Next OpFlash "takes on board feedback"

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 6 August, 2010

"Target visuals" arrive.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River will deliver an "authentic and intensely personal US Marine Corps infantryman experience" and builds upon predecessor Dragon Rising by "taking on board feedback from the community", Codemasters has said.

The game, due out for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next year, is set "in the remote yet beautiful country of Tajikistan along the Vakhsh River".

Tajikistan is a real country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east.

From the official blurb: "Taking a small step into the future, Red River depicts a fictional conflict with contemporary geopolitical themes, which will unfold over three distinct acts in both single player and drop-in-drop-out co-operative play for up to four players online.

"Faced with new counter-insurgency combat and the returning threat of the Chinese PLA, players will feel the tension, brutality and carnage of modern conflict from the perspective of a marine fireteam on deployment in a hostile country, thousands of miles from home."

Red River will improve on Dragon Rising with, according to Codemasters, a deeper narrative-led campaign, streamlined inventory and control system, a refined enemy and squad AI system, player class roles including customisable XP upgrades and loadout choice, close-quarters combat, new air support options and comprehensive tutorials.

Creative director Sion Lenton had this to say: "Operation Flashpoint: Red River is being built around four player co-op online play, complete with a strong narrative, new enemies and combat scenarios to deliver gameplay that immerses players in the reality of war like never before.

"The new setting of Tajikistan is a diverse and exciting backdrop for the wide range of military challenges the US Marines face around the world in real life.

"We're excited to push the series in new directions while staying true to the core tactical combat that is the hallmark of Operation Flashpoint."

Executive producer Adam Parsons added: "In creating Operation Flashpoint: Red River, we're building on our strengths whilst taking on board feedback from the community and focussing on key areas and enhancements to further refine the Flashpoint experience.

"Whether playing solo or co-operatively, players will experience the tense and exhilarating tactical gameplay the series is famed for, expressed through a range of gameplay enhancements and an exciting new setting and narrative."

The game's first screenshots, or "target visuals", are below.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • repairmanjack #1 2 years ago

    If they were genuinely responding to feedback they'd never touch this franchise again.

    Try not to lie about features on this one, hey lads?

    Oh, and thanks for not fixing the last abortion. Worst disappointment this gen. Bastards.

  • ignatiusjreilly #2 2 years ago

    The game's first screenshots, or "target visuals", are below.

    So they are not screenshots then.

  • richardiox #3 2 years ago

    Gashpoint

  • ignatiusjreilly #4 2 years ago

    They are bullshots.

  • hollowroom #5 2 years ago

    Once bitten, twice shy.

    Not buying another Codies Operation Flashpoint.

  • LazyNinjaUk #6 2 years ago

    I'm not getting excited with this one like I did with Dragon Rising, since all the anticipation lead to utter disappointment when it turned out to be pretty shite. At the moment they have only shown concept images, which doesn't show anything of the game at all.

  • metalangel #7 2 years ago

    Oh whatever. Go play ArmA2 and see a genuinely compelling campaign.

    It's not all about the fighting. You're Marines in a warzone, yes, but you're investigating for evidence of war crimes, looking for arms caches and insurgent camps, and talking to the locals. You have a base with UAVs and assorted vehicles at your disposal, and you can call in a helicopter or artillery to assist with transportation/target suppression at any time. There is no time limit, though you may get timed objectives mid-mission. You are free to use all these tools to accomplish your mission in ANY WAY YOU LIKE. Each mission is big enough to last an afternoon if you want to accomplish absolutely everything.

    And it's unpredictable! I arrested a woman with ties to the insurgents and was ordered to bring her to a nearby LZ where the local government would take her off my hands. The first time, I commandeered a civilian car, and my heavy gunner and I drove her to the LZ (a field). While we waited, two insurgent jeeps appeared coming across the field toward us. Exposed and outnumbered, they killed up easily.

    When I tried again, I called our helicopter support to pick us all up and fly us the the LZ. I ordered the chopper to stay on the ground with us while we waited, in case I needed to escape again.

    Perhaps intimidated by the chopper's presence, the insurgents didn't appear again. After a few minutes, though, the friendly Hind did appear to collect our prisoner. However, it spotted the enemy jeeps lurking in the trees at the edge of the field and went over to blow them up before landing and taking the prisoner!

    Unless Codebastards can make missions this dynamic and interesting (unlikely), this will be another shit game.

  • john_silence #8 2 years ago

    "remote YET beautiful"
    ???
    Also, is the co-op focus a cheap way to opt out of integrating decent allied AI?

  • bemani #9 2 years ago

    I kind of liked Dragon Rising for the first few levels, but it became more and more bug-ridden the further you got into it. I finished the final mission by accidentally crashing my helicopter into the base and dying. Enemy path-finding and spawning was poor, Achievements were awarded at random and missions often couldn't be completed as the AI decided it would go to sleep and not trigger events. Add in the fact that the game would sometimes forget which missions you had completed and you have one very broken game.

  • misinformed #10 2 years ago

    The game's first screenshots, or "target visuals", are below.

    Hilarious way of putting it.

    Screenshots of artwork.

    Thats one target already missed aswell.

    I'll have those and they can keep their 2nd game.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 11:12

  • StolenRequiem #11 2 years ago

    Unless they come up with a new, beautiful and PLAYABLE game, then I ain't touching this game. All war games are going the same way. Some countries attacked, you help, kill general, run off with girl, miss flight and get murdered.

  • sneetch #12 2 years ago

    I was hyped for Dragon Rising but the negative reports I read about it completely put me off buying it, I'm glad about that. Their bullshots the first time around didn't do them any favours and I don't think calling them "target visuals" this time will do any better (although it's a tiny bit more honest at least).

  • FogHeart #13 2 years ago

    Another year, another rogue general from China/Russia/rogue state looking to further the glory of the mother country by invading a backwater republic and trying to kill the Yankee pigdog when they arrive. Only to find that their premier disavows them, the Yankees may be outnumbered have better guns and do more splodes, and somehow they win because they are so goshdarn plucky.

    For details see every game set in Asia that involves soldiers but doesn't involve Vietnam.

  • ODB_Mongoose #14 2 years ago

    100% crap...like the previous one.
    Do codies really think we believe all this marketing bull***???
    They will probably start this whole campaign all over again "most realistic blabla"
    "biggest blabla, most immersive blabla..."

    Common

    Will never ever ever ever buy such a lame product again - what an epic dissappointment OFP2 was...

    pah!
    (returning to the online battlefield of Arma2)
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 11:33

  • beastmaster #15 2 years ago

    The biggest meh press release of the month.

  • superdelphinus #16 2 years ago

    hmm looks suspiciously like mw2 with a bit more depth. guess the last opflash will be seen as the bridge between the original and this

  • Nexus_6 #17 2 years ago

    Do we get a discount on this new one if we take the old shit game back when purchasing?

  • crozon #18 2 years ago

    Heres what they need to do. Look at Arma2 and try come up with a polished version.
    And can we have a lean option.

  • lavalant #19 2 years ago

    Christ just give us a graphical update of the original, release it as a download title for a few quid, or free to those who bought Dragon Rising.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 11:44

  • mcmothercruncher #20 2 years ago

    They'll promise the world and deliver a small fraction of it (say, Ipswich) and then fail to patch in what they left out whilst ignoring the community before finally cutting and running.
    Yes, I still haven't forgiven them.

  • Caimbeul #21 2 years ago

    Ouch. Theres a lot of hate here. So they dont make the best war games, so what. They make some awsome racing games though.

  • ODB_Mongoose #22 2 years ago

    @Caimbeul

    It's a shame the codies forum has an ignorant editor named Helios, else you would see hundreds of pages of complaints on this crap game - thats why
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 12:19

  • metalangel #23 2 years ago

    @Caimbeul: So what? They could mix the best margaritas in the UK but that doesn't matter at all in relation to Flashpoint.

    Their racing games are shit too, btw.

  • superdelphinus #24 2 years ago

    wot linai4511 said

  • SwitchBladeUK #25 2 years ago

    4 Players... The fuck!?

  • Haloboy #26 2 years ago

    Gutted when my girlfriend dumped me.

    Saddened when my goldfish died.

    Neither even remotely compared to how much this game filled my disappointment glands.

  • BigDaddy82 #27 2 years ago

    I have yet to see a Codemasters related topic without metalangel trolling it, bitter ex-employee or just a bit sad?

  • metalangel #28 2 years ago

    @Von Adder: how is it the PR department's fault the game had only one campaign in which you never drove tanks or flew choppers, where there were only two DLC packs before the support was pulled, for the game being a buggy piece of shit where vaulting walls kills you and AI medics will stand next to your thrashing body and watch you die?

  • hollowroom #29 2 years ago

    @ metalangel

    So true. And that's without mentioning the simply AWFUL multiplayer.

  • rudedudejude #30 2 years ago

    nice screenshots :p

  • SAMagic #31 2 years ago

    BEHOLD THE NERD RAGE

  • samk #32 2 years ago

    Choice quotes from the IGN article:

    "Generally, the impression I get is that 90% of people that played the game loved it"

    "10% of people didn't think it was hard enough"

    Absolutely hilarious. Judging by the groundswell in this thread, 90% of people thought it was total shit, and I'm one of them. Dragon Rising killed the franchise for me, and this next one looks to be heading in the wrong direction...

    "We've made sure that earlier levels in the game look like earlier levels in the Call of Duties and Bad Companies so as not to alienate the player"

    Oh dear. Talk about not remotely understanding why so many people liked the original.

  • Collymilad #33 2 years ago

    /whiny baby

  • Mashum #34 2 years ago

    IMHO there was a great game in Op Flashpoint let down by some sloppy mission design - playing the basic firefight missions with all of the onscreen prompts turned off was tense and immersive, the more complicated missions just fell apart in confused frustration. If they could just fix that I would be happy.

    Also the mention of an "intensely personal US Marine Corps infantryman experience" sounds a bit of cheesy hollywood characterisation... I wonder if they are eyeing the sales figures of Bad Company and COD

    edit: @samk ... I hadn't seen that, guess it answers my question :(
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 14:40

  • JensonJet #35 2 years ago

    "Red River will improve on Dragon Rising"

    Not hard to do really! Codemasters absolutely lied about features in Operation Flashpoint. I have no doubt they're doing the same this time. While I love co-op games, and military shooters, having played the worst of the genre in Codemasters first attempt they will never get their hands on my money again. FU Codemasters!
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 16:31

  • dirk_aircool #36 2 years ago

    repairmanjack.
    Well said and I'm glad its right at the top of the thread so the lying bastards ( codemasters ) dont have to waist to much time before making new renders to test the water.

  • Stop-gap #37 2 years ago

    "Feedback from the community" you say?
    I thought there was no community for DR since you dog turds decided that modding is somehow harmful to a game.

  • Harmonica #38 2 years ago

    The visuals on the first game weren't the problem. Nor was the gameplay itself. Or the engine.

    It was how short the missions were and how confined it was, and the fact that the Xbox version didn't get the editor.

    Get it right Codies.

    Basically go back and play the original and find out what made it such a terrfying, dynamic and immersive experience. Namely that it was so damn vast and there was the feeling that you could do anything to get the mission done.

    Also, the bloody AI in Dragon Rising was apalling.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/10 @ 20:26

  • Spunkweazle #39 2 years ago

    so they really took ALL of the the feedback on board?
    I hope nobody was hurt

  • Tin-cz #40 2 years ago

    No way in hell they are going to get my money this time.
    Fool me once....

  • orpheus #41 2 years ago

    Anyone else slightly shocked at how they've managed to rip of BIS again by setting it in a desert themed 'Tajikistan' - Operation Arrowhead, the latest ARMA2 expansion is set in Takistan!

    And they obviously didn't listen to the community, because most of the community told them never to make another Flashpoint game *ever* again. That said, for all its flaws (and there were fuckloads), it managed to be a decent enough game. Codies fucked it by dropping support after a few months, releasing crap DLC and lying about 95% of what was actually in the game. What was there was good, but nowhere near polished enough.

    There is a market for a 'hardcore' console shooter in this style... but Codies made such an arse of it last time a lot of people are soured on the idea. If they do it again, they'd better do it properly!

  • Kazagi #42 2 years ago

    What a load of utter garbage this game was...Completely lied on the back of the box by saying "plays best on dedicated servers", resulting in steam refunds (unheard of)...Then came the long awaited patch which fixed absolutely nothing and fried gfx cards...Any negative posts on the forum were immediatly deleted and in most cases the user banned...Then we had the response post by Mr Lenton which consisted of 4 letters and 3 full stops, Nice...All support was dropped soon after release leaving 90% of players kazumped, a broken multi, alongside a broken single player, for me and countless others an unplayable release...I would like to see Eurogamer defend the 90% of gamers who bought this product and were absolutely ripped off...

  • GitSomE_UK #43 2 years ago

    Codemasters here's my feedback - F U C K O F F

    You failed in every way to support the last game, think I'm going to pay again?

  • Harmonica #44 2 years ago

    If you had problems with multi it was probably at your end to be honest. Never experienced a laggy game of coop and had games that lasted for hours and hours - the only issue being the punishing death = restart and the semi-dodgy checkpointing.

    All I thought was wrong with the game was its length, and the lack of openness during the missions. It wasn't otherwise that bad an experience, though nothing special.

  • KDR_11k #45 2 years ago

    Arma2 Arrowhead goes to Takistan, OpFlash Red River goes to Tajikistan. Coincidence?

  • FWB #46 2 years ago

    Faaaaaaaaaack off, Codies. Give the license to someone else.

  • thomaspower0 #47 2 years ago

    Opflash DR was a total disaster. The missions were boring, it looked like shit(made on a racegame engine)... Looking around im a vehicle was impossible and aiming was a pain in the ass.

  • Chazmeister #48 2 years ago

    After all the lies and broken promises they made about the last game they can fuck right off if they think they're going to get my money again. Looks and sounds like Codies have started the bullshit exercise again already.