At a time where every game seems to be coming with increasingly more grandiose Limited Editions, featuring everything from a vinyl record, to a radio controlled car, or even a life size helmet, Operation Flashpoint: Red River seems almost unusual by comparison. The only version of the game you can buy comes with a box, a manual, and a disk - and that's about it. It's something of a missed opportunity though, as Red River is crying out for a special edition of its own - a "Beginner's Edition" that comes complete with a dictionary.
"Bravo, you're providing overwatch for Alpha."
"We've got an APC approaching the FOB - Bravo, take some AT guns and lay down some suppressing fire."
"This is Kirby. F*****g hell, I've been hit"
OK, so maybe the last one doesn't need that much translating, but it's indicative of the general tone of Flashpoint. A gritty, "authentic", squad-based military first person shooter, the rule of realism extends over to the language Red River uses - in every way possible. So when you're not trying to figure out what a particular acronym stands for, you're being sworn at, well, like a trooper, and trying to figure out how your team mates manage to come up with so many one liners, when they've presumably got other, more important things on their mind.
Shock and awe. Except that guy.
You see, there's nothing Flashpoint likes to do more than to make you feel like you're in the heart of a real life war. Bullets whizz around your head, throwing up dust and dirt all around you, lone tanks and jeeps occasionally roll past, in the brief moments you're granted anything in the way of support, and a lone insurgent with a sniper rifle is enough to make your life hell. An inch here or there can mean the difference between life or death, as a single bullet in the right place is all it takes to kill you. There are no space marines here - you're a real person, in a real war - but luckily, you're not alone.
With you on the front line is your Staff Sergeant, an aggressive, stereotypical American military type known as Sgt. Knox, who'll provide you with what you need to know during a mission, albeit in typical military slang. Whether you're escorting a convoy, clearing a village of insurgents, or simply holding off the incoming troops to give some injured personnel time to skedaddle, it's Knox you'll be listening to for where to go next - and it's up to you to pass those orders on to the rest of your four man unit.
The game's set in the real life country of Tajikistan, which forms a sort of bridge between the middle and Far East, sharing borders with China in the East, and Afghanistan in the South, making it the perfect flashpoint for the game's fictional - but still fairly close to real life - conflict. Thankfully, the story here isn't about the world going to war over oil, but instead starts with the conflict in Afghanistan, which spills over into Tajikistan when a Tajiki terrorist organisation known as the ETIM, fire shells at an American base. The US forces then retaliate, and attempt to wipe out the ETIM, only for the Chinese to have to same idea, as they've been having their own problems with the terrorist cell. Despite both forces having the same goals, they somehow come to blows, and the conflict starts to heat up from here on in.
With three friends in tow, making up your own Fireteam, Flashpoint starts to come into its own.
Thanks in part to the game's setting, each mission takes place over a huge area of land, with a vast, sprawling desert stretching out as far as the eye can see, without much in the way of buildings to get in your way. You'll be fighting with insurgents over long ranges, across the hills and valleys of Tajiki outback - which is something Flashpoint's keen to put to good use. As a game with an emphasis on authenticity, the long range firefights are one of Flashpoint's proudest features, as it's a lot trickier than shooting ducks in a barrel. If you want to hit an enemy standing on a hill on the other side of a valley, you'll need to take into account your bullet's trajectory - it's no good just firing at the head, as your bullet will lose speed and curve downwards as it flies, and all you'll be killing is the evil dandelion that just happened to be sitting in front of the armed insurgent. It's something that actually takes a lot of skill - and a fair amount of practice - to do right, especially when you're faced with a moving enemy.
With the series' emphasis on long distance combat, it was somewhat inexcusable that in Red River's predecessor, Dragon Rising, there was usually only one person per team that had access to a weapon that even had a scope, making shooting at people who weren't standing a few inches away from your face about as effective as firing spit balls at a battleship. For Red River, however, these problems have been nullified, as you can choose exactly what "class" of soldier you want to play as, and customise your weaponry to suit - and the vast majority of them come complete with a scope.
Scopes - making hitting insurgents easier since 1835.
Whereas before you could choose to play as a Sniper, a Medic, or a Rifleman, and your weapons and abilities changed to suit, in Red River, it seems everyone's become a bit of a jack of all trades, as there are very few differences between the four available classes. Whereas before, a Medic was the only person who could heal your wounds, now, anyone can run up to you and patch a potentially fatal injury. While it certainly makes things a bit easier, we can't help but feel something's missing now, as before your team all had their own differences, which made it feel like you had to pull together to see things through - you all served a specific purpose, and were essential parts of the wheel. Now, anyone can do anything, which makes your team mates seem expendable.
When you're not ducking and covering under insurgent fire (or perhaps while you are), you'll be ordering your aforementioned "Fireteam" around the battlefield. As the leader of a four man unit of marines, you'll be in charge of a group of supposedly lean, mean, fighting machines, who've been trained to obey your every order. By holding the right bumper, you can bring up an order wheel, which gives you a pretty intuitive way of ordering your men around the battlefield. All you have to do is look at a building, and push in the right direction, and your men will clear it of insurgents. When the stars are all properly aligned, it may even be possible to get through an entire level without firing a single shot yourself, as you've ordered your team to do all the hard work for you, while you cower in a bush. Tell them to jump, and they'll say how high. Cry out for help when you're wounded, and they'll come running.
Except... well... they won't.
The AI in Operation Flashpoint: Red River is, at times, abysmal. Far from being a lean, mean fighting machine, your unit seems to be the biggest bunch of pansies that have ever been admitted into the Corps. When they're fighting alongside you, they're fine - they're the big, strong, confident marines you'd expect. But it seems the second you tell them to do anything on their own, they turn into nervous wrecks. "Ooh-rah, we're marines! Oh wait, an order from the boss - he wants us to do something on our ow-OH-GOD-LOOK-OVER-THERE, IT'S-A-SHADOW-WE'RE-ALL-GONNA-DIE-oh wait it's a bush".
Marines running away. Yesterday.
On one level, we tried to order our team - who had much more suitable weapons than we did - to run on up ahead and assault a building. But no sooner had we issued the order than our fireteam froze in their tracks, and started looking around frantically. Then, they started shooting at something on the other side of the valley. We don't know what, as there was nothing there, but they were shooting at it anyway. Shortly afterwards, we died, and restarted at this section. This time, we just ran forwards without issuing any orders, and our troops stuck close to our side. Far more annoying is when you get hit, end up incapacitated, and need help if you want to stay alive. On three separate occasions in the first five missions, we were yelling to our team for help, who in turn just stood there, and watched us slowly die. We're pretty sure they'd be drummed out of the corps and dishonourably discharged for that.
All of this presents something of a problem for Flashpoint. Ordering your troops around makes completing the missions a lot easier, as you've effectively always got someone watching your back, or sending suppressing fire towards your enemies while you flank from the side. But because they don't listen, everything's a lot harder than it should be. If you're on your own, you'll have to turn into the one man army the game keeps trying to remind you you're not, simply because your team are so useless.
On the other hand, if you have any friends with access to the game, Flashpoint turns into an entirely different experience. With three friends in tow, replacing your pathetic fireteam squad, all of a sudden, you're put into the middle of a war with your brothers in arms by your side. Having a team who'll actually do as you say makes a huge difference to how the game plays - and that's not to mention the fact that, in multiplayer, death isn't the end. The second biggest problem with the single player game is the use of checkpoints that are ridiculously far apart. In a game where you often find yourself dying simply because your team doesn't listen, you'll find yourself having to play the same section over, and over again, until you finally find a strategy that works. In multiplayer, however, death is no longer the end. Should you be killed, all you'll have to do is wait a few seconds, and respawn back into the level. It makes things a lot less frustrating, especially as your chances of dying in the first place are a lot slimmer, as you've got a team by your side who'll actually come and rescue you when you need help. The poor spacing of checkpoints is something that really should have been addressed in the single player. Why punish people who want to play on their own - and, just as importantly, why is there no split screen?
If you're planning on going it alone, you may well find yourself put off by Flashpoint's poor difficulty level, made worse by the appalling AI of your team mates. As in a real war, you'll want the best men by your side - and that means playing in co-op, not single player. With three friends by your side, however, Flashpoint turns into a game you'll want to play - an authentic, gritty, first person shooter, that deals out realism and atmosphere in equal spades. Because of the night-and-day approach to the game in single and multiplayer, feel free to take a point off if you'll only be playing in single player, and add a point on if you'll always be playing in 4 player co-op.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
