Operation Flashpoint: Red River

Military shooter Operation Flashpoint: Red River is Codemasters’ follow-up to 2009’s Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. For the uninitiated, the Operation Flashpoint series has traditionally strived to bring heightened authenticity and realism to the genre, and as such has always rather neatly represented the difficulty any developer faces when forced to balance said realism with player frustration. Red River breaks neither tradition; while improving on Dragon Rising by bringing a welcome sense of humour and more forgiving gunplay to the table, it still falls short of providing as consistently refined and compelling an experience as genre giants Call of Duty and Battlefield can.

Aesthetically, Red River is generally strong. Throughout the admittedly familiar campaign (expect it to last around 10 hours), the player orders their four man squad through huge open areas against beautiful mountainous backdrops, always alongside friendly squads with convincingly animated and detailed character models. On occasion, however, low-res textures fail to upscale as you move closer, and also trees and buildings will noticeably pop into view whilst travelling in vehicles. Proceedings are enlivened by snappy, genuinely funny dialogue, in particular from your commanding NCO, who seems to be on a personal mission to out-swear Bulletstorm. A particular highlight was when he berated me for being a “slack-ass pussy fart”, which I confess I did probably deserve at the time. This exuberance is also present in the similarly entertaining cutscenes between missions, and is a welcome addition to the series, although taken out of context some content could perhaps be fairly criticised for racial insensitivity.

As mentioned, Red River places the player in the role of squad leader, tasking them with the command of three soldiers. The unpredictable behaviour of those squadmates is the game’s biggest failing. As with most shooters, cover is the lynchpin of strategy, and will determine both the route you take through the large maps and your success against an accurate and tactically aware enemy force. It’s disappointing then that, as with Dragon Rising, your squadmates continually fail to grasp the concept, and will consistently move out of cover like it smells funny despite explicit orders to the contrary. It’s not uncommon to spend more than 60 seconds in the middle of a firefight carefully positioning each of your squadmates in what appear to be sound tactical positions, only to then have them inexplicably wander out of cover towards the enemy force like a lost lamb.

Enemies can incapacitate you and your squadmates in just a couple of shots, and will do so even in the rare cases when your team holds their ground, let alone when they wander off. It’s good then, that the co-op experience is a different kettle of fish. Up to four players can tackle the campaign together, but things improve immensely with just one human companion in tow. The expansive battlegrounds you find yourself in provide ample opportunities for flanking and surprise attacks on the opposing forces, and those sorts of tactics are far more easily realised with some voice chat and another pair of human hands.

Friends can also join in with additional game modes, called “Fireteam Engagements”. These take the form of stock mission types, e.g. escorting convoys or holding a single point against endless waves of enemies. They’re good fun, and bring to mind the oddly relaxing Terrorist Hunt mode of Rainbow Six Vegas and its sequel. One of the key differences between Red River and other tactical shooters like the aforementioned and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter is the range at which you engage the enemy. It feels easier to hit your target despite this range (and the resulting need to account for bullet drop) in Red River than it was in Dragon Rising, thus making the resulting pitched firefights less frustrating.

Your character has several attributes, for example sprint speed and assault rifle accuracy, which you can improve using experience points earned for success in campaign missions and Fireteam Engagements. There are four classes for you choose from in all game modes: Rifleman, Grenadier, Scout and Auto-Rifleman. As you play as each, you unlock weapon customizations, gadgets and combat bonuses (perks), which can open up new avenues of strategy and help to keep things fresh. There is a lack of competitive multiplayer modes, but in fairness the game lends itself far more greatly to co-operative rather than adversarial action so this is no glaring omission.

For the most part, Red River improves on Dragon Rising, providing as it does a more accessible balance between authenticity and gratification. However, it is still a challenging game that tests players’ reflexes, aim, decision-making and concentration regularly, often with little margin for error. Unfortunately this healthy challenge is compounded by teammate AI that frequently leaves a lone player with almost all of the work to do themselves. Co-operative play with communicative friends improves the experience greatly, and is where Red River really shines.