Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
Encyclopedia
Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 is a tactical
first-person shooter
computer game based on its predecessor Red Orchestra Mod. After winning the Make Something Unreal contest, the team behind the original Red Orchestra started the game studio Tripwire Interactive
. Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 was the first game developed by Tripwire Interactive
.
Set on the Eastern Front
during World War II
between 1941 and 1945, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 depicts the struggle between Soviet
and German forces. The game's creators, Tripwire Interactive
, developed the game out of the previous Unreal Tournament 2004
mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms.
As of April 2009, the game has sold "around 400,000 copies".
Red Orchestra concentrates mostly on the multiplayer aspect of the game, although there is a singleplayer "Practice" mode available. Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 features an advanced ballistics system for both small arms and tank rounds - incorporating bullet drop, flight time, and tanks with more realistic armor properties than most games (featuring: penetration and deflection, in relation to range and projectile trajectory angle). The player's movements are realistically modeled, giving them the ability to lie and move prone, sprint (while standing or crouching) and to deploy machine guns on objects.
Red Orchestra is notable for its emphasis on realism in comparison to other World War II-based FPS games. There is no "crosshair" for a player to aim with in the middle of their screen; instead, the player must either aim down the three-dimensional iron sights, or aim from the hip using the game's free-aim system. The former requires compensating for the breathing of the character and natural sway from holding the gun, while the latter is much quicker but only accurate at very short range. The player must also keep track of their ammo usage mentally unlike many other FPS games, most of which use an ammunition counter. Additionally, the player's health status is not represented by "health points" as many other games use, but by a diagram of the player's body with reddened sections that show where he or she has been wounded; there is no way to recover from wounds, although after a brief period of time, the player will function at 100% again. Receiving wounds will temporarily slow the player down, especially if they receive a wound to the legs or feet; receiving a wound to the hands causes the player to drop their currently held weapon on the ground. Rifles usually kill players in one shot if they connect with the torso or head.
Vehicle support is also a prominent feature of the game. The player can operate the combat vehicles as one of the crew members. Most tanks, for example, can accommodate up to three crew members (a driver, a commander and a machine-gunner) to make them fully effective in close city fighting, however it is easy to crew a tank solo and simply switch to different positions as needed. When grouped together in a vehicle, all players in the vehicle receive points for their actions and for the actions of their fellow crew members; for example, if a player is driving a tank and the tank commander destroys an enemy tank, both the player and the commander will receive the appropriate number of points for that kill. When operating a tank solo, the player can only perform one of the roles at a time; this prevents a solo player from being able to fire, move and reload all at the same time (reloading is a task performed by the commander). The game also features artillery support in some maps which can be utilized by both squad leaders and tank commanders.
, the game had an average score of 81% based on 22 reviews. On Metacritic
, the game had an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.
. During development, Red Orchestra moved from the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
engine to the Soldier of Fortune II
engine (both powered by id Tech 3), before it evolved into a multi-player realism based first person shooter, based on Eastern Front
warfare, as a total conversion for Unreal Tournament 2003
, and later for Unreal Tournament 2004
.
The Red Orchestra developers, Tripwire Interactive
, entered the NVIDIA
Make Something Unreal Contest, with a grand prize of free Unreal Engine 2.5 and 3.0 licenses. The Combined Arms
aspect of the game in version 3.0 was brought about by heavy suggestion that vehicles should be included to secure progression in the MSUC. Further refinement of the Red Orchestra total conversion led to version 3.3, the last version of the mod.
On Monday 21 November 2005 Tripwire Interactive announced that they would be releasing Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 over Steam, Valve Software's digital content distribution platform. The game was released on Tuesday 14 March 2006 on the Steam network. Pre-purchasing and pre-loading began one month prior on 14 February. Bold Games published the retail boxed version worldwide.
Red Orchestra features 16 official maps and 10 community-made maps supported by the developers. The Red Orchestra SDK, though never gone beyond beta version, has allowed the production of hundreds of user-created maps.
Red Orchestra features several different map types. Infantry maps focus on infantry combat, but can occasionally include APCs. Tank maps focus on tank combat. Combined Arms features gameplay which makes the coordination of infantry and armor its focal point. However in many maps only when something on the map such as a wall or a fence is part of an objective or blockade can it be interacted with (in most cases, blown up). The maps feature many broken buildings and vehicles as well as propaganda posters and resupply areas to add to the realism.
released Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad on September 13, 2011.
focusing on the ETO
or Mare Nostrum
focusing on the Mediterranean and Africa theatres during WWII.
Tactical shooter
A tactical shooter is a subgenre of shooter game that includes both first-person shooters and third-person shooters. These games typically simulate realistic combat, thus making tactics and caution more important than quick reflexes in other action games...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game based on its predecessor Red Orchestra Mod. After winning the Make Something Unreal contest, the team behind the original Red Orchestra started the game studio Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive is an American game development studio and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia, formed by members of the international team that created the acclaimed Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. Red Orchestra won top prize in the nVidia-sponsored Make Something...
. Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 was the first game developed by Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive is an American game development studio and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia, formed by members of the international team that created the acclaimed Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. Red Orchestra won top prize in the nVidia-sponsored Make Something...
.
Set on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
between 1941 and 1945, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 depicts the struggle between Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and German forces. The game's creators, Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive is an American game development studio and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia, formed by members of the international team that created the acclaimed Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. Red Orchestra won top prize in the nVidia-sponsored Make Something...
, developed the game out of the previous Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes...
mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms.
As of April 2009, the game has sold "around 400,000 copies".
Gameplay
Red Orchestra is notable for its emphasis on realism in comparison to other World War II-based FPS games. There is no "crosshair" for a player to aim with in the middle of their screen; instead, the player must either aim down the three-dimensional iron sights, or aim from the hip using the game's free-aim system. The former requires compensating for the breathing of the character and natural sway from holding the gun, while the latter is much quicker but only accurate at very short range. The player must also keep track of their ammo usage mentally unlike many other FPS games, most of which use an ammunition counter. Additionally, the player's health status is not represented by "health points" as many other games use, but by a diagram of the player's body with reddened sections that show where he or she has been wounded; there is no way to recover from wounds, although after a brief period of time, the player will function at 100% again. Receiving wounds will temporarily slow the player down, especially if they receive a wound to the legs or feet; receiving a wound to the hands causes the player to drop their currently held weapon on the ground. Rifles usually kill players in one shot if they connect with the torso or head.
Vehicle support is also a prominent feature of the game. The player can operate the combat vehicles as one of the crew members. Most tanks, for example, can accommodate up to three crew members (a driver, a commander and a machine-gunner) to make them fully effective in close city fighting, however it is easy to crew a tank solo and simply switch to different positions as needed. When grouped together in a vehicle, all players in the vehicle receive points for their actions and for the actions of their fellow crew members; for example, if a player is driving a tank and the tank commander destroys an enemy tank, both the player and the commander will receive the appropriate number of points for that kill. When operating a tank solo, the player can only perform one of the roles at a time; this prevents a solo player from being able to fire, move and reload all at the same time (reloading is a task performed by the commander). The game also features artillery support in some maps which can be utilized by both squad leaders and tank commanders.
Critical reception
The game received generally favorable reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Game RankingsGame Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, the game had an average score of 81% based on 22 reviews. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the game had an average score of 81 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.
Background
Red Orchestra began development as a single player game based on the Red Orchestra spy ring, during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During development, Red Orchestra moved from the Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 2015, Inc. and created by Steven Spielberg. It is the 3rd installment of the Medal of Honor series...
engine to the Soldier of Fortune II
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is a video game created by Raven Software, a sequel to Soldier of Fortune. It was developed using the Quake III: Team Arena engine. Once again, Raven hired John Mullins to act as a consultant on the game...
engine (both powered by id Tech 3), before it evolved into a multi-player realism based first person shooter, based on Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
warfare, as a total conversion for Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming. The game is part of the Unreal franchise's series of games, and is a sequel to Unreal Tournament ....
, and later for Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes...
.
The Red Orchestra developers, Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive is an American game development studio and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia, formed by members of the international team that created the acclaimed Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. Red Orchestra won top prize in the nVidia-sponsored Make Something...
, entered the NVIDIA
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
Make Something Unreal Contest, with a grand prize of free Unreal Engine 2.5 and 3.0 licenses. The Combined Arms
Combined arms
Combined arms is an approach to warfare which seeks to integrate different branches of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects...
aspect of the game in version 3.0 was brought about by heavy suggestion that vehicles should be included to secure progression in the MSUC. Further refinement of the Red Orchestra total conversion led to version 3.3, the last version of the mod.
On Monday 21 November 2005 Tripwire Interactive announced that they would be releasing Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 over Steam, Valve Software's digital content distribution platform. The game was released on Tuesday 14 March 2006 on the Steam network. Pre-purchasing and pre-loading began one month prior on 14 February. Bold Games published the retail boxed version worldwide.
Maps
Red Orchestra features several different map types. Infantry maps focus on infantry combat, but can occasionally include APCs. Tank maps focus on tank combat. Combined Arms features gameplay which makes the coordination of infantry and armor its focal point. However in many maps only when something on the map such as a wall or a fence is part of an objective or blockade can it be interacted with (in most cases, blown up). The maps feature many broken buildings and vehicles as well as propaganda posters and resupply areas to add to the realism.
Sequel
Tripwire InteractiveTripwire Interactive
Tripwire Interactive is an American game development studio and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia, formed by members of the international team that created the acclaimed Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. Red Orchestra won top prize in the nVidia-sponsored Make Something...
released Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad on September 13, 2011.
Mods
Red Orchestra has a modding community, that creates various content, ranging from custom maps to total conversions, for example Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45
Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 is a free modification developed by Jackboot Games for Tripwire Interactive's multiplayer first-person shooter video game Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, It is based on the Western Front during World War II between 1944 and 1945, depicting the conflict between Allied...
focusing on the ETO
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
or Mare Nostrum
Red Orchestra: Mare Nostrum
Mare Nostrum is a multiplayer team-based first-person action video game, developed as a total conversion modification of Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45....
focusing on the Mediterranean and Africa theatres during WWII.