Operation Flashpoint:Red River

You know the formula: first person shooter, compact designed maps and mission, run around playing Rambo and generally trashing the local scenic attractions, right? Wrong!


I should have realised this was going to be different when, instead of the gentile ‘tourist guide’ tutorial, we got a sergeant who immediately launched into a tirade liberally sprinkled with expletives, I've never heard so much effing n jeffing in a game as this. We are in the US Marines, and I and the other three team members of Bravo Squad are the fresh meat in-country.


I thought the creative and prolific cussing was a bit extreme at times, but the in-game language is all part of the atmosphere. You do feel like you are in a front line camp as you’re hurried along to the obligatory tutorial section to try out your weapons and some of your stances. Just to ensure you don't get lost, there’s a helpful trail of waypoints to follow. Weapons use is your standard ‘point and shoot’, left trigger to zoom in, reload button and in hand item change button.

After the brief tutorial a mortar hits close to camp and the real action starts.The Sarge screams for us to mount up in trucks and Humvees, and we set off to track down the location of the mortars. Racing through a dusty track, you are immediately amazed by the vast mission areas, and also at how your sergeant can deliver a mission briefing with every second word being some variant of the F-word.

The unfolding story and the immediacy of the events don’t allow you much time to come to grips with the game dynamics – particularly when it comes to controlling the rest of your squad. I personally would have appreciated more of a tutorial session, before being chucked in at the deep end. But once you get to grips with calling out orders you only use a select few of them due to your own style of play, well this is how I got by anyway.

Arriving at some nondescript village, Bravo Team is ordered to take point and push through the centre of the village. No problem… We’ll just apply the standard tactics: chaaarge!. Straight to the first mud wall, over the top and straight into them. Bang. You’re dead.

Yep, you just learnt the hard way that this game is all about realism. Heroes don't last long in this army. A direct body shot will more than likely kill you. Wounds can also knock you off your feet. There’s no ‘recovery over time’ mechanic, either. You either have to apply your own field dressing or get a buddy to do it. This takes time and results in you swapping out your gun for bandages. Not a good idea during a fire fight.

"I would have made it if it weren’t for the rest of my squad. Lazy buggers just stood there and let me get killed".

Well this is where you give the commands. The right hand shoulder button calls up a command wheel, which allows you to give movement, tactical and formation orders to the rest of your team. Computer controlled squad members then move and react as required.
What does strike you about the game is how realistic it feels. Targets are very hard to spot, with tracer rounds and rough directions from your teammates being about the only way to get an idea of where the enemy is. You find yourself scanning likely hideouts and vantage points as you advance, and shooting at shadows in the off chance there is somebody there. The intensity is not helped by the sarge giving you an earful when you don't push forward fast enough, but if you don't take it carefully you will be terrorist toast.

What also strikes you is the range of some of the combat. You are often targeting over quite long distances, which is all right if you are the scout squad member with the sniper rifle, but if you are the auto gunner, grenadier or rifleman it is basically shoot and pray that you make contact down range. Your skills improve over time, depending on the squad position you play, with a role playing element of allocating skill points as you gain more experience.

It’s easy to run out of ammo though. Luckily, you can swap out your own weapons for those of the enemy. These are less reliable though, and they tend to jam at the wrong time. The main emphasis in the game design is realism, and this is no more evident than in how the combat unfolds. It's loud, noisy, confused, and the terrorist are devious enough to flank you, ambush you, or snipe you. It’s a tough business, playing war.

Ultra realistic game design is all well and good, but it raises an interesting question: have the designers sacrificed gameplay in favour of realism? This is no place for beginners, after all. If you have no tactical nous you’ll find yourself reloading (the game, not your weapon) time and again at the last checkpoint, until you finally give up in frustration. Gameplay can be difficult and unforgiving… a bit like the Tajikistan terrain, really.

This is a realistic game of tactics and not a casual shooter. I like how the missions are all connected though, and many incidents are strung together to progress the story as you go. I really felt I was in a war zone and there were big events going on around me. It’s not easy to play, even on normal level and some players could find the overall game frustrating. This is how war should be, pinning enemys back with suppressive fire, flanking and calling in air assistance. Not running down corridors dodging grenades and OTT slow motion setpieces allowing you loads of time to get the headshot.


The graphics are not bad, though. I liked the subtle scenery changes as you advanced further inland. The border is littered with wrecked and bombarded houses, and as you progress into the missions the buildings tend to be more intact, with fewer signs of conflict scarring the scenery. The changing light conditions are also very good, and a hindrance if you are facing into the sun. Some of the design is a bit lazy at times, maybe me being picky but things like a helicopter landing and the grass and trees don't even move or bend in a game that boasts realism is plain lazy in my opinion.

Overall, I would rate Operation Flashpoint: Red River as a good game, but one that requires tactical patience and some skill. A very hard game to play solo, but certainly with a partner or a whole squad of mates it’s far more enjoyable, and in some ways more doable. I have now gone back through the missions to try and gold medal them and I don't find myself getting bored of going back, a good sign surely.

So far the achievements have been a piece of cake so the full 1000 is not far off now and I will probably get the DLC when it's out. The thing that has grabbed me about this game is the RPG elements to it. I found that once I could max out the auto rifleman to level 20 I could then have a level 20 AI controlled auto rifleman in my squad as I move onto another class. This makes the AI a bit of a beast when in singleplayer. So certain missions like ones that require a lot of sniping for example should become much easier if you max out the scout and change two of your squad to scouts at level 20 and the perks that come with it.

After a week of playing this I would have given this 6.5 out of ten but now I have stuck with it, got familiar with squad commands and leveled up it gets a solid 8/10

Nice review

I had this for about 3 weeks from Lovefilm, but never played it. Was the same with Dragon Rising too.

I really wanna play em, but only in Co Op, and noone seemed to be playing this when I got it

Nice review mate, I had the last game and quite liked it especially in hardcore mode might give this one a go when the price drops a bit

Thanks guys
I got this game when it dropped to £24.99 at GAME but its back up to £29.99 at the moment.

Good review mate..

I had this from lovefilm but really wasn't for me!