Operation Flashpoint: Red River

One word - AWESOME.  Screw the reviews from popular websites.  This isn't a game made by Bungie or has the word 'Duty' in the title - that doesn't mean it isn't good.  It isn;t perfect, but how many games these days are?  However, it is different than the last version - Dragon Rising.

Dragon Rising was all about realism.  The bullet drop was realistic.  Teufelhunden11, a member of this site, was a marine shooting instructor.  He said Dragon Rising has the most realistic ballistics of any video game he has played.  For Red River they toned it down a little.  There is bullet drop but it isn't as strict as Dragon Rising.  They also replaced the radio silence of Dragon Rising with a staff segeunt that does not shut up - but he has awesome one liners.  "I am going to beat you so hard Google won't be able to find you."

Red River has removed multiplayer.  I didn't like multiplayer in Dragon Rising - very repetative.  It seems like civil war style fighting.  Everyone gets in a line and fires at each other.  I think that is why most people didn't like it.  But what was awesome in Dragon Rising was co-op.  With Red River they improved that.  First, they made it true drop in/drop out.  A friend can join at any time replacing an AI player and when the person leaves AI takes over.  Second as squad leader you are not stuck with the rifleman class.  Any player can choose which class to play as so you could have an entire squad of snipers if you choose so.

With the classes Red River took a page out of CoD's book - ranking up and unlocks.  As you rank up you unlock weapon attachments, grenades, training proficiency (like weapon handling), and skill points to assign to different abilities (like accuracy or target identification) for each class as you use that class.  My only gripe with this is how long it takes to unlock the frag grenade.  There were several instances in the early levels where I wish I had a frag grenade to clear out a bunker.  Right now my rifleman class has a primary weapon of the M16 with a grenade launcher and snipers scope.  My secondary weapon is an M4 with a holosight for CQB.  As squad leader I am using binoculars and frags as my equipment.

In Red River there are two game modes - campaign and firefight.  Campaign is obvious - there is a story line.  The missions are lengthy and as varied as the Dragon Rising was.  This is definitely not a sit down and play for 10 minutes game.  This doesn't mean it isn't a slow game though.  Some levels you are moving around slowly and checking your corners.  Other levels, like the convoy level, are fast paced as you are always in a rush to stay in front of the convoy and just reacting to anyone firing at you.  On some levels if you can get to a checkpoint in time you can get air support or artillery support for the next section.  The AI is stupid, just like in Dragon Rising, so you will want to play with others.  I lost my entire team because they decided to stand in the middle of the road while the convoy ran them over.  However, making the AI autoriflemen and telling them to suppress an enemy is a great asset.  That gives you the oppurtunity to flank.

Firefight contains several modes like a horde style mode and single level style mode.  I have yet to play any of these.  I hope they are better than what Dragon Rising had.  I hope to check this out as this is another way to rank up the classes.

IGN's biggest gripe is the downtime - the helicopter rides and jeep rides in between missions.  I actually find this a good thing.  Since the missions are long this gives you time for a break.  Plus this is where you learn the story and why you are doing what you do.  I mean, Halo has some lengthy cut scenes - does anyone complain about that?

Gamespot's main gripe is poor AI.  I already noted this and it can easily be resolved with some friends :)  Gamespot also doesn't like the graphics.  I can feel their pain here.  Most everything is similar in color - like a Gears of War.  There are times when an enemy is shooting at me and I cannot see them at all because the colors are washed out by the lens flare from the sun.  All I can see is the tracers so I shoot in that general direction.