Review: Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

Dev: Tripwire interactive
Pub: Valve
Available via Steam for about £15.

So you thought the WW2 genre was stald did you? RO is the “full game” of the incredibly popular UT2004 mod of the same name. Dev team Tripwire interactive won prizes equalling a millino dollars for the original mod in the Make something unreal (MSU) conrest a while back so its fair to say hopes were high for this release.

RO focuses soley on the campaign on the eastern front between Germany and the Soviet Union during the second world war (or the Great Patriotic War if you’re Russian). The UT2.5 engine really serves the game well, throwing out visually average levels, but on a huge outdoor scale in a way which the Source or Doom3 engines could never produce on todays computers. The game does feature some graphical tricks like HDR (high dynamin range – an advanced lighting technique, but then, you knew that already)and bloom effects. The engine also allows for some rather lovely vehicles, however these are different from any game vehicles you’ve ever driven before. RO’s gameplay focus is on realism. This means for your tank to be effective you’re going to need three players in it (speaking generally, some tanks require less, and some vehicles can carry more) to be effective – A driver, a commander and a machine gunner. All three members have very restricted views from the tank, the driver just a small porthole, the commander, the weapon sight (although he can “open up” the tank to see out, but this creates a risk of light arms fire killing him) and the MG operator his weapon sight. There are no “third person” views at all in this game. This means that tanks can be very vulnerable, especially to a tk (anti tank) or rocket carring infantry, as well as other tanks, seeing as aiming the main armament is near impossible while moving. This combination of power and vulnrabiltity means armour really needs infanrty support if it is toget anywhere and visa versa (on vehicle enabled maps).

These technical descriptions of the games working are going to carry ona bit I’m afraid as it is radically different to almost every other fps available. It’s closest match is propably Operation Flashpoint, but RO easily surpases that game, maybe even in realism. Infantrymen are no easier to get to grips with, intially. Movement feels strange if you’re used to traditinal first person action games, and there are no crosshairs, meaning aiming must be done using the weapons iron sights, or scope. You can’t even cheat by sticking something in the middle of your screen and aiming with that, the ivisible “crosshair” the game uses to see where you are aiming “from the hip” moves constantly, as do the iron sights if you’re tired.

RO is also unique in having a highly realistic ballistics model, what this means in that, basically, bullets drop as they travel. How far a bullet drops depends on range, caliber and the muzzel velocity of the gun, just like real life, so you may fiind yourself needing to adjust your aim on the fly. This isn’t your traditional run and gun fps, it’s slow, measured, tactical.

It’s also deeply frustrating, some will balk at the level of realism and traditional fps players might just bounce right off it. Others won’t like the aging graphics, nobody can deny that the UT2.5 engine is dating, and fast. Some people won’t like the grasp of tactics required to get anywhere, or the amount of teamwork needed, even on a public server. Becasue without it, you’ll get cut down. I myself don’t like the lag that affects the online game, whether this is due to netcode, which can be fixed, or the fact that the game is so new that good servers aren’t up yet is debatable. (or it could be to do with limitations in the engine, UT2004 was notably laggy, or again it could be due to current “broadband” connections inability to cope with the large areas in the game, time will tell)

When it comes down to the crunch this will all be a matter of taste, and patience. Those if you who relish realism and have the time to put in learning the ropes will be richly rewarded, the rest of you can play the upcoming demo, realise it’s not for you and go elsewhere. For me? I think it’s fifteen quid well spent, and now that I’m getting into the swing of the game I can finally get the whole experience, and I’m very glad I put the effort in. I could reguile you with annecdotes and amazing battle experiences (like leading a bayonet charge into the axis lines, one of the most amazing online experiences I’ve ever had) but really, deep down, I know that the majoity of you won’t like, or care about this game. But for the small group of you who are drooling at the prospect of this lavishly detailed war; and I guess I’m being a bit guarded about this word; simulation, dive right in and don’t look back.

? out of TEN (read the review you lazy get)