Musings on ... Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad Beta

(Click screenshots for bigger)

OK, so I like lighting effects.

You may remember back to the posts I made on Red Orchestra (http://mouseclicksandmovingpics.blogspot.com/2011/07/musings-on-red-orchestra-ostfront-41-45.html) and the Darkest Hour mod for the same game (http://mouseclicksandmovingpics.blogspot.com/2011/07/musings-on-darkest-hour-europe-44-45.html). So when I tell you that I like the Heroes of Stalingrad beta more than the original Red Orchestra and less than Darkest Hour you can get an inkling of my feelings about the game.

The build I’m currently playing has 10 maps, with only one tank map and a couple of combined operation maps. And they’re pretty consistently good in all honesty. Some are better than others, Grain Elevator, Apartments, Fallen Fighters and Pavlov’s House being particular favourites of mine.

So, what’s different between this and the original? Well, the most noticeable change is in the animations and graphics. Obviously the game looks a lot nicer now than the original ever did, thanks to an enhanced version of the brilliant Unreal 3 engine. This allows for flashy lighting effects, and some of the best animations I’ve ever seen in gaming. I’m not even joking; when you see someone sprint it actually looks like somebody running. Just walking around now looks natural, where the original made everyone look like a bit of a robot.

The new cover system is a surprisingly good and useful addition. Fans of the Rainbow Six: Vegas series will be familiar with the mechanics. Press a button and your guy will stick to a piece of cover, from which you can look around, blind fire, hide or whatever. Except that it’s all in first person. Call of Juarez and Killzone 2 are the only other games I can honestly think of which employ a fully first-person cover system. So blind-firing really is blind. And yes you can blind-fire bolt-action rifles if you really want to. In addition to the added benefits of cover, such as being able to deploy a machine-gun on the cover, then duck back behind it to reload, it also displays information about how good your cover is. New ballistics and bullet-penetration mechanics have been put in place, meaning a rifle can penetrate pretty much anything, but an SMG is limited to shooting through building walls and doors. This adds to the constant sense that you’re never safe. There’s always a sniper or machine-gun looking at you, just waiting for you to pop your head out of cover.

The new game modes are pretty good as well. Along with the original’s capture-point style ‘Territory’ mode, there are two additions. ‘Countdown’, a mode similar to ‘Territory’ except that the defenders only have one life, and the attackers only have two spawn waves, making it much more tactical and a brilliant experience in 32v32 multiplayer, much closer to actual war than almost any game has managed (ArmA 2 might be the exception). ‘Firefight’ is Tripwire’s take on team deathmatch and makes for a very odd experience. With small amounts of players, say 15v15 maximum, it works as a brilliantly brutal Call of Duty style experience. Go much beyond that player count, however, and you get into the realms of frustration. Honestly, it may be down to the maps. They’re fairly close-quarters and on the whole small maps, great for the other game modes, but maybe not so much for a game mode with random spawn positions.

On the whole then, it’s already shaping up to be as good as or better than the original, and I wish my screenshots had saved properly because it seriously looks great. So, if you’re looking for something fresh, which actually improves on its predecessor instead of just copies it, buy it. A review of the actual game will follow its release.