This is a crucial choice because in a realistic shooter like this, players will need a complete team to succeed. The game limits how many players can inhabit each class, so there can’t be too many players playing one class, creating unbalanced teams. Players can inhabit multiple roles, including riflemen, machine gunners, engineers, anti-tank, and snipers. Finally, Countdown provides each player with one life and only grants a respawn if the attacking team can capture the objective pushing the battle forward. Firefight is a standard Deathmatch mode, while Territories has both teams fighting over fixed control points. Developer Tripwire Interactive has made great strides in the multiplayer space offering both familiar and new gameplay modes, along with innovative team mechanics. Instead, RO2 nails every aspect of multiplayer so perfectly that single player should have just been left on the cutting room floor – it wouldn’t be missed. It makes tactical options in a tactical shooter worthless.Ĭampaign isn’t the focus of RO2, though it never was. When they do take up positions, bots will stand up during firefights or take cover on the wrong side of obstacles, again in enemy fire. Giving orders to squad mates is a joke, as the bots will either not follow them, or rush blindly into enemy fire without taking cover or finding another way. is truly terrible and the campaign is beyond useless besides teaching you game mechanics in a controlled environment before jumping into the real chaos of multiplayer. Every few missions, there are some interesting twists where you have to defend instead of attack or pilot tanks, but there’s no real campaign here.Īdd the fact that the A.I.
The majority of the missions are just bot matches strung together by the cutscenes, where you’ll be playing on maps that follow the same scenario as territory game types. These cutscenes do such a fantastic job setting the mood for one of the bloodiest conflicts during the war that it’s a genuine shame that the campaign couldn’t follow suit.
Each mission is prefaced by a cutscene explaining the situation from both point of view and each chapter is closed with passages from soldiers’ journals or quotes heard from them. The campaign places players on either the Russian or German army during the Battle of Stalingrad. The main difference between the original RO and its sequel is a more robust single player campaign mode instead of the bot match practice mode of the original.
It’s a hardcore shooter that may seem impenetrable at first, but like all great PC games, will reveal itself to players the more time you give it and actively try to learn its systems. Players deal with little to no UI, account for bullet drop and spin, and inhabit an environment where one bullet can bring you down.
For those unfamiliar with Red Orchestra, the series is an ultra-realistic World War 2 shooter that seeks to mimic every aspect of warfare from the time period. The above story exemplifies both the mood and gameplay of RO2, the sequel to Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45.
This is Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. The bullet connects and I fall to the ground, the screen slowly fading to black as I bleed out, watching my fellow teammates continue a slow assault on the church. The shot alarms the rest of the opposing team and a sniper fires. I take careful aim at one of the enemies, steady my breath to increase accuracy, and squeeze the trigger. I find sandbags and find cover behind them, pulling out my rifle. As I sprint to the far end of the building, I spot three enemies behind cover that haven’t noticed me. Our squad leader finally reaches the line, pops a smoke grenade, and our team makes an advance under its cover. The Russian team is heavily fortified, with machine gunner crews in the windows, snipers in the tower, and riflemen dotting the landscape as we try to make our advance. My team has been trying to capture a crucial church from Russian forces.