Operation Flashpoint: Red River Review

By Simon Parkin Published 21 April, 2011

Crimson tidings.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Call of Duty and its ilk are fairground-ride approximations of modern warfare. Their designers carefully arrange buildings, beams of sunlight and terrain to turn the head and draw the eye as you move along the rails. Explosions blast and enemies pop up as you pass through invisible triggers, only to be reset by the SFX team as soon as you're done, ready for the next tourist to gawp at.

These games are often exhilarating and absolutely deserve their place front-and-centre of mainstream gaming for their visceral, immediate thrills. But they are, nevertheless, a Disneyland rendering of contemporary combat. The primary emotion you feel travelling through the mechanical string of set-pieces is one of puff-chested power, rarely fear.

It would be senseless to imply that Operation Flashpoint, console gaming's only military sim series, is anything like real war. But the emotions the game elicits are undoubtedly more nuanced and realistic than those of its corridor-shooter cousins. There are still the invisible trigger points that cause enemies to burst out of buildings on cue. But in this world, ammo is scarce, bullets drop height the longer they are asked to fly, and there's no precision-engineered path through these wide-open desert spaces to bustle you mindlessly along to your next objective.

When your gruff-voiced Staff Sergeant barks down the headset to call in mortar fire on the farmhouse two clicks north – where a clutch of insurgents are holed up with AK47s and ideological issues with your uniform – you're more likely to scan the horizon with a keen sense of stress and panic. Which one of these identical huts that punctuate the landscape is the target again? Pick the wrong building and not only will you draw the fierce blue ire of your staff sergeant, but your Alpha squad companions could be blown all the way from Tajikistan to CNN.

The US Army caught a lot of flak for friendly fire in the Iraq war. But it's surprisingly hard to tell friendly from enemy when squinting through the noonday sun. And if you're playing Operation Flashpoint: Red River on 'hardcore', with the HUD rubbed out, no respawns or checkpoints, and nothing but your eyes and radios to count on for information, Red River introduces a sense of white-hot tension that is actually very rare in video games.

Likewise, when one of your squad mates screams "Sniper, 200 metres East" as a bullet wheezes unseen past your helmet, your immediate reaction is to dive behind a nearby wall, not to scan the rooftops in search of a vainglorious headshot. If you take a bullet, in this game your head will lunge violently to one side, incapacitating you for a few seconds before you can steady your aim again.

You'll also start bleeding out, a drain of strength that can only be stemmed by ducking into safety to apply bandages before mending your wounds, a two-stage healing process that takes you out of the fight for a full 15 seconds. In game terms, these are weighty punishments for a lack of due care and attention, and they make Infinity Ward's vision-clouding strawberry jam filter seem faintly ridiculous.

So realism is built into the Red River's code, but now – far more than in its predecessor Dragon Rising – it's written into its script too. It's clear Codemasters has feasted on a diet of contemporary war TV and cinema in arranging what turns out to be one of the strongest battle stories in gaming. There are echoes of HBO and David Simon's Generation Kill in the reams of dialogue that couch each fire team encounter here, while providing cover for an explosive ordnance disposal team attempting to disarm an IED in a car is lifted straight from The Hurt Locker. Missions are introduced by exquisitely produced motion-comic cut-scenes, but it's in-game where story and interaction meld with rare effectiveness.

When playing as the Scout class you'll need to carefully take gravity into account when taking long shots.

It's a game of long, meandering walk and talks, not least since you play as a four-man infantry unit whose job is often to run ahead of Humvee convoys clearing roads. The constant radio chatter and banter back and forth between fireteams and the steadying voice of the staff sergeant have a keen authenticity.

Although you are constantly receiving orders and directions, this is still a game with wide-open play options. As well as controlling your own character, you can direct the other members of your fireteam, composed of a Rifleman, Auto-Rifleman, Grenadier and Scout.

Holding down the right bumper brings up a radial menu with a host of options, allowing to you order your team to suppress targets, clear buildings or even provide overwatch support all within a couple of simple clicks. The d-pad allows you to select individual members of your fireteam or you can give a group command. It's simple and, once you've got to grips with the system, effective, and you come to feel a sense of responsibility and affection for your three compatriots that builds quickly through the campaign.

Part of the reason for this is that each mission is long and arduous, some taking up to an hour to complete. 60 minutes of concentrated effort and tension brings men together, even if they are virtual soldier men. So when you dive into the campaign with three real friends, playing co-operatively online, the result is mesmerising.

It's the kind of playpen designed to create personal memories: the time one of your friends took a miracle shot on a helicopter pilot and brought the bird down, or when you managed to retreat from the Chinese PLA against overwhelming odds without anyone losing a life. Some of these memories are scripted, but they often feel like your own. Find three competent friends to play through the game with and you will have one of the best shooter experiences currently available. No question.

The overarching design of the game has been tightened up since Dragon Rising, too. Now you earn experience points for making kills and completing objectives, levelling up your class of choice and, in doing so, gaining points that can be allocated to improve stamina, reload rates or the ability to pick out targets. Each mission is graded Bronze, Silver or Gold, with more class points won the better the medal.

Once the campaign is spent, a series of Fireteam Engagement missions are available to play through across four different types, asking you to defend fixed positions, rescue downed pilots, protect convoys or sweep an area to eliminate enemy forces, in a series of scored challenges complete with leaderboards.

It's not quite all good news. Animations are jumpy, with enemies occasionally shifting three paces to the right, or flicking between crouching and standing positions without grace. Lines of dialogue sometimes repeat, breaking the sense of authenticity that the game works so hard to create.

The vehicle sections aren't Codemasters' best work, and the engine in general, while excellent at huge draw distances, veers between beautiful and scrappy. This lack of polish only slightly detracts from the experience but while there is much less of the roughness that defined Red River's predecessor, it is noticeable nonetheless.

The game is also going to disappoint PC military sim veterans expecting a rival to ArmA II. This is more tactical shooter than true military sim, and the lack of a mission editor or CTI mode, together with the relatively prescribed mission orders, will no doubt grate.

Leave a bullet in the chamber and the gun will reload more quickly: a tactical reload.

While the AI is certainly improved from Dragon Rising, you'll still need to pay close attention not to direct teammates into dangerous situations as they'll follow orders without question and often pay the ultimate price for it. The removal of tight time limits removes much of the irritation of the first game but even so, players approaching Red River as a tactical shooter couched in an engaging story will get the most from it.

At its best, Red River surpasses Ubisoft's original Ghost Recons for squad-based tactical play. But it's the presentation of the story – not the broad-canvas story, but the story of four marines and their staff sergeant – that marks it out as something new. We still may be some way from the bite and nuance of Generation Kill, but in communicating the camaraderie, banter, fear and glory of modern warfare in the Middle East, nothing can touch this.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Simon.

About Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin is an author and journalist on video games. A core contributor to Eurogamer since 2005, he is also a critic and columnist on games for The Guardian.

Read more articles from Simon by visiting the Simon Parkin archive page.

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Comments (84) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • coastal #1 1 year ago

    Blimey

    If it does provide tension, as the review says, then frankly it's worthy of being called Operation Flashpoint.

    Sweet, should hopefully be ignored enough to bring the price down in a couple of months too. :)
    Edited by coastal at 21/04/11 @ 11:10

  • BravoGolf #2 1 year ago

    Quite right, score is higher than I expected

  • coolbritannia #3 1 year ago

    holy shit, was not expecting this, better than Ghost Recon?

    edit: negged because...?
    Edited by coolbritannia at 21/04/11 @ 11:11

  • Arsecake_Baker #4 1 year ago

    Been playing it since yesterday and i can attest to this score, it's heads and tails above the last outing and the swearing everybody is whining about is blown completely out of proportion......good game, well done Codies!

  • espadachin #5 1 year ago

    well, thats a pleasant surprise, especially as i had forgotten i had pre-ordered this and it turned up yesterday!
    Edited by espadachin at 21/04/11 @ 11:15

  • AliRay #6 1 year ago

    Co-op sounds good. Not sure whether to bother with this after the complete mess that was their last game (which I got on day 1 like a sucker).

  • Spunkweazle #7 1 year ago

    Review embargo = Purchase embargo

    Was looking forward to this game and glad to hear its good, but i wanted to order it online and play it this weekend, instead i will wait for the inevitable £17.99 price point.

    It was always going to be a niche title and you cant play marketing games from that position

  • UncleLou #8 1 year ago

    Sounds good, yeah, but I am in the same situation as others here - I thought DR was a complete mess, the biggest gaming-related waste of money for me this gen.

  • Murbal #9 1 year ago

    Very surprised. Will probably still bomb though (mainly as a result of a shoddy predecessor), which is a shame.

  • The_Bloody_Kettle #10 1 year ago

    It'll do okay, I think.
    CoD's been out a while and some of the youngsters may see this as an alternative. (online may suck then..)
    But to make is sell really well, sadly, all you need to do is stick the word 'Sniper' in the title.
    But yeah, I might pick this up in a few months! Looks ace.

  • Anciegher #11 1 year ago

    I bought the previous game for PC, played all of 15 minutes until I never touched it again....

    Might buy this on a 5$ steam sale sometime in the future not giving it more money than that based on my previous let-downs!

  • Douche #12 1 year ago

    What a good year so far.

  • Sodding_Gamer #13 1 year ago

    I loved dragon rising. Even though the multiplayer was shocking and a few other little annoyances. I wasn't going to get this game in fear it would be rubbish but I like the sound of it now! Will get it when the price goes down. However Even though the multiplayer was pretty lame and laggy, I reckon it would have been really good to put loads of polish on it. Because when it was good, sniping someone from the top a hill miles away and seeing the bullet drop as it got further away and take someone out was very satisfying. Not to mention jumping on a Little bird firing rockets!

  • AcidSnake #14 1 year ago

    Oh Gods, stop with the good games already!
    My wallet is in pain!
    Edited by AcidSnake at 21/04/11 @ 11:31

  • Haloboy #15 1 year ago

    Better than GR? Better than GRAW PC? I severely doubt that.

  • gbiese #16 1 year ago

    @EddieMink: There is no competitive multiplayer.

  • CaptainQuint #17 1 year ago

    Wasn't interest in this... till now.

    DAMN ALL THESE BLOODY GOOD GAMES COMING OUT ALL YEAR ROUND.

    Enjoy it folks - they'll look back on all this as the golden era of gaming.

  • spekkeh #18 1 year ago

    Review embargo = Purchase embargo

    This! more people should do this.

  • kentmonkey #19 1 year ago

    Why is the game package image top right of review from a game released on budget over 10 years ago? Surely it's not that hard to see that clearly that isn't the package image for this game.

  • telboy007 #20 1 year ago

    Ooh, I've been missing a good tactical squad based shooter ever since finishing Vegas 2. Might have to try and find a bargain for this what with everything else I still haven't bought...

  • Desheep #21 1 year ago

    £3.85?!

  • Gruff #22 1 year ago

    Awesome, Sold!!

    4 player co op will be the way to go for me, just what i've been waiting for

  • FTM #23 1 year ago

    suprised, but its a pleasant suprise

    and single player doesnt really worry me as we will buy it for co-op play.

  • FTM #24 1 year ago

    I am sure I read somewhere you can choose you own loadouts as well which is a step in the right direction..whether thats int he campaign or just the firefight missions I am not sure though

  • Sodding_Gamer #25 1 year ago

    @kentmonkey

    That's the front of the original operation flashpoint. I think it was the resistance expansion. The russian one. Come on you should know that the first game was amazing!! Hence why it says £3.85.

  • gjgjg #26 1 year ago

    Tickle me surprised... god damn there are too many good games, sometimes its a relief to see a bad score...
    That's not really a complaint is it:)

  • R74NN #27 1 year ago

    Hello,
    I've been playing Red River yesterday for a while on my PC, there are certain improvements over DR in game mechanics and squad possibilities. However, what remains the same is awful and really intimidating visualization. It appears to me that recently all Codemasters' games have their hue of some sort. F1 2010 was yellow-brown, DR was blue-green and Red River is (ehh) red-orange. Landscape feels very artificial and plastic. Textures feel similarly and lighting is exaggerated. Animation is very clunky and choppy.
    I couldn't make myself playing DR for very long and I was looking forward Red River. I'm gonna give it another shot today, but I'm getting to conclusion CM games style doesn't fit me.

  • maxb #28 1 year ago

    a well written review,reading it nearly makes me want the game that i had no interest in before!

  • udat #29 1 year ago

    Same here. More than anything else it makes me wish i had the *time* to devote to games like this. I loved the original Operation Flashpoint but I also recognise if it came out now I'd probably not care for it because of the very features that made it awesome. boo.

  • Pulsar_t #30 1 year ago

    Nike's for just $32?!

    Erm.. No editor = not interested at the moment.

  • kentmonkey #31 1 year ago

    @Sodding_Gamer: yeah I know. That was kinda my point. It's for a game yonks old and not from this, which isn't hard to spot and let through the editing process. Otherwise let's stick a Mortal Kombat Megadrive cartridge image on the MK review from yesterday.

  • king26 #32 1 year ago

    fair play, but there are way to many fps games being released these days. For me Killzone 3 will keep me occupied until Battlefield 3. There's so many great games being released that aren't shooters, it would be stupid to over load on a single genre .

  • Mr #33 1 year ago

    Doesn't sound like the game I've just been playing. Broken team AI (medic standing next to you as you bleed out, team standing on wrong side of wall etc etc)), the most stupid enemy AI (p*ss-poor), cut and paste missions (defend, retreat... x5, against endless lemmings), and all the while being shouted at by sergeant Knox with the most cliched boxed-marine dialogue you ever heard.

    You are funnelled along at a rate that doesn't suit the game mechanics, making for a frustrating time of it.

    I wish it was as described in this review. I really do.

    Edit...
    1. I can imagine playing co-op would improve things alot
    2. CM said you no longer get your team kamikaze'ing across your line of fire.... they still do, frequently, and die.
    3. You will spend ALOT of time applying bandages to your team who do not take cover.
    4. Dialogue is repeated endlessly, not occasionally, as stated in the review.
    5. The 'suppressing fire' command rarely works (when using the LMG myself I found no difference at all in enemy AI behaviour).
    6. Accuracy is no longer noticeable affected by prone/crouch.
    Edited by Mr at 21/04/11 @ 13:18

  • O11Y #34 1 year ago

    I would give my left bollock to play this.

    Goddamn my lack of gaming hardware

    - Negged for supporting a game? you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't on this site...
    Edited by O11Y at 21/04/11 @ 17:41

  • schnide #35 1 year ago

    @Mr

    You are Bobby Kotick and I claim my £5.

  • FTM #36 1 year ago

    as long as its good in co-op you then only have to worry about the intelligence of your mates, sadly one them is a prize buffoon who was incapable of watching a door in rainbow six


    just watch that door
    ok I'm watching it
    oh I am dead, shot in the back by somebody who came through the door you were supposed to be watching
    sorry I have the attention span of a 3 year old and got bored and wandered off

    even if the AI is dumb in this its probably still like carol vorderman compared to m***y

    *name witheld to avoid shame
    Edited by FTM at 21/04/11 @ 13:15

  • mcmothercruncher #37 1 year ago

    Have Codemasters learned to write for the PS3 yet or is this the ugly buck-toothed cousin that smells a bit like the last game?

  • Mr #38 1 year ago

    @schnide

    You're right... enjoy this game

    Yours sincerely

    Bobby Kotick

  • UsernamePending #39 1 year ago

    @Mr

    I think I'll trust your comments here, rather than that review.

  • Harmonica #40 1 year ago

    ^ ditto. Review reads like the first game never happened. At times, yes, you can have an experience like the one described, but only if you purposely ignore all the idiotic stuff going on around you, particularly with squad AI. I highly doubt this is 'fixed', as described. And it still sounds like you're being railroaded along a set path, completely not like the original game.

    Is it too hard to address all of the criticisms that people raised with Dragon Rising and assess this in that light?

    Good score, but no editor = no buy, sorry Codies, must try harder. This is what console players asked for in the first game, and you STILL haven't ported it, pretty unbelievable.
    Edited by Harmonica at 21/04/11 @ 13:41

  • Sodding_Gamer #41 1 year ago

    @Kentmonkey

    Sorry My bad I didn't realise that in the top corner is where they are supposed to put the actual game and where you can get it from. I just thought it was like a related thing where it's like "if you like this game buy the first one for £3.00" lol. I will get this game at some point. Not worth shelling out £32.00 for. Too many good games coming out in the next few months!

  • AlistairUK #42 1 year ago

    The glory of modern warfare in the Middle East? Kind of a stupid comment to let slip in at the last minute.

  • AdamAsunder #43 1 year ago

    I was tempted by the last game but I heard so many horror stories that I kept away.

    I'm tempted by this, I'll wait a couple of months when it'll be cheap and any glitches ironed out.

    Plus I've only just got round to starting Ghost Recon 2.

  • Gromit #44 1 year ago

    Hmm I think I'll trust the 6/10 that Metro Gamecentral gave this.

    What's that song now...? Won't Get Fooled Again!

  • Kazagi #45 1 year ago

    The Invisible ring of death, step outside the mission area, and you'll instantly die with a mission failure 2boot

    Bad netcoding resulting in random disconnects on co-op servers...Setting NAT to different preferences, turning off UPnP, disabling firewalls all makes no difference...The disconnects can be at start of game, halfway through, or even worse at the end just before completion...Sometimes your unable to see any friends to even kick off...

    Enemy AI is still very dumb and badly scripted Friendly's are better but not perfect by along way...

    Missions are very generic, your channeled down a set path, think or a very big corridoor shooter with invisible walls, go 100m outside the general area and your history...

    Very, very long scripted vehicle drives, where you are a puppet with no control over character, listening to endless conversations...

    Excellent landscapes, and equally impressive skybox, shame you can't actually traverse the landscape, its all eye candy and backdrops...

    Big chunky weapon textures or certain guns, aka BF1942 style, whilst others have tight and what seem high res and look impressive...

    Funny how EG never mentioned any of these problems, go figure...

  • FTM #46 1 year ago

    the mission area thing was in BFBC2, I just fell into a river once slightly off the map and failed :(

  • Invisible_Cow #47 1 year ago

    This review has definitely tipped me into the 'meh' camp. It's far too gushing about frankly ordinary concepts for me to take it seriously.

    "bullets drop height the longer they are asked to fly, and there's no precision-engineered path through these wide-open desert spaces to bustle you mindlessly along to your next objective."

    How is that different to any Battlefield game?

  • Harmonica #48 1 year ago

    I wonder if someone who has played it can comment on the supposed lack of 'precision engineered path'.

    In Dragon Rising if you attempted to think outside the box in any way whatsoever, you could accidentally fail the mission/run out of time/miss half the checkpoints out and have the mission just fall apart in front of you. And yet, sometimes you actually had to subvert the game's intentions in order to make certain parts passable (unless you get phenomenally lucky) - the last mission for example which gives you ten minutes to sweep through an entire enemy fortified town and destroy some AA units is only possible if you hijack a vehicle and sweep through the village as fast as possible, and get lucky avoiding enemy RPG teams. On foot it's a disaster, you lose support helicopters which makes the next part of the mission largely impossible.

    Can anyone comment on the hardcore mode? Removing the HUD doesn't inherently make it realistic or anything it just makes it stupidly unrealistic as far as how in the dark and difficult it is to play. I'm pretty sure real life soldiers and unit leaders have maps and intel at their disposal and know kind of what they should be shooting at (all of which removed in Hardcore).

    When your allies get shot and you try to patch them up.. you can't even find out where they are without repeatedly thumbing the button to flick up orders (which shows their names). Searching for their bodies on the floor is comical. And if you get shot... better hit the deck and immediately set up an order chain that tells your medic to sprint to you and heal you (otherwise he might crawl on his belly and let you bleed out!).
    Edited by Harmonica at 21/04/11 @ 15:46

  • obidanshinobi #49 1 year ago

    Just bought this on my lunch break, can't wait to get home and play it .
    Hope the PSN network is actually working for once this week, ur team AI was useless in Dragon Rising and I don't expect it too have improved much since.

  • Codger81 #50 1 year ago

    I was expecting this to be pants but ... I may check out the demo.

  • muttler #51 1 year ago

    Hmmm.. surprisingly positive review and score.. tempting!

  • patchbox360 #52 1 year ago

    'you'll still need to pay close attention not to direct teammates into dangerous situations as they'll follow orders without question and often pay the ultimate price for it'

    i'd be hilarious if they questioned your orders

  • suhawk75 #53 1 year ago

    I think I'll pass on this.

    The last Op Flashpoint game (Dragon Rising) got similar reviews from a variety of sources (Edge and EG included) with similar scores and I was looking forward to it hugely.

    Then I bought it and ran into every problem mentioned here. I had a particular hatred for the 2nd mission were you had 5 mins to cover half a mile through enemy held territory to take out some AA or an entire invasion was scrubbed. Is that supposed to be a "true to life" set-up for a mission in a "realistic" war game? Yes I remember the success of Overlord also rested on the success of a 4 man team....

  • Ninou #54 1 year ago

    "The vehicle sections aren't Codemasters' best work..."

    A bit like their driving games then :) Mwah-ha!!

    (JOKE! I used to work there - they're a lovely bunch...)

  • metalangel #55 1 year ago

    All through this review I found myself preparing for an increasingly negative response, saying this review was yet again hyperbole that told me nothing about the game itself.

    The third last paragraph told it all. This is another cynical shitfest desecrating the OpFlash name, and Codebastards have learned absolutely fuck all from the criticisms of Dragon Rising.

    Thank you Simon. In a weaker moment I would almost have believed this game was worthy of the name.

    EDIT: -6? Have any of you neg-givers read the PC Gamer review linked below? This game is riotously shit.
    Edited by metalangel at 22/04/11 @ 16:15

  • disappointed #56 1 year ago

    Hey, was that screenshot a photo of the screen? Very retro. Nice blinds too.

  • RedSparrows #57 1 year ago

    Mention of GR at the end echoed my own thoughts: seems this has now taken GR's older position? No bad thing. Glad it seems better than Dragon Rising.

    Edit: Paths not in Battlefield? You did play the SP of BC2, yes?
    Edited by RedSparrows at 21/04/11 @ 18:46

  • Kazagi #58 1 year ago

    The third last paragraph told it all. This is another cynical shitfest desecrating the OpFlash name, and Codebastards have learned absolutely fuck all from the criticisms of Dragon Rising.

    Thank you Simon. In a weaker moment I would almost have believed this game was worthy of the name.

    Fukin classic!, like i said on the prevoius page same game different skin, nothing learnt, nothing gained...In the immortal words of Mr lenton------>Nice... (spelt with a lithsp)

    way more accurate review http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/04/21/operat...
    Edited by Kazagi at 21/04/11 @ 20:16

  • Genyus #59 1 year ago

    "Team, get to the chopper!"

    aaaand sold!

  • peppergomez #60 1 year ago

    Fantastically written review. Good job! Hope the actual game is as good.
    Edited by peppergomez at 21/04/11 @ 20:07

  • FWB #61 1 year ago

    Aside from the COD leveling shit, sounds exactly as I expected. Produce this cack, by all means, but don't use the OFP name.

  • El_MUERkO #62 1 year ago

    This game is a gigantic bag of cheesy ballsweat, don't buy it.

  • Mashum #63 1 year ago

    Is there a way of turning off all HUD elements and map radar without turning off checkpoints?

  • Cerberuz #64 1 year ago

    What a Garbage review! Don't get me wrong I like Red River a lot but to sum up and say that Red River surpasses Ubisoft's Ghost Recon series for squad tactics is incorrect and would suggest that the reviewer has not played much GRAW2 at all.. Ghost Recon is still a superb game with graphics and game play mechanics that surpass many of todays shooters, and the squad tactics used in it are far better and easier than in Red River.

    Too many reviewers keep comparing it to the likes of CoD, BUT Red River is not your average run n gun / spray n play shooter like CoD and Bad Companies, You need skill in Red River otherwise your game play time is going to be very short..

  • welshben23 #65 1 year ago

    Oh dear god! This review is almost as stupid as the Mafia 2 - 4/10 review. I totally agree with Mr about this game, especially these 2 points -

    CM said you no longer get your team kamikaze'ing across your line of fire.... they still do, frequently, and die.

    You will spend ALOT of time applying bandages to your team who do not take cover.

    It's also stupidly difficult. Normal is harder than Hardcore on the Onslaught mode in Bad Company 2. Sorry but this is not a 8/10 game, absolutely nowhere near it!

  • RoaringPanda #66 1 year ago

    Ill stick to Arma thanks, that's the sequel the original Operation Flashpoint deserves.

  • TheGuvernor #67 1 year ago


    Doesn't take much to be better than GRAW - THAT sucked sweaty balls!

  • ODB_Mongoose #68 1 year ago

    MMm 8/10 sounds like a good deal but DR had 7/10 but everyone that bought it felt massively betrayed by the reviewer.
    I'm just wondering how independent EG reviews are.
    DR had 7/10 and I bought the game. I haven't heard of a single person actually really liking the game after buying it.
    It's odd...reading some people here who actually bought red river they are not too happy about it and seem to hesitate.
    I bet that in a couple of days - people will be hating the game just like DR.

    Funny though that PC Gamer UK rated it 4/10....this seems a more realistic rating knowing Codies and Sion Letton
    Edited by ODB_Mongoose at 22/04/11 @ 17:23

  • acuratebob #69 1 year ago

    I got this game yesterday. And it's just amazing. And for once there is a review that I don't disagree with.

    Everything said is just about right.

    And for those who don't know. There isn't multiplayer per-se, it's made to be an engaging co-op experience. So the multiplayer is co-operative. Still its especially amazing game with friends.

  • Gammerz #70 1 year ago

    How have the features found in DR faired in RR (e.g. AI, freedom of movement, shooting etc)?

  • Namothy #71 1 year ago

    Edit: *This is getting slammed on amazon.co.uk by people don't appear to ahev played the game. If this doesn't sell then they may not make any more strategic shooters. I hope those who think this is a great game offer their opinions on that site too as it would be a shame to see developers who put their necks out get nixed at every turn.* Edit over.

    Dragon's Rising was a good game. Its Metacritic score of 7.5 confirmed this I’d agree with this score. I enjoyed the game but you could tell the thing was unfinished. Many complained about the enemy AI, but I'm a grown up and I can play a grown-ups game, the AI was not unbeatable and simply punished the player mistaking it for Call of Duty. It is the minimum the player should expect for such an insult.

    However there were deep flaws. In co-op, team mates were unable to pick up enemy weapons and in single player mode the friendly AI often would not co-operate, was fiddly to command (especially over the map with the crap waypoint system) and often when you were bleeding out and needed help, you'd order them and they'd just sit there and watch you die. Not enough to ruin the game but something which should have been addressed at the Beta stage and definitely should have been patched within the first few weeks.

    The friendly AI is far better, in fact they often pip you to. They do exactly what you tell them to, if they mess up, it's probably your fault. I felt I had a problem getting the friendlies on board a Humvee and wondered what was going on, but I had earlier asked one single team member to "Defend" a house and I forgot and as that house was some way back in the map (they're absolutely massive maps) and was after the previous checkpoint, he had to run back to me (you can speed this up with the "rush" order).

    This was my fault. Official Xbox’s reviewer made the same mistake and blamed the AI when clearly it was his intelligence that should have been criticised. In levelling his argument he criticised Codemasters for correcting one of the major flaws of Dragon’s Rising in that the AI actually listens now.

    Gone are the maps, the waypoints ordering system for squad movement and for the most part when you enter a vehicle it is as a passenger. Hitting enemies is a little easier now with slightly larger hit boxes where in Dragon's Rising anything over 250 meters was a test in patience even when considering bullet drop. A great effort has been made to streamline the game - not dumb it but keeping things a little simpler when overcomplicating things would detract from the overall enjoyment of the game. It is much less a sim now, but still not a straight FPS as we've come to expect. I don't think the hard-core fans have necessarily been betrayed by the changes presented.

    One thing I like about the campaign is the award of points and medals for your performance on a map. As well as the primary objectives, there are usually several secondary missions comprising of different tasks and this in addition to your aim, how much you got shot and your time all determine whether you are awarded 3, 2 or 1 point at the end of the mission. Each point can then be spent to level up certain aspects of your characters skills, just like the original Ghost Recon.

    Weapon load outs and customisations are a cross between what you get in Graw and the customisations from MW2/Black Ops online multiplayer (red dot sights, ACOG scopes, silencers, grenade launchers etc - depending on class). There is less of an emphasis of weapon variety, but each gun is terrific and it's all about what you do with the gun not what the gun does with you. The emphasis is on strategy, tactical appraisal but this does not stop the game having some really good close quarters settings.

    The co-op campaign is exceptional and probably the best multiplayer FPS experience available on the Xbox 360 at present. The single player campaign is also great and very satisfying; especially when you painstakingly get a gold medal you feel a great sense of achievement. Fire Team Engagements are also immense fun in both co-op mode and is also quite entertaining when playing alone.

    The enemy AI on this game is far more forgiving than Dragon's Rising opening the game up for those who want strategy but don't want to be bogged down with a product that is far too serious for its own good. If you're looking for a Call of Duty type of game, then this will not be for you. If you're looking for a game which is more along the lines of the original Ghost Recon and Ghost Recon Island Thunder, then this surpasses those titles.
    Edited by Namothy at 23/04/11 @ 18:31

  • metalangel #72 1 year ago

    Thanks for posting that, Namothy. How do you respond to the damning PC Gamer review, or to the question "is it really a Flashpoint game, in the same vein as the original or ArmA?"

  • Namothy #73 1 year ago

    This isn't a PC game we're discussing here so that PC Advisor review bears little relevance.

    When reviewing a home console game you should judge it or compare it to predecessors and similar games on similar systems. You cannot expect a £150 console to rival a gaming PC (add a naught) and comparisons tend to border the asinine.

    Judging this game based on it's own merits and the history of console strategy/tactical FPS games I would say this is the best of its class - this is not to say that this cannot be improved upon as there are niggles with the AI but are dwarfed by the huge improvements over the last instalment.

  • YoungZer0 #74 1 year ago

    Wait ... wha'? What game did you play? Authenticity? Really? I can't blame you, at first i'd believe they would actually show us authenticity, but in the end it was just macho-marine-bullshit with every single line spoken. We just killed up to fifty people and instead of actually breathing through the nose and thanking god they survived that, what do we get? Macho Bullshit. Like nothing happened. That's something you might experience when playing Soft-Air or whatever, but not real war.

    I mean you're going into war with China. Fucking China. Biggest military force in the world. What does Knox say? "We beat them back to their Wall, OOOORAHH!" Really? Realistic and authentic?

    And what squad? Really, i still can't figure out who's who. I was actually shocked when i found out that my scout used the same model as another scout in another team. I can't even tell who's talking, because most of them wear masks and there is no name in the subtitles.

    After one hour or so i just stopped listening to Knox because his Macho-Bullshit got so freaking annoying. Seriously. Talking. Talking. Talking. They should just put up a microphone and annoy the enemy to death.

    And the AI? Wow. I can't tell you how many times i died because my medic run into gun fire instead of healing me. My whole team actually managed to get itself killed by one Hadji. Because they couldn't figure out that you should kill the enemy in front of you, before trying to revive someone.

    Animation is a joke. Lazies work i have seen so far. Still no bandage animation. Running animation looks stupid and unrealistic. Facial Animation is limited to say the least.

    It's a huge step forward, comparing to the horrible Dragon Rising. But it's still too far away to be actually good.

  • Namothy #75 1 year ago

    Your appraisal of the response to the prospect of war with China and Knox's response is distorted. What you have quoted is the response to winning a later decisive battle. His response to the war against China was one of fear and respect. One of the grunts gets all macho and says "fuck em they should stay out of our shit" and Knox replies along the lines that China is the largest military power in the world and only a fool would welcome a war with them, in fact the tone of the first battle against the PLA is one of hopelessness and fear. Most of the team are bricking it and there's no air support to sort out their armor.

    Knox and the Marines apart from the outspoken rookie grunt approach the upcoming war exactly as you say they should have, but this doesn't appear to fit in with your agenda which is to simply polarise not further a discussion. You distorted context to bolster your point of view which makes you look bad.

    Knox is annoying. He is mainly annoying if you don't follow his orders. If you don't listen to him, he will repeat his order until it is executed. The game is about following orders to complete objectives. If you lack the basic ability to follow orders then you will come unstuck and get annoyed by being told like a child what to do every ten seconds.

    Your squad does have different modelling, but - and this might shock you - the Marines have a uniform and you've guessed it these marines wear that uniform. Shocking that they look similar, no?

    Authenticity? As far as authenticity goes it should be a balance of authenticity and quality gameplay. A straight sim would be dull and would not sell, so there will be licence here. They've gone for the Generation kill vibe and they've succeeded. In fact they've succeeded more than anyone else has one any home console so far in the last ten years, so perhaps some plaudits where they're due. If you want more, pay more and get a PC.

  • YoungZer0 #76 1 year ago

    "One of the grunts gets all macho and says "fuck em they should stay out of our shit" and Knox replies along the lines that China is the largest military power in the world and only a fool would welcome a war with them, in fact the tone of the first battle against the PLA is one of hopelessness and fear. Most of the team are bricking it and there's no air support to sort out their armor."

    Now you're just making stuff up. There is no difference between the usual Macho-Bullshit Knox usually says and what Knox said when the PLA attacked.

    "Knox and the Marines apart from the outspoken rookie grunt approach the upcoming war exactly as you say they should have, but this doesn't appear to fit in with your agenda which is to simply polarise not further a discussion. You distorted context to bolster your point of view which makes you look bad."

    Again, you seem to make stuff up. Get real, it makes you look delusional.

    "Knox is annoying. He is mainly annoying if you don't follow his orders."

    I agree that he's more annoying if you don't follow his orders, having that said, I did all he ever wanted from the first mission, never did anything wrong, he's still annoying. Your argument is invalid.

    "Your squad does have different modelling, but - and this might shock you - the Marines have a uniform and you've guessed it these marines wear that uniform. Shocking that they look similar, no?"

    *rolleyes* Delusional. If the scout in Charlie Team uses the exact same model (from head to toe) as the scout in my team, there is no excuse to it. Are you some kind of fan boy? Because these arguments are absolutely pathetic.

    "Authenticity? As far as authenticity goes it should be a balance of authenticity and quality gameplay. A straight sim would be dull and would not sell, so there will be licence here."

    ArmA2.

    "They've gone for the Generation kill vibe and they've succeeded."

    See, this is where you're wrong. While there was a lot of Macho-Bullshit in Generation Kill, there was also a lot of situations were was none. Honest talking between soldiers.

  • metalangel #77 1 year ago

    @Namothy: have I given you too much credit here?

    Red River is a PC game, hence it being reviewed by PC Gamer (not PC Advisor, which is a technical-oriented mag for inexperienced PC users).

    It's entirely fair to expect a console to perform; after all, the original Xbox received a direct port of the original OpFlash: CWC. Games do not exist in a vacuum and you can't judge them exclusively on their own merits. Especially not when there's a genre leader (ArmA) to be considered, as well as the fact Red River purports to be an Operation Flashpoint game.

  • TeaFiend #78 1 year ago

    The PC gamer review is badly written and the main complaint seems to be it is not arma2. News flash, it isn't.

  • m0thr4 #79 1 year ago

    "Douchebag at 12 o'clock"? Seriously? Is that how authentic US Marines talk in battle? The script is poorly written and poorly delivered, with Killzone 2 levels of unnecessary f-words.

    The graphics are pig ugly on PS3 at a time when there is no longer any excuse for this to be the case. As a PS3 gamer (and self-confessed fanboy) I'm used to overlooking these things, but when the opening scene shows overhead cables as a pixellated mess, even I have to throw in the towel. And what's up with the colour palette?

    I actually liked Dragon Rising on PS3 despite its well-publicised shortcomings, but I just can't get into Red River at all. What a shame.

  • FTM #80 1 year ago

    well I finished the campaign and the AI can still be very frustrating, but playing with friends makes it a 100% better game

    I liked the mission structure, clear compounds cover and move.

    to be honest Knox didnt bother me..the swearing and insults can be funny, but thats personal taste

    I played it on the 360 mind so I will take what I can get in a genre that is thin on the ground for consoles

    its not bad ...but like I said co-op its brilliant with like minded players, it removes the annoyances of the AI..the biggest being they seem to have a narrow field of vision..the map where you have to fend off the first PLA attack and you keep getting pushed back to new lines of defence, I found our squad being outflanked as the AI could maintain proper arcs of fire..playing that with friends it takes it to a whole different level.

    if you have friends who want to play it, get it, if you are going to use it as a single player experience I would hesitate.

    one thin gI did find out last night..it has weapon jams! my m249 jammed after nearly a full belt on auto.
    Edited by FTM at 26/04/11 @ 14:50

  • Gammerz #81 1 year ago

    What are the movement restrictions? Can you go off the beaten track as much as Dragon Rising? A friend mentioned that the screen becomes pixelated if you move too far and I wasn't sure of the distances. The PC Gamer reviewer stated that you couldn't go to the place in the photo. Are the movement limits more restrictive than Dragon Rising (i.e. the tather and there was also a certain mission/waypoint radius limit)?

  • Harmonica #82 1 year ago

    Does it really matter if it's less restrictive? All the action is related to the missions themselves, it's not like OpF where there was all kinds of stuff going on and you could wander miles and still run into enemies.

  • sjmlondon #83 11 months ago

    Sorry I have to disagree with the review.

    Have just completed the game and found it totally uninspiring from beginnning to end. Completely repetitive throughout, muddy visuals and clunky game mechanics. Enemies that appear as dots and are virtually impossible to see until you've ranked up to level 12 and get a decent scope for your gun.

    I appreciate they are trying to create a more tactical shooter compared to Battlefield or COD but this just feels dated. Turgid cut scenes sat on the back of a jeep with the officer effing and blinding as it is supposed to impress followed by dragged out 'clear out a village' or crossroads' with your AI colleagues or 3 other players.

    Perhaps the game is an acquired taste but this is a game of the marmite variety and I don't like the taste.

  • peppergomez #84 10 months ago

    Playing it now and i highly recommend it, especially for online coop play, which is really great. Plays well in single player too though because your AI squad mates dont act like idiots. A very good game. Much more hardcore than CoD orBF but not overwhelmingly so like Arma.

    I've played with a few friends for a few days and other than sseing some chairs floating in the air, haven't noticed any bugs. I think the visuals look quite nice too.

    Until BF3, Red Orchestra 2, and Arma3 come out, this is will be getting a lot of play.

    Arma3 and BF3
    Edited by peppergomez at 08/08/11 @ 07:54