Red Orchestra 2

[swfwebmaster]

This was originally posted by =SWF=wobblyone



• First Person Cover System: Players can take cover behind objects in first person and easily peek or blind fire over and around cover and more.

• Squad Command: Players can command fire teams on the battlefield with an easy to use first person interface.

• Damage System: A detailed hit detection system. Specific bodyparts hit are more lethal than others. Instant Death, Lethal, Critical and Non-Critical.

• Mantling System: Players can negotiate low obstacles, such as climbing over fences, through windows, etc.

• Adjustable Sights: Iron sights as well as scopes on weapons are adjustable for longer and shorter ranges.

• Bandaging: Players can bandage minor wounds to stop themselves from bleeding to death. Non-critical hits will cause half the damage instantly, with the other half occurring over bleed out time. Prompt bandaging can stop the second half of the damage from occurring.

• Interactive Weapon Collision: Weapons collide with the game world; the player will raise and lower his weapon accordingly.

• Bullet Penetration: Bullets can penetrate some materials and cause damage on the other side.

• Breathing System: The player's breathing pattern will affect his aim; players can hold their breath momentarily for a more stable shot. Players who have low stamina from sprinting, etc. will breathe harder.

• Bipods: Bipod mounted weapons will pivot around their bipods when deployed. Deploying bipod mounted weapons is much easier than it was in Ostfront.

• Tactical View: HUD elements appear as the player needs them, and are automatically hidden when the player does not. The entire HUD can be brought up at any time with the press of a key.

• Weight System: The player can carry multiple weapons as well as grenades, but has a maximum allowed weight and will slow down as they carry more.

• Peripheral Vision Indicators: Small indicators appear at the edge of the player's screen to denote possible enemies in the player's peripheral vision.

• Mini-map: The mini-map shows you friendly players, and where your squad mates/squad leaders are.

• Dynamic Music System: Heroes of Stalingrad features a dynamic music system that adapts the emotional mood of the soundtrack to match the morale of the player based on the flow of the battle. To highlight the differences between the two warring powers the game features a completely unique soundtrack for the Russian and German sides.

• New Recoil Model: The recoil model is more realistic than that of Ostfront. SMG's have had their recoil lowered and MG's have more recoil.

• Interruptible Reloads: Reloads can now be interrupted.

• Fire Support: There are 3 types of fire support: mortars, artillery, and rockets. Mortars cause a small amount of damage in a small area, rockets cause a large amount of damage over a large area. Artillery falls in between.

• Aerial Recon: The commander can call a recon plane which surveys the battlefield and reports enemy positions. Enemy infantry and tanks will show up on the commander's map instantly (as long as he is near the radio), and will filter down the ranks with a few seconds delay. The plane will only report units it has actual visual contact with; it will be possible to hide from it and shoot it down.

• Ironsights for the Sniper: Sniper rifles now have usable ironsights, as they did in real life.

• Destructable Buildings: Any and all buildings are destructible if the mapper wants. Buildings will still leave ruins behind, however, so the battlefield isn't bombed flat.

• SDK: The game ships with SDK and a Mapping Tool out of the box.



• Virtual Interior: The entire interior of the tanks is modeled, with useable hatches, periscopes, viewports, etc.

• Tank Locking: Tank commanders can choose to lock their tanks or allow other players to join their crew.

• New Tank Damage System: Heroes of Stalingrad has a significantly more complex damage system than Ostfront. Damage to systems such as optics, engine, transmission, turret rotation mechanism, fuel tank, drive sprocket, treads and more are modelled. Shots that penetrate the tank's armor can kill crewmembers inside. Crewmembers have individual hitboxes within the tank and are killable via penetration of an AT rifle round.

• Squad Tank Crew (AI/Human): All tanks will have a full crew; any playable positions that are not filled by a human player will be filled by AI.

• Squad Dynamic tank class system: There will be one tank commander class slot for each tank; as commanders choose to allow human players in their tanks, tank crew class slots will dynamically open up. This means that players don't have to make a choice between having more tanks with solo tanking or fewer with team tanking.



• Character Progression: Players can gain experience and rank. Higher ranked players have access to rare weapons, equipment and classes. Higher ranked players are visually distinct from lower ranked players. If you do poorly, for example tk a lot you can rank down.

• Persistent Stats Tracking and Player Progression: Persistence constantly gives the gamer something to strive for and keeps them playing. Grow in rank, earn medals, improve your abilities, and become a Hero – all visible to the complete online gaming community and embedded within the game.

• Heroes: Obtain the ultimate goal and become a Hero online. Players with hero status inspire troops around them and cause fear in their enemies. Heroes have access to the best and rarest weapons and equipment, and will stand out visually from the rest of the soldiers.

• Competitions & Leader-boards: Compete to obtain unique awards and achievements with players all over the world. The competitions range from shooting range challenges to unique and fun assault courses.

• Battlefield Commissions: Low ranked players can earn a promotion by performing well, and get to choose higher ranked classes. This is a temporary ingame commission.



Server Options

• Co-op: Players can connect with their friends and battle AI in multiple game types including the Stalingrad Campaign, Skirmish Mode, and more.

• 64 Player Support: They are shooting to max out players in a game at 64 (large maps) and there are ten maps in the game already.

• Realism Settings: 2 Settings. Relaxed Realism and Realistic. Relaxed realism will include all of the new interface helpers. Realistic will be for the more hardcore players, and will have some of the new interface helpers disabled. Server admins will be able to set up a custom configuration that picks and chooses which features to have.

• Custom Server Configs: Server configs are customizable, can be shared, and can even be rated by others.

• RO TV 2.0: RO TV makes a comeback making it possible to spectate (clan) matches.

• Death messages: 3 Death message settings. Normal, Delayed, and Off. Death messages also display distance for your own personal kills.

• Server Class Lock: Some classes are locked until a certain amount of players join the server.



Gameplay Modes

• Territory Mode: This is the original gamemode that made Red Orchestra famous. Attack, Hold and Defend objectives within the set timelimit, or until one side runs out of reinforments.

• Countdown Mode: Countdown mode is a single life gametype that is governed by a short countdown timer. Players will have to attack or defend a series of objectives, but with only one life per objective. If the attackers capture the objective, all players respawn and move to the next objective. If they do not capture the objective before the timer expires, they lose. Maps will have "key objectives" which when taken will allow the attacking team a single respawn on a later failed capture.

• Firefight Mode: Red Orchestra's version of team deathmatch.

• Multiplayer Campaign Mode: The campaign map is divided into 10 smaller maps. The players vote which map to attack, and can decide how much of their Combat Power they want to use on the attack. Each campaign can last a maximum of 4 hours.

• Co-op Campaign Mode: The singleplayer campaign can be played with a friend/friends.

• Skirmish Mode: This mode can be played online and offline. You get three fire teams of three members each. Fire team members can be made up of human players or AI. The goal is to 'clear' the map of enemy AI. It can be compared to Terrorist Hunt mode in the Rainbow Six games.

[swfwebmaster]

Arm Chair General
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad – PC Game Preview
26 AUG 2011
by Jim Zabek

The shriek of artillery tears through the sky. “Is it ours? Or theirs?” I ponder only for the blink of an eye. It doesn’t matter; if it lands near me I’m gone no matter which side’s commander called it in. I dive inside a building to find shelter and hope the shells pass me by; if not, I’m not sure the flimsy structure will be enough to protect me.

So goes another moment of life in Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. The highly anticipated sequel is approaching release, and I’ve managed to spend a few hours with the game in order learn what’s in store. In short, Red Orchestra 2 keeps the best of what made the original game great, and has added new gameplay that will broaden its appeal to mainstream FPS gamers.

Fans of the original Red Orchestra are going to be pleased. The game is still hardcore; bullets are unforgiving. A single shot to the wrong (or right) area will take out an opponent, and a wound to a limb may or may not be fatal, but may impair performance if you survive. Players can use bandages to heal; failure to do so can result in bleeding out and death in a matter of a few seconds.

Realistic damage isn’t the only feature which sets this game apart from the pack. One of the more innovative concepts introduced in the original game was the use of walls and windows to steady a shot. As the player arrived at a point on the map where a structure could be used to steady aim the player could take advantage of this to reduce the error introduced by breathing. That’s right, aim actually is disrupted by simulating the effects of breathing. Red Orchestra 2 takes this mechanic to a new level, and players may now not only steady their aim, but also “cover” which allows players to take cover behind any available terrain. The advantage of using cover is that a right mouse click pops the gamer in and out of shelter more quickly. Another crazy cool feature is the ability to blind fire from behind cover. While in cover – but without revealing yourself – you simply hit the left mouse button to fire. This allows the player to blind fire over, say, some sandbags, which can be useful when you want to provide covering fire without exposing yourself.

A picture starts to emerge that Red Orchestra 2 is going to be an iterative sequel of the original game. But the developers at Tripwire are a cagey bunch, and just when you think you can predict where they’re going, they spring a few surprises on you.

Yes, Red Orchestra 2 is going to have a lot of the features of the original game and improve on them, but there is more to it than just that. There are three major additions to be included in Red Orchestra 2 that place it in an entirely different category of game. First, there will be complete single-player games for both the Soviets and Germans. Second, there are two new multiplayer game modes which will provide different play styles and make the game more appealing to mainstream FPS gamers. Third, there is going to be a cooperative multiplayer campaign.

All of these improvements are welcome. The original Red Orchestra was a multiplayer-only game. Great fun for those of us who love hard core World War II shooters, but the steep learning curve and single type of game (domination) meant that it had an intensely loyal following, but one that wasn’t huge (as in Call of Duty huge). Great as far as it went, it didn’t have broad appeal. With Red Orchestra 2 that may change.

Yes, Red Orchestra 2 is going to have a lot of the features of the original game and improve on them, but there is more to it than just that. There are three major additions to be included in Red Orchestra 2 that place it in an entirely different category of game. First, there will be complete single-player games for both the Soviets and Germans. Second, there are two new multiplayer game modes which will provide different play styles and make the game more appealing to mainstream FPS gamers. Third, there is going to be a cooperative multiplayer campaign.

All of these improvements are welcome. The original Red Orchestra was a multiplayer-only game. Great fun for those of us who love hard core World War II shooters, but the steep learning curve and single type of game (domination) meant that it had an intensely loyal following, but one that wasn’t huge (as in Call of Duty huge). Great as far as it went, it didn’t have broad appeal. With Red Orchestra 2 that may change.

Taking cover behind some rubble. Note the tiny silhouette and spark of light to the right on the rubble next to the building – yeah, that’s a muzzle flash.

Players who don’t thrive on that style of gameplay will find a new casual style of multiplayer game. Called Firefight this is the tried and true Team Deathmatch done Red Orchestra-style. Fragolicious from start to finish, gamers interested in maximum carnage should find it a blast.

A third multiplayer game has been added that ups the ante for hardcore players. Red Orchestra’s original game mode of Domination had a neat twist – there were limited amounts of “reinforcements” or respawns available to a team. A team that wasted its lives without purpose ended up losing quickly. That game, Territory, still exists but a new, even more intense game called Countdown is being added. Here players start with one life. As defenders on the map get taken out they are done for the round. The assaulting team, however, has two waves of “reinforcements” which are triggered by the team’s commander. Reinforcements are simply a trigger to respawn. The game is objective based, and each side takes a turn at assaulting and defending areas on the map. Each side’s success is timed, and the side which assaults the fastest (or defends the longest) wins. The limited number of respawns bring a new strategic twist to a game. The choice as to whether and when to consume a respawn can be a game-winning (or losing) decision. It’s lonely at the top.

For the techie gamers who follow these things a major change to the game is the upgrade of the game engine. Red Orchestra was based upon the Unreal 2 game engine. Red Orchestra 2 has been written using the Unreal 3 engine. That might be inside basesball to the non-techie gamers, but the short answer is that the game has stepped up a notch, and the new game engine has allowed some new tweaks to be introduced to the franchise.

As mentioned above one of the new tweaks players can enjoy because of the new game engine is the cover system. In addition to that there is a suppression system. It’s nothing elaborate, but if you begin to take fire that comes close but doesn’t hit, the suppression system will kick in and the screen will start to shake and blur just a little to simulate the effect of suppression in combat. The effect isn’t hugely dramatic but it will impede a bit of your aim to simulate the effects of being under fire, and this takes the game one step closer in term of realism.

New ballistics have also been introduced. Bullets will penetrate walls according to the weapon’s firepower; players who suspect someone is behind a brick wall can attack it with a rifle; a submachine gun will typically penetrate through a door. Leading a moving target is always a good idea, and bullets (well, any projectile) will drop over distance. In one game I watched an enemy tank repeatedly fire short of my position while I calmly bracketed his tank by elevating my gun and then brewed him up.

Speaking of tank combat, that has been tinkered with, too. The original Red Orchestra’s tank game may have been a bit too team-oriented. As inviting as the concept sounded, not everyone relished the joy of being someone else’s driver while they took the glory of blasting away at the enemy. Teams that worked together in this fashion had a real edge over solo tankers, but, well, it wasn’t as fun.

Tripwire noted the issue, and has fixed it in Red Orchestra 2. Now the WASD keys will move the tank no matter what position the player is in (driver, gunner, turret). And while each tank’s insides have been painstakingly recreated and drivers can pop their heads out of the tank or button up, it is now much easier to control the tank solo. Gamers who still want to have real people crew some or all of the positions can do so, but it’s no longer a handicap to go solo. Well done, Tripwire!

Red Orchestra 2 introduces the concept of Honor. As the player accumulates experience with weapons he achieves rewards that eventually allow personal statistics to improve. Don’t expect super-hero-like reflexes, but there are small performance improvements to reward persistent gamers. As your skill improves you will be able to aim a bit faster or bring your weapon to bear more quickly. There are a few weapon unlocks so, for instance a sniper may be able to unlock a better scope and the like.

For audiophiles there are new weapon sounds. Each weapon’s bark is distinct, and it doesn’t take long to distinguish between the deceptive purr of the PPSh and the racket of the MP-40. 3D audio – one of my favorite features of any FPS game – features heavily in Red Orchestra 2. Players will get audible cues, but may not often know whether they’re friend or foe. Uncertain though those sounds may be, players ignore them at their peril because much of Red Orchestra 2 is about ambush, surprise, and tactical innovation.

On the technical side, servers will be able to host up to 64 players (32 v 32). Server admins will have a nifty web-based tool to manage game servers in order to adjust settings to make the game easier for starting players or more hard core for long-time players. As can be expected from a game that found its origins as a mod, there is a ton of mod support, and an SDK is expected to be available on release day or shortly thereafter. Cagey modders will be able to create just about anything using Red Orchestra 2’s mod tools, and there are already gleeful whispers of some crazy mods like dinosaurs. Who knows what twisted creativity lurks in the minds of some modders?

Set for release on September 13th, Red Orchestra 2 can’t get here soon enough for me. Red Orchestra 2 is going to deliver an intense, hardcore game that will also have a high quotient of fun for casual FPS fans. Based on what I’ve played so far Red Orchestra 2 is going to dominate wargamers’ hard drives for a very long time to come – and it’s going to replace Call of Duty on my hard drive when I’m looking for a military FPS fix.

[swfwebmaster]

21 DEC 2011
There is a SALE going on with Steam with RO2 being sold at 50% off.
store.steampowered.com/app/35450/

25 MAY 2012
Red Orchestra 2 free weekend on Steam and you can buy it for 75% off:
store.steampowered.com/app/35450/

[pershainovitsh]

Downloading the free weekend thing right now. Estimated time of download completing: about 3 hours from now. Before I started it estimated it would take over five hours. I have a download speed of about 6 MB/s according to speedtest.net. For some reason the peak download speed has been just over one MB/s on Steam. And Red Orchestra 2 is over 8 GB in size. If you have a slow connection, forget about it.

My rig seems to meet the requirements, but I'm not sure if my Geforce Nvidia 9800GT does. I hope so.

Is anyone else downloading it? Does anyone have the full game? I could play on Saturday from 20.00 GMT and onwards for a while if anyone's interested.



Edit: And before you get to say "I knew you'd be the first one to reply since you like Forgotten Hope so much" I can pretty safely say the two are almost nothing alike. I was interested in RO2 before it was released and it appeared to be better than BF3 in many ways. But when it was released and as I read reviews I realized this wasn't the game I was looking for. Anyway, if I get to test it for free I'll do it.

[pershainovitsh]

Well, it took just three hours to download. I'll see if I can test it tonight and give a report of some sort.

[pershainovitsh]

So far I've noticed that the game requires patience. Which should be good. The bad thing is, I'm talking about getting into a game: so far I've just been crashing to desktop when trying to join a server.

One thing I know about the gameplay: you can melee with any object you have in your hand. That includes binoculars. What could be more terrifying than the pick-axe/spade-wielding solider in Forgotten Hope? A madman with binoculars in RO2! But I don't know how much damage it does.

[swfwebmaster]

Al, keep us informed.

[pershainovitsh]

Will do.

Finally I got to a server. My earlier attempts failed when the server I was loading was actually full which crashed the game to the desktop. This happened a couple of times despite I had chosen servers with empty slots. After that I got wiser and tried filtering the servers so they don't show full servers and picking a server with lots of room. But then it CTD'd a couple of times more. Did you think I was going to give up? Of course I wasn't!

Finally I got to a server. There seem to be three kinds of settings for the game: classic (like the first Red Orchestra game I was told with a warning), realism (higher damage and probably some other things and a third, more casual one. I ended up playing on a classic server, which I fearlessly entered despite a warning message warning me it was going to be hard or something similiar.

No ammo count, no mini map, no crosshairs, no 3d map. This was the RO2 equivelant to hardcore mode in BF. And boy was that difficult. I was on the Soviet side (the German side being the other one) and was using a bolt-action rifle and on some occasisions a PPSH, a semi-auto rifle and yet another rifle. The only other item I had in my inventory was a hand grenade. I used it twice with no results. I did manage to get about 10 kills in the half an hour I played. It seemed to be strictly infantry only, although the French welcome message might have been saying something else. It was close quarters combat with decently open maps. Bigger than CoD, smaller than BF. One unique feature was the first-person cover system which allows you to fire blindly or not blindly from a cover.

I'm not sure if I liked the game or not. I'll have to test it again on a non-hardcore style server. I'm excited to see tanks in operation. From what I've read it's possible to tear off a limb from a person with an anti-tank rifle. I did see a dismembered arm once but maybe he was hit by a grenade or something. As I said, the primary weapon and the grenade were all I had. So no beating anyone up with binoculars. Someday, someday. Speaking of weapons, the rifles have a bayonet you can use by pressing the middle mouse button. If there is no bayonet, you'll hit with the butt of the rifle. The longer you keep the button pressed, the stronger the strike should be. At least it looked stronger. I never managed to melee anyone.

Tips: when setting your graphic settings, first pick aspect ratio and "auto-detect". With this it didn't detect just my aspect ratio (that was on the list) but also my resolution (which wasn't on the list before that).


Similiarities with BF3: you can get stuck on fences you are mantling, resulting you getting killed. There seems to be some kind of weapon customization.

[pershainovitsh]

Second report from the Stalingrad front

This time I played the Action and Realism modes. Still no tanks. I'm not sure what is the difference between Realism and Classic, but I think I liked Realism more. Action mode is the casual mode with a mini-map and... some things. I don't think there was a crosshair even in the casual mode. It seems that Classic and Realism are more based on teamwork and historical accuracy. Some kits are limited to only two people, like the marksman kit with a sniper rifle with a scope. And only officers carry pistols. On some modes there are weapon upgrades/unlocks and on some there are none. They should be on on Action servers and probably off on Realism ones. I'm not sure though.

The sniper rifle(s) is a lot like in BF, but a lot better. First of all, it onnly magnifies what is seen through the scope. Everything else is normal, unzoomed and not blurred. This allows for great situational awareness. This seems to be a thing not many games can do since you have to render the screen twice or some other technical stuff. It takes resources. With the mouse wheel you can align the scope from 100 meters up to 1000 meters with 100 meter intervals. And you should be able to use the iron sights on sniper rifles, but I couldn't find how. That's three things RO2 does better than BF3 with sniper rifles.

AT rifles and machine guns can be mounted on some surfaces, like on window frames. Sniper rifles can't since there are no bipods on sniper rifles. Or maybe I just hadn't unlocked them.

The aiming is a bit like in Arma: it's "floaty". Your aim doesn't follow your vision. Tricky to explain. This means that not aiming down the sights can make you shoot all over the place, and not because of some artificial random deviation. This encourages to aim properly.

Some random things I remember reading about: there are heroes (on some modes) that may have boosted stats and may have some sort of a morale-boosting ability, passive or active, I can't remember. Morale can also be boosted when you are winning. I noticed this when I had unlimited stamina for some reason. I guess we were winning.
Then there's the tanks which I haven't even seen yet. As far as I know, you have to spawn in the tank and you can't get out. So the captain sinks with the ship. No using tanks as taxis. Three men are required to operate a tank. One driver, one gunner and one commander. There are AT rifles, satchel charges and AT hand grenades to destroy tanks. It's possible to shoot through one of the little windows and kill crew with an extremely lucky shot from another tank. The tanks don't have a hitpoint-based health but instead it's location based. And not just 100% damage on the rear, 50& damage to the front type of thing. There was a picture on the forum that showed the weak spots like the place where the ammunition is stored. Then there was the temperature of the map affecting the soldiers' stamina. There are mod tools for RO2. Don't know about the status of the mods. I remember a Pacific theatre mod being in development already before release.

So far my impression has been that it's a lot like CoD but with bigger maps (what an accomplishment) and less twitchy gameplay. And tanks but I haven't seen them so I don't know should I believe in their existence. I really thought that this would be a lot better than BF3 before either had been released. RO2 sounded so realistic (they even researched how did the Germans and Russians carry their guns while running so it'd look authentic) and fun but turned out to be nothing like Battlefield. I'll just stick to Forgotten Hope 2 until someone makes a better WWII / BF game. Iron Front: Liberation 1944 looks pretty cool, hope to read more about it once wobbly or someone else tests it.

It seems that RO2 is the casual-a bit more hardcore WWII game right now, Forgotten Hope 2 is the medium, not being neither too casual or hardcore and Iron Front: Liberation 1944 is the hardcore one.

I'll try to play again tomorrow and hopefully will see some tanks. Will definitely report again if I do play.


Edit: it's the return of extremely long posts! Anyway, about RO2 mods. There is a Vietnam mod, a Pacific mod, and best of all, a Karelian mod in development! To those who don't know, Finland was fighting Russia in Karelia (the area in Eastern Finland bordering Russia, we lost half of it) in the Continuation War in. Unfortunately it's still in development and it's for a game like this. I would've liked it to be a mod for Forgotten Hope 2. A mod to a mod. And don't say that's not possible, there's already a French mod to FH2. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a mod to a mod, I just want a BF-style game set in Winter War and/or Continuation War.

[pershainovitsh]

If you're looking for a CQC FPS game and like the WWII setting, Red Orchestra seems to be a brilliant game. At least based on my brief tests. It's a fun game and PC Gamer gave it a Game Of The Year award.

You can't no-scope like in CoD, there are no killstreak rewards, and no cruthes as far as I remember. There seems to be some kind of level-upping with weapons: the more you use a specific weapon, the better you get with it. I don't mean the usual way, I mean that the stats are slightly altered the more you play with a certain gun. But of course YOU will get better with the gun the more you use it just like you get better in tennis the more you play it. And I think the guns start to wear out the more you use them. So in the beginning your K98 might be in pristine condition, but it'll get scratches all over it the more you use it.

So, has anyone else downloaded it? I'm probably playing it on 2000 GMT or a bit later.

[wobblyone]

I used to have it on Steam Al. It is still available for me to re-download.

At the time, I lost interest because I got drawn into BC2 (and it would'nt let go)

I think I might try it again ;D

[backtothefight64]

I would be interested in this or Iron Front.
Which ever you guys think is best.

[pershainovitsh]

Right now it's free for the weekend on Steam, and about 8€ if you decide to buy it this weekend. That's why I'm playing it.

If you are looking for a WWII game with close quarters combat, Red Orchestra 2 is for you. It's not all CQC though: I've made kills with the K98 from over 175 meters. It's nowhere near as claustrophobic as CoD but it's just as far from Battlefield-style all out warfare even if it has tanks. I think it sits right in the middle of the two. The gameplay is pretty much as fast as in Battlefield. Maybe even a bit slower on some modes.

If you want a WWII game with combined arms warfare and big maps, Iron Front: Liberation 1944 should be the game to pick up. It's a lot closer to BF than RO2 is, but as it's more of a mod to Arma 2, it should be a lot more complex and slower.

It all comes to you: do you want infantry-focused gameplay (with the occasional tanks) on smallish maps or total war on big maps with the complexity of a simulator? RO2 is by no means a bad game, but I think I'd still go for Iron Front without even trying that one. I do want lots of vehicles, tanks, aircraft, halftracks, jeeps, trucks and everything else in my WWII game. Iron Front seems to be offering that. Like a next step from Forgotten Hope 2. But I'd wait for wobbly's review and thoughts on the game before buying it.


My experiences today: I finally played in a tank and hit a nazi in the head with a revolver. I don't want to explain tanking in detail, just watch some videos on Youtube if you want to find out more. It was pretty realistic as you could see the interiors, look around in them and your visibility was pretty bad unless you opened a hatch. You can switch seats but not exit or enter the tank. I tried it all: driving, shooting and commanding. It was decent, but I didn't like the low visibility. But that should be just realistic.

After I got enough of tanking I went sniping with a scoped Mosin Nagant (?). I found a nice multi-storey building and went to the top sniping. I managed to get a few kills, but considerably less than with a non-scoped Mauser K98 earlier today. But it was a different game, I spent longer sniping and it was on realism mode. The one where I was tanking and sniping as a Soviet was on an Action server. Anyway, at some point I was getting fired at from the ground level a hundred meters away from me, and I decided to change location. So I went to the staircase behind a window. Don't worry, I wasn't leaning out of the window, I was as far back as I could so I wouldn't get seen. From there I sniped some enemy marksmen from the building across the road. Then I started hearing someone shouting something in German. I switched to the revolver and waited. The German rushed to the floor below me and I followed him. He was aiming out of a window and I decided to hit him in the head. Somehow that was enough to kill him. After a few minutes almost the same happened, except the German noticed me and shot me once. I was bleeding, went upstairs under the ladders and bandaged myself. I aimed at him when he came back to view and pulled the trigger, but it was a milliseconf too late. I died.


A complaint: I hated when I played CoD that you'd stop reloading if you ran. In BF you can reload and run whenever you like. But in RO2 it seems to be even worse. At least if you're prone, reload and move an inch, it stops the reload. This isn't that bad with sniper rifles in which you insert the bullets one by one, but if there's a clip or a magazine it's very annoying. I can't remember if that bug/design fault occured with non-sniper rifles when not prone.

[pershainovitsh]

Final verdict: although Red Orchesrta 2 isn't the Battlefield killer I expected it to be and I didn't get to kill anyone by hitting them with binoculars, it is a fun game to play. For how long, I don't know. Definitely more than CoD since it's a lot less frustrating, weapon balance is good, maps are medium size and there seems to be more replayability. I'd buy it if I saw it on sale for a fiver somewhere. I know it's 8,74€ on Steam, but I'd rather have a physical copy and own the game. And RO2 isn't exactly my type of game, but I still found it fun to play. So for now I'm going to pass. But if I ever get the urge to play a WWII game for 5-20 minutes, this is the game. A typical match of Forgotten Hope 2 lasts from half an hour to an hour.

[swfwebmaster]