-screen aiming cursor, so you mustuse the iron sights (just like real life!). In another nod to realism, you mustkeep track of your ammunition manually, as there is no on-screen indication ofhow many rounds remains in your clip (though you can hold down the reloadbutton and get an approximate count). Little touches like these make Red Orchestra 2 feel more authentic. Youand hold your breath to zoom in a bit more (restricting your peripheralvision), or adjust your sights to the range of your enemy.
Iron sights are alsopresent on the sniper rifle, so marksmen can engage enemies that are close by.Machine guns use bipods (automatically deployed when behind cover or prone),and anybody can use cover (windows, low walls) for supposed added stabilitywhen firing. However, I have not seen a big difference between aiming accuracywhile standing, crouching, prone, or using cover as support as there is nonoticeable gun sway in any situation, even after sustained sprinting.Being fired upon does two things: first, an indicator showswhich direct the bullets came from (for friendly fire, too), and beingsuppressed by enemy fire makes your vision more blurry and monochromatic. It?sa successful effect: you can still fire, but you can?t see very well. You canalso experience suppression if nearby allies get killed, which is neat andquite realistic, I would say. Bullets to the head or torso will result ininstant death, which works well for the bolt-action weapons that don?t firequickly. You can also receive damage to specific body parts (arms and legs)that can be bandaged: this isn?t very realistic (how many people can repair ableeding leg themselves in three seconds?), but I guess it?s a concession togame must make to let inaccurate shots be less effective. Red Orchestra 2 also delays kill notifications, a nice touch thatmeans you?re not really sure if the enemy is dead initially: better fire acouple more bullets to be sure.
Bullet ballistics is seemingly accurate:high-speed rifle rounds can penetrate some walls and objects (wood, namely), sosafety is not assured when behind cover.While Red Orchestra 2is mostly about the infantry, there are two tanks that are featured on two ofthe game?s ten maps. Each tank has a 3-D interior complete with crewmembers intheir actual locations and working dials (a small thing, but good forimmersion). The AI will do a decent job manning the vacant positions in thetank: the AI gunner isn?t so great, but you can order the tank around fromeither the commander or gunner position, so being the driver is unnecessaryunless the tank is full of human players. The tanks in Red Orchestra 2 experience damage to individual systems and crewmembers: if the gunner is shot, you can scramble over (in real time) fromanother position and take his post. Tanks also exhibit realistically limitedvisibility out into the world, and the weapon ballistics seem to be accurate intheir difficulty.
Finally, the commander can call in fire support onto the map,aerial reconnaissance, or force soldiers to respawn early: pleasing supportoptions that all come with a time delay to prevent spamming.IN CLOSINGRed Orchestra 2:Heroes of Stalingrad has a series of features that make it feel moreauthentic than a majority of first person shooters. The weapons require the useof iron sights, and you can adjust them for different ranges and deploy bipodsautomatically. However, submachine guns seem too effective at longer ranges,and there is no significant gun sway. Smaller urban maps mean more action, butless flanking as most of the designs feature well-defined choke points andhead-on engagements. Additionally, destructible buildings simply are not. Thecover system is done well, allowing you to blind-fire your weapon or grenadesand peek over walls with ease, assuming the object isn?t irregular or near anobstruction.
The suppression system blurs your vision while under fire, makingit more difficult to differentiate between friend and foe. One-shot kills (ifaimed at an appropriate body part) force careful movement across the terrain,and lead to tense, slow navigation through the heavily damaged maps. The 3-Dtactical display and minimap make it easy to find the next objective.Multiplayer is fun with a full sixty-four-player server, while the singleplayer campaign should be avoided by everyone due to the horrific AI that likesto run in circles, avoid objectives, and get killed.
The graphics are quitenice, effectively displaying a war-torn region. Tanks are neat as well, withfully detailed interiors. The game does suffer from a lack of polish, fromlaggy online servers due to (I think) the use of PunkBuster to graphicalartifacts to random crashes to other things that add up to a less than smoothlaunch; I suspect things will improve with further development, but Red Orchestra 2 does feel like it waspushed out too early.
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