Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad | |
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Developer(s) | Tripwire Interactive |
Publisher(s) | Tripwire Interactive 1C Company |
Distributor(s) | Valve Corporation |
Composer(s) | Sam Hulick |
Engine | Unreal Engine 3[1][2] |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
Release date(s) | 13 September 2011[3] |
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is a WWII themed first-person shooter video game developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. It is a sequel to Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. The title focuses heavily on the Battle of Stalingrad.[4]The game was released on 13 September 2011.[3] The developers have stated that the game is a PC exclusive and have no plans to bring it to the consoles. The game contains many new features including a new first person cover system combined with blind firing, first person collision detection as well as an entire new system of statistics tracking and enabling player development.[5]
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Red Orchestra 2 is a realistic first-person shooter. Guns behave realistically, with bullet drop and spin taken into account. The game also takes away with elements of a traditional HUD like an ammo counter, forcing players to remember, or manually check, the approximate amount of rounds that are left in the gun's magazine. When reloading a weapon, the character checks the weight of the new magazine and determines if it is heavy (full or close to full) or light (empty or close to empty).[6] The game's first person cover system allows players to hide behind all objects in the world to avoid gunfire. While in cover players can peek out to take more accurate shots or fire blindly. However the shape, size and composition of the object changes its effectiveness at protecting the player. Smaller objects may not cover the player's entire body and some may not stop bullets. Health does not regenerate over time or by use of medical equipment, but non fatal wounds must still be bandaged so no more health is lost through blood loss.[7]
There are Tanks in Red Orchestra 2, with more vehicles added in after the game's launch. The interiors of each tank are fully recreated with either human or AI controlled characters manning each station. The level of detail was described by Tripwire's president John Gibson as rival or exceeding tank simulation games.[8] Because of the extensive work required to recreate each vehicle, which Tripwire estimates to take three months each, the game launched with two tanks. The German Panzer IV and Soviet T-34. Two more tanks and two troop carriers are in production and will be added to the game for free shortly after launch.[9]
In June 2011 Red Orchestra 2's developer Tripwire announced they would be taking an aggressive, three pronged approach to proactively deal with cheating. Red Orchestra 2 would be using a combination of three anti-cheat services; VAC along with Punkbuster and a related service called PBBans.[10] Server operators can choose to use any or none of these services. Tripwire later clarified that punkbuster for Red Orchestra 2 will have three levels of protection so server operators can optionally make punkbuster more or less aggressive in kicking players.[11] A Beta was initiated early on the development process with several phases. First, the Family and Friends Beta for family members and friends of the Tripwire Interactive Staff. Then the Beta moved on to include long time clans from Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 and clans new to the game. After this stage, the Beta was opened for anyone that had pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, which gave the added bonus of participating in the final stage of the Beta.
The developers have confirmed that there will be free post-launch DLC's that will contain new vehicles, maps and weapons. Tripwire also announced an expansion to the game in May, 2010, titled Rising Storm.[12] It will focus on the Pacific campaign of World War II. It most likely will be available without charge for owners of Red Orchestra 2.
Composer Sam Hulick, composer from the Mass Effect trilogy, was chosen to score the game.[13] The game will feature a dynamic music system, which will queue different music depending on the state of the battle. The Russian and German sides will have their own separate soundtrack.
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad has received generally favorable reviews. According to Metacritic the game scored 76/100. IGN:PC gave the game 8/10.
Reception | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Aggregator | Score |
GameRankings | 78.89%[14] |
Metacritic | 76/100[15] |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
GameSpy | 4.5/5[16] |