Red Orchestra 2

Heroes of Stalingrad

Table of Contents

 Introduction(What is Red Orchestra 2)………2

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  Intro.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is a World War II-themed tactical first-person shooter video
game developed and published by Tripwire Interactive. The title focuses heavily on the Battle of
Stalingrad. The game was released in September 2011. The developers have stated that the game is a
Windows exclusive and have no plans to bring it to consoles. The game contains many new features,
including a new first-person cover system combined with blind firing, first person collision detection, as
well as an entirely new system of statistics tracking and player development.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review
aggregation website Metacritic.

As brilliant as it may have been for its tactical gameplay,the game received negative reviews for its flawed
A.I,which almost ruined the singleplayer campaign.Also the system requirements seemed to be too much to
handle for most computers.

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Minimum System Requirements

 OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

 Processor: Dual Core 2.3 GHz or better

 RAM: 2 GB

 Graphics card: 256 MB SM 3.0 DX9 Compliant NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX or better

 Sound: Windows Supported Sound Card

 DirectX: DirectX 9.0c

 Hard Drive: 8 GB free hard drive space

Recommended System Requirements:

 OS: Windows XP/Vista/7

 Processor: Quad Core 2.6 GHz or better

 RAM: 3 GB

 Graphics card: 512 MB SM 3.0 DX9 Compliant NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or better

 Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy or better

 DirectX: DirectX 9.0c

 Hard Drive: 8 GB free hard drive space

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  Personal opinion
Even before it was launched,I had the feeling that this was a game almost built for my specific needs
and desires,as it doesn`t resemble anything on the modern market,especially the AAA industry,which
were and currently are grinding incredible amounts of games at unbelievably fast rates,at the expense
of anything related to realism,and sometimes quality.
This game is unbelievably realistic and ,honestly,is as close as I ever want to get to real combat.There
are no hitbars,no HUDs(*which include ammo counters,so you have to check the magazine manually,to
feel whether is heavy or close to full,or light or close to empty),also one-shot kills are pretty
common,which gives you the feeling that every time you join a match whether it is with bots or human
players,there is definently going to be a bullet with your name on it.Also,if shots don`t kill the character
instantly,these will bleed him to death or even allow the player to hear the screams of pain,which there
are plenty of(19 mins for the Russians and 24 mins for the germans,to be precise,whichI found by
digging trough the game files).Needless to say,your moves are sluggish and the more you carry the
more sluggish you get.
The singleplayer campaign seemed appealing,especially since there are two of these.One is with you
battling for the germans and the other is with you fighting for the Russian.needless to say,the action
takes place in Stalingrad,or …what was left of it.The missions are introduced by means of 2d
cutscenes,filled with ww2 themed propaganda posters of both German and Russian origin.Also the
objectives are also narrated by English speaking people with German/Russian accents,which can either
help with the immersion or be funny as most people find them silly,which is why you can replace them
with Russian or German narration,if so you wish…however the A.I of the bots is bad,which can lead
them to not following orders,or becoming easy kills to the other bots,which are waiting for you.Also this
is the first time you get to see just how brutal urban combat can get,especially when you are just 10
meters apart from them,which means that you need to be precacious,especially when using explosives
or artillery strikes…
The multiplayer is,as the disclaimer on the box said,a variable experience…you can either dominate the
scoreboards or kill feed,or you can play the small fish,in a pond of experimented players and
campers…Also,if the bots kept on running around rejoice,because no one is doing the same mistakes
in multiplayer,unless they are forced to,and when they do,they almost always throw smoke screens,for
obvious reasons…by far the most played and,at the same time hated characters are marksmen and
commanders.The marksmen gets a lot of hate for picking off players at long ranger,more than 200
meters,and the commander can call artillery strikes,forcing you to abandon a hardly earned objective
just because someone has just learned how to use a radio.

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  Gameplay
There are a multitude of factors which influence the way this game is played.Except for the cruel
realism the most important of these are:
1. Weaponry

Gameplay-wise,the game provides you with a plethora of weapons to kill your closer self,weapons
which include anything from pistols to tanks,therefore you can choose your playing style.These
weapons are given to certain classes.
Needless to say if you play the Commander or the Marksmen you already know what to do.
If you play the Engineer,you are to clear obstacles and to destroy tanks.
If you play Anti-tank,you are to destroy tanks with the equipment the engineer doesn`t get,like the anti-
tank rifle.
If you play Assault,you are to capture objectives…
If you play the average Rifleman,then you are to hold the objectives and to do a little bit of most of the
above..

Regarding weapons,you get to use only authentic weapons with the according modifications,such as
drum magazines,scopes,bayonettes and so on.Also,besides the fact that the weapons are real,they
also feel real,the recoil is pretty much ruining your accuracy and the overheating can put a stop to
firing,but the reloads are done the way which these should be done.These animations have a certain
polish or attention to detail that only someone very passionate or with military experience could
see,such as when using clips to reload or cocking the weapons.
Most of these weapons have a German or Russian counterpart,to keep things balanced.
This game currently features:
1.Bolt action rifles

2. Sub machine guns

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 3. Assault rifles and battle rifles*both for the Assault class

4. Semi automatic rifles

5. Light machineguns

6. Anti-tank rifles

7. Pistols

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 8. Grenades( fragmentation smoke and anti-tank) plus satchel charges for blowing up
armored doors,walls obstacles..

2.Vehicles
Currently,the game features two kinds of vehicles:
1. Armoured personnel carriers(APC)
1. The Russian APC is a British Universal Carrier with a Dt machinegun mounted

2. The German APC is a German-built SDKFZ 251,armed with a MG34

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 2. Tanks
1. The Russian main battle tank is the well-known T-34

2. The main German tank is the Panzermark 4 Ausf G

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 3. As of November 2014 two new tanks were added:
o The Panzermark 3 Ausf M
o The T-70
These vehicles are used for transport or breaking trough enemy defences,although there are some
matches which feature only vehicle combat,in particular tank engagements…Needless to say,due to
the harsh realism, the visibility in most of these vehicles is much to be desired.You can barely see
anything from the driver port,which is why you have to switch to the commander`s seat.However this
task can be hampered by the demise of your crew members,which means that you have to do a
number of contorsionism acts to get from the driver stations to the turret,rather than switching there
instantly when all of your crew is alive and well.This is also a great opportunity to see the well polished
tank interiors.

3.Commander abilities
Judging by its name,the Commander is by far the most powerfull class you could play.Besides
coordinating your team`s efforts,you can also play an offensive role,which is why you are equipped with
a submachinegun or semi-automatic rifle and grenades(both smoke and fragmentation ones).
You are also equipped with a binocular,which is useful for marking targets,which are to be engaged
either by your teammates or the your assets.
As for the commander assets,there are 6 of them:
1.Force spawn
Provides you with the opportunity of spawning fallen allies close to your position,whichis crucial for
capturing or defending points.
2.Aerial reconnaissance

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Gives you the opportunity to send a recon plane which will mark enemy positions on your map.
3.Cancel artillery
It cancels your artillery fire.
4.Mortar
Provides a long barrage of mortar fire.Useful against infantry as an area-of-denial weapon
5.Artillery
Provides a long barrage of artillery fire.Useful against both infantry and tanks
6.Rockets
Provides a short but dense barrage of rocket fire.Useful against both infantry and tanks,especially when
these need to be taken out quickly…

4.Other mechanics:
This game provides you with a cover system,which means that you can move around cover so as to
get a better aim.Also,if you find yourself pinned you can raise your gun above the obstacles and do
something called blind firing,which is as easy and as accurate as it sounds.
For bolt-action rifles such as the Mosin-Nagant,you can activate manual bolting,which allows you to
reload your rifle easily.
Also,most of the shots are one-shot kills,especially if these hit the upper part of the torso or head.If
you get hit in the lower part of the torso or legs,you can use bandages to stop the
bleeding.Sometimes when you fail to do so,you can see the character losing blood,as the screen
will slowly fade to black.It should be noted that during moments like these you can still fire your
weapon.
A shout-out should also be given for the squad commands.As a squad leader or commander you
can give orders,like commanding units where to move,who and when to attack and mark artillery
targets.If you feel better,you can also taunt your enemy…

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 Pavlov`s house is a map made for urban combat

4.Maps:
Just like in real warfare,your fighting style depends on the map you find yourself in.Most maps are
urban based,ideal for close-quarters combat,however there are open maps,which are suited for

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 tanks.Pavlov`s house is perfect for assaulters and marksmen alike,as both can find plenty of places
to flank or shoot their enemies trough…on the other hand,open mapslike Airfield are fitted for
maneuvers,which makes them a great place for tank to tank engagements…

 Graphics
It should be noted that this isn`t the prettiest game of 2011,given the fact that the developers
decided to use Unreal Engine 3 as a graphics engine,however you can have decent resolutions and
frame rates plus many options to improve the graphics such as antialiasing,vertical sync and so on.
As for the Unreal Engine 3, screenshots of it were presented in 2004, at which point the engine had
already been in development for over 18 months. Unlike Unreal Engine 2, which still supported
fixed-function pipeline, Unreal Engine 3 was designed to take advantage of fully programmable
shader hardware. All lighting calculations were done per-pixel, instead of per-vertex. On the
rendering side, Unreal Engine 3 provided support for a gamma-correct high-dynamic range
renderer.
Initially, Unreal Engine 3 only supported Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms, while
iOS (first demonstrated with Epic Citadel) and Android were added later in 2010, with Infinity
Blade being the first iOS title and Dungeon Defenders the first Android title. OS X support was
added in 2011. The same year it was announced that the engine would support Adobe Flash Player
11 through the Stage 3D hardware-accelerated APIs and that it was being used in two Wii
U games, Batman: Arkham City and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Windows 8 and Windows RT support
was added in 2012. In 2013, Epic teamed-up with Mozilla to bring Unreal Engine 3 to HTML5. Using
the asm.js sublanguage and Emscripten compiler, they were able to port the engine
to JavaScript and WebGL in four days.[41]

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 Throughout the lifetime of UE3, significant updates have been incorporated, including improved
destructible environments, soft body dynamics, large crowd simulation, iPod
Touch functionality Steamworks integration, a real-time global illumination solution, and
stereoscopic 3D on Xbox 360 via TriOviz for Games Technology. DirectX 11 support was
demonstrated with the Samaritan demo, which was unveiled at the 2011 Game Developers
Conference and built by Epic Games in a close partnership with NVIDIA, with engineers working
around the country to push real-time graphics to a new high point.
Also, while Unreal Engine 3 has been quite open for modders to work with, the ability to publish and
sell games made using UE3 was restricted to licensees of the engine. However, in November 2009,
Epic released a free version of UE3's SDK, called the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), that is
available to the general public.

In December 2010, it was updated to include support for creating iOS games and apps

Red orchestra is built with Unreal engine 3

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 Killing floor was built in Unreal Engine 2

Dead space level remade in UnrealEngine 4

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 RO2 on ultra settings

 Soundtracks:
Composer Sam Hulick, one of the principal composers for the Mass Effect series, was chosen to
score the game. The game features a dynamic music system, which will cue different music
depending on the state of the battle. The Russian and German sides have their own separate
soundtrack.
The soundtrack features 25 pieces:

1 Storm Clouds Over Stalingrad

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 4 Strength In Unity
5 Taking Station No. 1
6 Not One Step Back
7 The Story of a Soldier
8 Devils in the Tower
9 Red Fortress
10 Reinforcing Pavlov's House
11 Pursuit of Pavlov
12 So Far From Home
13 Impenetrable
14 Zugzwang
15 The Descent Into Hell
16 The Bitter End
17 Victory at the Barrikady
18 Across the Steppe
19 Ghosts in the Snow
20 Wave of Fury
21 Red-Painted Steppe
22 The Great Soviet Showpiece
23 Defiant till the Very End
24 Praying for Death
25 The End of the Line

However,you won`t get to hear these because the game will force you to turn the music down,as
you will have to hear footsteps or machinegun noises,given that the matches can get very
tense,especially during multiplayer.

 Bibliography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ik0PmEH3w
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sd.Kfz._251

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Carrier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_Engine
http://heroesofstalingrad.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Orchestra_2_:_Heroes_Of_Stalingrad_Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Orchestra_2:_Heroes_of_Stalingrad

 Conclusion
As far as you may have seen,there are a number of reasons for which I like this game.Among these
is the radically different direction it takes from other shooters,turning away from running and
gunning and taking a more realistic and unpleasant approach to combat,which is why you will
inevitably find yourself dying a lot while playing…

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