Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad

The first game started out as a small game on the Source engine. The 2nd one is being built on the Unreal Engine 3.x(newest edition likely). It was quite impressive from the views of many gamers. Now Tripwire is at it again and they are bringing realism to the table. The game will support 64 player battlefields and maps.

There will be a 10 map multiplayer campaign mode with territories to capture. Squad commands, co-op gameplay, ranks, stats, leaderboards, competitions.

No on screen bullet counter. What? Yes that is right. You have to think before you spray or you will have nothing coming out of the gun. You can hold R and check your magazine to see if its heavy or light, but not a number to see. Real bullets. If you think about it. The only way you can see into a magazine is the top of it. Bullets move up as you fire so you won’t know exactly what number of bullets are left in there. Certainly a new fear factor to FPS gameplay.

RO 2 is also one of the first games you can take cover behind any surface. First person view only behind cover as well as gameplay. Not all surfaces cover you entirely when you take cover as well. Arm sticking out then it can certainly take a hit. Can you blind fire behind cover? Yes you can, but will you see what you hit? No.

Health never regenerates. You take a bullet in the leg your leg is gonna hurt like hell until you die or have it fixed. No surgeons with instant recovery on this game. Wounds can be patched up and bleeding stopped.

Machine guns can be deployed almost anywhere. Recoil and vision focusing will be in the game. Guns will feel like live real weapons. Bullets will feel small and guns will require some precision and thinking to account for bullet drop.

Multiplayer deaths typically give you instant signal when you kill someone in most FPS games. XP or some sort of name/gun picture showing you killed someone. Well in RO2 that is delayed. So if there is a corpse you just shot over there that fell backwards in a window. You won’t know if they are dead or alive for a short bit. Organic tension is something long out of sight of most FPS games. This is only game I have seen it coming in a long while from. I like the sound of it so far.

Does realism apply to tank combat? Yes it does. There are three of four positions for tank enthusiasts to play as in tank gameplay. Tanks are not one man vehicles as they have been in some games. There is the Driver, Commander, and Gunner. The Loader will be AI NPC. Commanders spot and mark targets, Drivers drive the vehicle, and gunners blast things. You have to dial the range of the cannon. Time consuming tank loading, ranging, and firing can lead to some pretty anxious and glorifying moments on the battlefield. You never know who will strike first. Also imagine if your tank is immobilized and your buddies are dead. Pop up on the turret and surprise someone with a rain of lead.

I personally can’t wait for all this to come to my PC in Q1 2011(First three months). So far this game is sounding alot more awesome than I originally thought of the game when I first looked at it. Where did I get this information?

PC Gamer Preview

Want a preview of what is to come? Check out the latest trailer offered for the game.

Tags: Action, First Person Shooters, PC, Red Orchestra 2, Unreal Engine 3