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Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad

Developer: Trip Wire Interactive

Platform: PC

Other Platforms: None

Release Date: Sept 13/2011

Set back in 1942 during World War II, Heroes of Stalingrad takes place around the battle of Stalingrad where you get to experience the epic battle from both sides of the war. First you start out as a Russian solider pressing into enemy territory, then shortly after you jump into the role of a German solider where you being to perform more tactical tasks. Having never played the original Red Orchestra, I was quick to learn that I would never last long in a real war. After years of being conditioned by fast paced games like Call of Duty where it takes quite a few shots to take you down, and where you have nearly unlimited supply high-powered firearms at your disposal, I was in for a huge surprise.

Game Play

As mentioned, this game has a very realistic aspect to it. One shot one kill is the norm in the game. It’s very rare to get hit by a bullet and live. If you’re lucky and you get hit in a non-vital area, you have a slight chance to bandage the wound and move on, but more likely than not you will either die instantly or bleed to death.

In single player mode the realism seems to be a hindrance to the overall flow of the game. With so much emphasis on squad control, tactical play, and reliance of your artificial intelligent comrades things tend to end up going wrong. There is so much going on out in the battlefield that the AI of the game cannot compete with the reliability and quick thinking of a real person. An example of this would be during single player campaigns, your AI comrades will start behaving erratically and start doing stupid things like running into enemy fire, or not acknowledging commands. This can get a bit frustrating.

At first, it may be a little overwhelming trying to figure out all the control, commands and options of the game, but after getting through the tutorials and putting in a bit of time it actually isn’t that bad.

Controls

The group at Tripwire truly did an amazing job at giving the player complete control over their character. The options available to control your solider in this game are nearly endless. You get all your expected controls as you’d expect from any FPS such as sprint, crouch, prone, etc… But what really stands out are the options that I’ve never seen before like taking cover, blind fire behind cover, fire from cover using your sights, and much, much more. Not to mention the interesting suppression system that greys out your screen and adds a little blurs to it whenever you are taking heavy enemy fire, or when artillery is coming down on you and your squad. All of which just adds to the overall realistic feel to the game.

Controlling your squad opens up a ton of options once you advance a little further into the game. Your squad is broken down into several groups that you can issue various commands to such as take cover, suppress, attack, etc.. All of this done via a pretty simple interface where you simply select the squad you wish to order a command to, then a pop-up appears on your screen with all the options available to that squad. You just click the command you want to issue and then the squad goes ahead and executes the order. (No back talk either!)

Game Presentation

In this department I wasn’t blown away. Overall the graphical quality seemed reminiscent of the original call of duty. It was still somewhat enjoyable but you could tell that the budget wasn’t there for top notch texture and quality, which was somewhat disappointing considering the competition the game faces from developers that are truly pushing the limits of current technology.

The attention to detail however is phenomenal. Huge maps with bombed out buildings and craters in the ground really add to the realistic feel of the game. More so I was rather impressed by the cut scenes between maps loading which is something that rarely catches my attention. A combination of an interesting voice (Although hard to understand at times due to the accents) and a great soundtrack had me actually watching the scenes instead of my normal skipping through them. They were kind of a mix between old vintage war footage with a bit of a modern flair to them.

Multiplayer

I didn’t get to spend much time online playing, but this is what the game was essentially built for. In 64 man slot servers you get the opportunity to push the game to its limits and explore all the impressive controls that were less than impressive in single player campaign. If your a tactical gamer who wants a realistic experience, then this is where you’re going to find it.

Online you will find an extensive ranking system where you can work towards building your rank and earning medals. Also, coming soon tripwire intends on offering co-op mode for those that want to play against the AI with their friends.

Final thoughts

Overall the game was pretty fun and exposed me to a ton of cool features that I’ve never experienced. But to be honest, it wasn’t my type of game. It’s hard to believe, but the game was just too real for me. Cowering behind cover just isn’t my style, and taking away my cross hairs and hip fire was brutal for me! Taking into consideration the awesome online experience, innovative controls and the mediocre single player missions I have to give this game a 7 out 10, with most of it coming from its innovative controls and multiplayer experience.

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