Operation Flashpoint: Red River

Ultimately, you have to admire Red River for at least attempting something with such a unique sense of character.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River will please fans of the last game, but will still leave players of the PC originals out in the cold. It's the best military sim on consoles yet, as far as we're concerned, but in the time since Dragon Rising launched, we expected a bit more from the sequel.

However, not many game companies have taken the risk to make a shooter that is as near to realistic as possible, and Red River is not too far from the mark. So if you want a shooter that will challenge you then pick up Operation Flashpoint Red River and lock and load, oorah!

Codemasters tries to bring its Operation Flashpoint series into different territory by giving Red River a cinematic feel and accelerated gameplay mechanics that its predecessors didn't have. It doesn't fail completely as this new entry is serviceable enough for those who never got around to playing a single entry in the franchise. As for the hardcore fans, well, they are experienced enough to get accustomed to things, but that doesn't mean they'll be happy about it.

There simply has to be some compromise between keeping the game world authentic and keeping it interesting. [Issue#109, p.106]

While poor programming undermines the single-player, Operation Flashpoint: Red River offers an engaging and challenging cooperative experience for shooter fans of all levels.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River doesn't play well on its own due to its bad AI. The online mode does offer a good experience, but isn't especially unique or amazing. The addition of a splitscreen-mode could've changed that, but Codemasters chose not to include such a thing.

Red River resembles a game six months of tweaking away from being a masterpiece. As it stands, it's intermittently thrilling (particularly in the larger firefights), but fans of the Flashpoint series will be disappointed by the relatively narrow battlegrounds of Red River and newbies may be utterly bored by the time the first handful of missions are completed. There's definitely room in the FPS world for the kind of cerebral, tactical shooter that this game aspires to be, and beyond a slack initial offering are riches that hint at how great Operation Flashpoint: Red River could be.

All those already tired of FPSs with action and "noise" all over the place, have here an extremely challenging alternative, that is simply delicious in "hardcore".

Still an ambitious FPS, but now trying - and failing - to please too many people at once. [June 2011, p.76]

If you do have friends with the same console who are willing to pick up a copy of the game, it's a no-brainer. In terms of execution, Operation Flashpoint: Red River demolishes all comers - and thanks to a heavy dose of replayability, I'd even recommend it over Portal 2's coop.

Make no mistake: the latest iteration in the Operation Flashpoint series has plenty wrong with it. But it burger-chomping, chain-smoking heart beats with a fiery tenacity that's unrivaled in the current console era. [June 2011, p.78]

Operation Flashpoint: Red River lacks polish, refinement, and optimisation. The addition of a discernible narrative structure also fails to impress. Nonetheless, gamers looking for something different in an FPS and fans of military realism might find themselves a very rough diamond here.

It's a real shame that Codemasters hasn't created a more involving set of missions with Red River, its campaign sagging at both ends of its entertaining middle, and while their attempt at streamlining the experience lessens the series' frustrations, the core game will still prove too delicate for many players.

Red River places one step above Dragon Rising. The game adds some new features that give the title more accessibility, but it lacks in general refinement. AI is poor and so are the graphics and some of the tactical mechanics. Coop mode works well but is not the perfect replacement for PvP, which is totally absent in the game.

Red River is a big step back from its predecessor, delivering less content (vehicles are almost gone) and a lame AI, which spoils most of the single player fun. On the other hand, online coop is well developer, and it makes the experience more enjoyable. If you are a fan of the brand, consider buying only if you have four friends to play online with.

Red River certainly has its moments - especially when it's played with friends - but the clumsy attempt to gain acceptance from the trash-talking masses leaves it inadvertently feeling like an advertisement for pacifism. [May 2011, p.88]

While I applaud the authenticity that Operation Flashpoint: Red River brings back to the FPS genre, mediocre graphics and sound, and some noticeable gameplay hitches prevent this from being a really good title. The co-op mode is definitely worth a try with friends though, and those looking for a more authentic shooter experience might really enjoy this one. Be forewarned, there is a steep learning curve to be found in this game.

Unfortunately, the genuinely entertaining humour, strong cooperative play and a surprisingly great soundtrack of familiar tracks do more to make me wonder about what could have been than push Red River into 'must-buy' territory.

It's a smarter, more tactical shooter than most, but not worthy of the Flashpoint name. [July 2011, p.94]

I've played this game for tens of hours, thought about it another few, and now written a review, and I still don't know exactly what the developers intended.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River features realistic and challenging missions but is often hampered by poor AI and other frustrations.

Provides a unique and satisfying experience despite its flaws.

Rather than tweaking and improving, they dropped the idea altogether, which nowadays seems to be a death knell for a game in this genre. Co-Op multiplayer, however, is always good fun if you can find patient gamers looking to spend an afternoon hashing out strategies and taking down enemy forces with brains over brawn. For everybody else, however, seeking that goodtime first person shooter where you can cycle through co-op friendlies and every man for himself gunfights, move on. This isn't the game for you.

Red River may not appeal to everyone – our sense is that it's too hardcore for the console crowd and doesn't have enough of a unique identity for the PC crowd – but that shouldn't dissuade fans of the series or of modern-warfare shooters from taking a playthrough.

Operation Flashpoint's efforts to deliver a tactical-based FPS experience are admirable. Unfortunately, the poor AI prevents the game from succeeding, leaving the cooperative multiplayer as its one saving grace.

Weak graphics, bad AI and a non-spectacular presentation will keep you upset about the game. There are a lot of bugs in Operation Flashpoint Red River.

It is frequently nail-biting but falls short of being consistently engrossing, but Codemasters have stayed true to their ethos of simulation – at the cost of spectacle – which is worth examining if you tire of being an one man army.

Instead of shoring up Dragon Rising's shortcomings and improving the Operation Flashpoint experience, this sequel stubbornly clings to the quest for realism while ignoring the technical issues plaguing both games. [June 2011, p.90]

The engagements of Red River are a nuanced and precise art, one entirely at odds with the hollow cockiness of the cast and one that underscores the real war going on between Operation Flashpoint's essence and its new macho attitude. [June 2011, p.90]

Some poor design choices and a sometimes awful A.I., truly destroy what could have been a great tactical shooter. Thank God for that interesting co-op mode.

Red River is not a bad game, but it's not an Operation Flashpoint anymore.

The co-op is excellent from time to time, but the A.I. is too daft, and there's no balance in the confrontationss.

Offensive both in terms of language and diluted potential, although saved to a degree by its strong team-based action.

Operation Flashpoint: Red River trades the series' previous focus on open world tactical innovation for an improved focus on storytelling, and still offers solid tactical gameplay, but loses some of the key features of the series in the process.

However well done the game is from a technical standpoint, its actual content makes a mockery of the men and the operations it tries so very hard to flatter.

If you are into shooters, then there are definitely better titles than this one. Operation Flashpoint: Red River suffers from slow pacing and too much time not even taking part in firefights. It deals more with having you playing Nurse Nightingale healing yourself and your team than a death-dealing marine. If that sounds like your idea of a good time, then go nuts.

The idea of an open-ended, multi-squad, strategic, cooperative shooter is incredible, and during those short bursts when Red River comes together-especially when playing with friends-there are few games like it. But there are so many issues, both large and small, that you'll have to overlook a lot of flaws in order to enjoy it.

Just as its play is caught between extremes of realism and spectacle, its story is caught between saying something meaningful about American warfare in the 21st century and the dull-eyed, barrel-chested jingoism of gaming's worst examples.

Perhaps I've been spoilt by the simplfied structure in other first person shooters, but it doesn't have to be this complicated in order to add depth to the gameplay. This would have worked better if the game wasn't riddled with a seemingly endless list of bugs and painful loading times. Now it just feels old and tired.