Red Orchestra 2 is a gem of a game buried under some unfortunate technical issues.
+ Intense, rewarding action
+ Great cover and suppression mechanics
+ Exciting multiplayer modes
- Lots of bugs and performance issues
- Unreliable multiplayer server browser
Playing Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is like looking at a small, black-and-white photo of the Mona Lisa. Sure, it's still great, but you're getting the most out of your experience. In the case of Red Orchestra 2, the top-notch gameplay has its beauty obscured by a large number of technical issues that keep it from providing the type of experience that it's capable of.
Red Orchestra 2 is everything that Call of Duty haters are looking for. The action is less about the run-and-gun and more about cautious advances towards the front, hopefully with some teammates to provide cover. A single bullet can spell death, so you'll spend a lot of time using the game's sticky cover system, which allows you to go into a toggled cover mode with the press of a button. The system works very well, and is well supported by features such as true blind-firing and corner leaning. However, players behind cover are still susceptible to the morale-reducing effects of combat. Nearby explosions or gunfire will reduce your morale bar, causing various graphical effects that can temporarily disable you. It adds immensely to the intensity of combat and also gives you a reason to lay down suppressing fire against the enemy. The battlefields of Red Orchestra 2 are incredibly dangerous places, and each kill is all the more rewarding because of it. Dropping an enemy feels much better when you've earned it by carefully moving from cover to cover for a few minutes beforehand.
You'll have a chance to put you skills to the test in some of Red Orchestra 2's stellar multiplayer game modes. Modes like Territories or Countdown, a much-improved mashup of the War and Search and Destroy modes from Call of Duty, do a fantastic job of making each death (and kill) feel significant without keeping you out of the action for too long if you happen to catch a bullet.
There's also a single-player component that plays out like a series of matches against bots. It's well produced, with some great voice acting, and worth a look, but it's definitely not as memorable as the multiplayer action.
Unfortunately, all of this great action is buried beneath a layer of bugs and performance issues which noticeably mar the experience. Whether it's a fickle server browser, audio that cuts in and out, some clipping and texture issues, or framerates that fluctuate wildly, there are enough technical frustrations that you can't reliably just jump in and have a good time. The framerate issues are especially disheartening in multiplayer matches, as they can rob you of your precious kills even when you think you have your target dead to rights.
If the over-the-top twitchiness of Call of Duty is like ice cream and pop rocks for dinner, then Red Orchestra 2 is a proper, balanced meal. Great mechanics and game modes create a risk-reward system that is heavy on both. It's just a shame that Tripwire has released the game before it was ready for primetime, and now we can only hope that time (and patches) will heal all wounds.