Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of BANGyou'redead

[Lu]

So I bought this game. It looked kind of interesting and, what do you know, it kind of is! It walks a fine line between realism and playability. I was feeling kind of down on it when I played it the first couple of times, but holy crap, it didn't really click for me until I sat down for it tonight. Some of the most intense moments I've had in a shooter for a while. Also, some of the most frustrating moments ever.

No crosshair, so iron sights. You can adjust your iron sights for distance and as far as I know there is a pretty realistic ballistics system. Head and heart = dead. If you shoot an enemy in a non-critical place, they can bleed to death if they're not patched up. There is a cover system and so far it has been sometimes useful. Be prepared to shoot a lot of teammates because you don't know if their uniform is German or Russian. The maps really go for realism with realistically scaled everything; if there is a building, you can go in it. There are different roles, though there might be, for example, just 1 marksman slot and 19 riflemen slots.

Crawling behind enemy lines is tense as hell. Surprising a whole group of dudes and just mowing them down is incredibly satisfying. I shot a guy in the throat on some stairwell and he lay there bleeding to death and gurgling for at least 10 seconds. I felt bad, so I shot him dead after those 10 seconds.

Honestly, I still don't have the faintest idea what I'm doing. I'm pretty terrible at it, but dammit if it isn't enjoyable and interesting. Although... This is probably the last WW2 game I'll ever buy. PRO TIP: Turn off the music, it's absolutely terrible.

[brkl]

I preordered it and haven't played it for half an hour. It's a mess. I can't get through the tutorial because of a bug, controlling my dude feels just way off, performance is rubbish, looks rubbish, eww eww eww.

[Lu]

I've heard of that perfomance bug. I've played for a while now and the only problem I've had was this one time where it wouldn't spawn me even though I was uh... spawn-ready? Other than that, smooth sailing. Runs great, looks great.

[Orv]

I wish so hard that I could run this. I desire it with every fibre of my being. Unfortunately, it's not something I have to play (a la Skyrim) so I won't be upgrading at the moment to do so.

[a purple future]

even my p.o.s. computer runs it at 25-30fps, it's not that bad

i like it quite a bit but holy christ is it unfriendly. it's incredibly difficult to tell friend from foe, especially since most firefights take place at the "shooting at pixels" level. it's not always easy to tell where your objectives are, and on and on.

at a base level it's really good. it's just... let me put it this way: ARMA is easier to wrap your head around.

[Orv]

Well, I can run every other UE3 game out there just fine, but somewhat inexplicably, when I tried to load the pre-order beta, it just sat at the UE3 wrapper splash screen and never went anywhere. So I got a refund.

[Lu]

i like it quite a bit but holy christ is it unfriendly. it's incredibly difficult to tell friend from foe, especially since most firefights take place at the "shooting at pixels" level. it's not always easy to tell where your objectives are, and on and on.

Oh yes, this. But you do get better at it. I can tell most of the time who is who now. In the beginning, there were a few times where I saw a guy and I waited for the longest time to shoot him, because I wasn't sure if friend or foe. I waited until he shot someone else and I saw the colour of his name in the "who killed who" list. On the plus side, I blew his head off with an Anti-Tank rifle. I'm truly, absolutely AWFUL at the game. Apparently it requires a playstyle that is completely foreign to me, because usually I'm not terrible at shooters.

I had the most epic moment yesterday, where I was crawling through a field, shit exploding around me. I crawl out of the ditch I'm in and there I see 2 enemy soldiers busy shooting my teammates. I am elated! I have been on the server for 10 minutes and I haven't managed to shoot anyone yet. I take aim.

...

I get shot by a teammate. GODFUCKINGDAMMIT.

Edited September 17, 2011 by PiratePooAndHisBattleship

[a purple future]

It does get easier. The hats are a big giveaway.

I had a similar moment, I found a place to go prone and provide covering fire and I was picking off guy after guy while my team advanced and then some retard teammate shot me from behind.

[K-bohls!]

Oh man do I love Red Orchestra. I would say RO2 is better then the first, or at least will be when it runs above 30 frames on my PC. The first stage of the DDE beta ran the best for me, which means that there patching has in fact decreased how much I enjoy it. I heard if you turn off the Steam Community it runs better and I haven't played it since the first patch after launch so hopefully that will fix some lag problems.

Also, the best way to tell friendly vs. enemies is to look at their running animation. Germans run with their gun held in one hand at their side, Soviets hold their gun with both hands and swing it in front of them. And make sure to lead your targets! Finally, the cover system is kinda the worst and just maneuvering your guy around, like in RO1, is probably a better idea in most situations.

[Armchair General]

I want to join you in this Pirate but I am too poor right now.

BOO FUCKING HOO