Operation Flashpoint: Red River...any good?

[Skywalker_T-65]

Well, my first post in the Gaming forum. I was just wondering if any of my fellow SD.netters have played this game. I have both the original OFP (including the expansion packs, Red Hammer and Resistance) along with Dragon Rising. I was planning on getting Red River too...but I haven't heard good things about it...among others the fact that it is just a 'slightly' more realistic COD or Battlefield game. That was the impression I got from DR also, so I was wondering if Red River is any good. I don't expect it to be like OFP (one of my all time favorite games) but I am hoping it is less Operation: Modern Warfare ( ), and more like the original. Thanks in advance.

[weemadando]

The campaign is terrible. The skirmish scenarios are OK. Only ever look at it when it's on the deepest of discounts

And if you want to play more of the original OFP, why not just get ArmA2?

[Skywalker_T-65]

^And that is what I was afraid of. I have not heard good things about Red River, which considering DR, shouldn't surprise me. As for ARMA, my computer is barely up to running the original OFP, let alone ARMA 2. Though it is on my wish list when I get a new computer. Along with ARMA 3 which is supposed to be out this year.

[CaptHawkeye]

They canned the studio that made Red River and Dragon Rising anyway. Boring games really, they had it coming.

[Tolya]

Stay away from Red River and any OpFlash games made by Codemasters. They've put so much effort into making awesome prerendered prerelease teasers that they forgot to make the game any good.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Stay away from Red River and any OpFlash games made by Codemasters. They've put so much effort into making awesome prerendered prerelease teasers that they forgot to make the game any good.

I have Dragon Rising, so trust me I know. I was just hoping (falsely as it turns out) that Red River would be good. Makes me wish I had a good computer so I could get ARMA 2, the actual OFP sequel (darn Codemasters for taking the rights...).

[Edward Yee]

Codemasters has shelved the series/IP to focus on racing games, although this was after that studio's next shooter Bodycount (billed as the spiritual successor to BLACK) flopped too. As Bohemia Interactive put it when "protesting" Dragon Rising's billing as "the sequel" to the original OFP, all Codemasters legally took was the name.

Anecdote: During the 2011 Steam Holiday Sale, ARMA 2 and Operation Arrowhead were $9.99 each or $14.99 as a two-pack bundle throughout (50% discount), while as one of the daily deals Dragon Rising was $2.99 and Red River was $7.99 (80% discount) the year of its release.

No one wants to see a Flashpoint Rising in the Green Sea region.

Skywalker_T-65, why not resort to ARMA 2: Free in the meantime? If you'd rather have it through Steam, just go to ARMA 2's store page and choose Download Demo, they replaced the original single-player demo with ARMA 2: Free. It's now multiplayer-compatible with Operation Arrowhead, so getting OA will override A2F's lack of mod support.

[Skywalker_T-65]

^ Yeah, but they ruined the name. Like I said in the first post, it was more 'Operation: Call of Duty' ( ) than OFP. And from what I've heard RR took away the map editor, most of the multiplayer, the open world...and just about anything that made the original OFP good. As for Bodycount, I haven't seen much of it, but I've heard it sucks. Which again, I liked BLACK, so that means Codemasters flopped again. I mean, the only thing that Codemasters did good with OFP was Flashpoint: Elite, the X-Box port...and even then they took away a large chunk of missions (including all of Red Hammer, my favorite campaign) and heavily modded the remaining ones.

As for ARMA 2: Free, I would get it, but my computer just isn't capable of running anything newer than SW Battlefront 2 (can't even run it very well...). I'm using the laptop my school gave me to do this right now, the home computer is so old it is barely good for anything beyond OFP (original). I will get anything ARMA related when I have a new computer, but that is still a while off. Hence interest in Red River...maybe...being good. Which it isn't.

[Steel]

I found DR to be more demanding than ArmA2 for the same level of quality. Combined with that, I was astounded that DR managed to take all the bad bits of OFP, none of the good bits, and tacked on the crap bits of CoD. Literally no redeeming features. Unless Red River was described as totally different to DR there is no reason to go near it.

[Skywalker_T-65]

^ That's the thing though...from all I've heard they took even more of the OFP style from Red River. Which means it sucks even more than DR! I can't believe Codemasters flopped so bad...twice!

[Edward Yee]

^ Yeah, but they ruined the name. Like I said in the first post, it was more 'Operation: Call of Duty' ( ) than OFP. And from what I've heard RR took away the map editor, most of the multiplayer, the open world...and just about anything that made the original OFP good.

I'll let RR "creative director" Sion Lenton explain that one:

“We want to steer away from the idea that it’s a simulation; we’ve banned the word in the studio. Authentic is fine, as it gives you some leeway to be creative, and that’s what we are. We’re creative, we’re making an entertainment product, and it should be fun. I don’t really get much fun out of military simulations. They’re immersive, they’re realistic, but I wouldn’t call them fun.

“If you want simulation, then it’s out there; go play ArmA. We wanted to do something different, in our own space, and we don’t want the Op Flash brand tied down to simulation.”

It's one thing to be acting "we're not act like something we're not and you can go play something else," it's another to both actually namedrop that competitor and to for any reason tell people to go play that. No wonder Bohemia Interactive got the last laugh (and thus doesn't have a direct competitor to force them to change some of their underlying issues like not starting from scratch with the engine)!

Red Hammer, my favorite campaign

DO NOT get the 1.99 patch that BI released for the tenth anniversary of OFP, it removes Red Hammer... and renames the game to ARMA: Cold War Assault. Just stick to 1.96 if you must have Red Hammer.

What's your planned budget for the "ARMA computer"? I can continue that talk over in PM.

[Stark]

Simulation it's play is often a code word for clunky, boring, buggy and niche play so it's no surprise people want to distance their product from it. If the OFP games had been even slightly good they would have sold fine.