The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most disputed in World War II and most people see it as the turning point on the Eastern Front, the moment when it became clear that the might of the Wehrmacht was shattered and that the Red Army was ready to take the initiative and drive towards Berlin.
The battle has been visited in video games before but rarely has it received the attention to detail and realism that the developers at Tripwire Games have lavished on it, visible in elements like the design of the maps, which include the landmarks of the city, and the care taken to make every engagement feel like a desperate struggle, mimicking the emotions that the soldiers of the time surely experienced. It's too bad that the game still has some problems when it comes to graphics, Artificial Intelligence and multiplayer games.
Gameplay
The big changes from the standard first person template that Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad offers are: a commitment to realism and a focus on making cover and its use crucial for success.
It's essential to approach the game thinking in terms of where cover is and how it can be used. A gamer who was brought up on a diet of Call of Duty and tries to play this game using the run-and-gun method will get torn to pieces. The constant frustration will soon be enough to either force him to drop the game or to learn how to actually play it well. The key here is to always know which surfaces a character can stick to and which of them offer the best protection from incoming fire, be it from a normal carbine or from a heavier machine gun.
After finding a piece of good cover the big decisions involve when to peak out, if it's worth taking a shot and revealing your position or if a better idea is to move to another piece of cover that is closer to the target or offers a better shooting angle.
As essential as knowing when to take cover is learning when and how to fire. Bolt action rifles can be very accurate when using the iron sights and controlling breathing and players should always try and take shots from afar, thinning out the ranks of enemies before moving forward or at least convincing some of them to keep their heads down while the player moves to the next piece of cover.
Assault weapons, on the other hand, are pretty much unable to hit anything reliably past the 200 meters mark so it makes sense to fire a few bursts and then move as quickly as possible to a better position.
As in real world World War II infantry tactics grenades can be crucial to taking out clusters of enemies and are priceless when entering buildings under heavy fire.
Red Orchestra 2 is good because it is unforgiving so, even in the single player against rather dumb enemy A.I., expect to die and fail quite a bit before getting a feel for the game and how to keep yourself alive.
Graphics and audio
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is created using the Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games and both the good and the bad sides of this technology make appearances in the game.
The developers have managed to create a game world that looks bleak and clearly affected by war but have also managed to escape the trap of only using gray and brown for the environments. The various scenarios that are set mostly outside could create the feeling of a perfect day out in the countryside or the middle of a city were it not for the bullets and the screaming of the dying.
The problem is that looking good comes with the attached price of some weird physics, especially when furniture is involved in any way. The soldier models could also have used some more work and the running animations have something very artificial about them. There are also moments, especially in multiplayer, when the textures seem really ugly, like something that only managed to load half way through.
Tripwire Interactive has managed to do some great work when it comes to the sound design. The weapons sound like something out of the '40s, deadly but a little clunky, the soldiers shout very appropriately when shot and there are few sounds in the world of gaming that are as unnerving as hearing a couple or rounds whiz by your body while you are looking for some piece of safe cover.
The only problem with the sound section of the new Red Orchestra is that it is sometimes actually overwhelming, which adds to the atmosphere but makes paying attention to the actual gameplay harder.
Multiplayer
The origins of the Red Orchestra series lie within the modding community and the first game in the series was driven by its multiplayer elements so it makes sense for the second one to also rely heavily on playing with other live humans. Despite the presence of the two single player campaigns the developers at Tripwire Interactive have put most of their resources into the multiplayer and have managed to create an experience that will enchant the hardcore, competitive fans and might scare off a lot of newcomers.
The big news is that there are big, bold, frantic 32 versus 32 battles included in Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad, perfectly suited for those who are looking for large scale mayhem. The PC version of Battlefield 3 promises the same but it's weeks away so this is the only game in down for some time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RCAPvRIhrE
The server browser is pretty solid and gives those looking for games to join a lot of information but there are some problems with maintaining a solid connection after choosing a server. About one third of my attempts have resulted in being dropped from the server and forced to re-launch the whole process. There are also reports of connections that, despite good ping numbers, are very sluggish and make actual gameplay all but impossible.
Once the player is logged into a server the actual learning process begins. Never move around without being at least crouched if not prone. Only peek around or above cover for the smallest interval of time, always vary of getting shot. Always make sure that one has a full magazine before entering an area whether heavy combat is probable. Never take the time to steady your breath for a shot unless your position is absolutely secure. And there's much more to learn before coming even close to being a competent player of the multiplayer side of Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad.
The maps included in the game are interesting, although they tend to make moving around in open field a pretty dicey scenario, and it's imperative for the player to familiarize himself with them as much as possible before getting into really competitive games.
The best way I found of doing that is to choose one class and stick to it at first, learning what the weapons can and cannot do and when to use them, and only then move on and sample other options.
Red Orchestra 2 is an unforgiving playground for all but the most experienced gamers but a lot of playtime and quite a bit of conviction will allow even newcomers to the first person shooter space to discover an engaging and very brutal game.
Conclusion
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is not all that it could be at the moment, with the solid gameplay mechanics affected by small bugs and the multiplayer also in need of some tweaks, but the developers at Tripwire have already released two big patches via Steam and more are apparently on the way, with the overall aim being to create a finely balanced experience that will keep gamers interested in the long term.
The developers have also announced that more content, like weapons and vehicles for both sides and the ability to play through the campaign in cooperative mode, will be added to Red Orchestra 2 in the coming months so it might be a good idea to see how the game evolves and buy it closer to Christmas.
For those who have loved the original mod and the first game in the series Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is a must buy, mostly for the engaging and gritty multiplayer, while most other first person shooter fans can wait until they experience the big launches of the fall, Battlefield 3 from DICE and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 from Infinity Ward, before giving this outsider a try.
RATINGS
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Concept: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Audio: 9/10
Multiplayer: 7/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Screenshots
